Moritz Gleitzman - Once.
- Dad - said my son - I did not know a play could be so good.
Moritz Gleitzman's books I noticed few years later. I like them very much. Usually the story takes place in rather unusual circumstances (child of a TV star, child of a teacher, child of financial managers during year 2008 financial crisis), the hero is a helpless person (it could be not a person, it could be a cane toad) and acts in a very naive way, and is good, naively good. He attempts to explain each, even clearly hostile towards him proceeding, to the benefit of adversary. And strangely, finally he wins. And is not using any black magic.
This last point I appreciate very much as it seems to me that nowadays the most popular books for children solve all the problems with the help of magic.
I have read probably half a dozen books by Moritz Gleitzmana and I have to admit that reading his books for children is not less rewarding for me than reading books for adults. I also put them on my grandchildren bookshelf until ...
...once I read in Moritz Gleitzman book, that a child prayed to God, Jesus, Virgin Mary, the Pope and Adolf Hitler.
How come? Where? When?
In Poland, in 1942. The hero of the book - 10 years old Felix - is not an orphan. His parents, Jews, gave him three years earlier (ie in 1939) to the orphanage, explaining to him, that the bookstore they were running was in trouble and they must devote themselves entirely to work. After solving these problems, they will take him back home.
They managed to put him in a Catholic orphanage with the help of a nun, mother Minka, who was a client of their bookshop. At the orphanage life is tough, Felix is sometimes in trouble, and then unmistakably prays for help to God, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the Pope and Adolf Hitler. Its obvious, after all, it is run by nuns so there is lots of prayer around.
Once, I spent several months in an institution for children run by nuns. It was in Poland, in 1946. At least two times a day we prayed to God, Jesus and the Virgin Mary. We never prayed to the Pope. I was only 5 years, but I knew quite a lot about Adolf Hitler. I never heard anybody in my surroundings - parents, nuns, family, neighbors - to use a word: Nazis.
Felix's first encounter with outside life happens when Nazis using foreign language inspect the library of the convent. They find lots of Jewish book bought by mother Minka. They throw them in a pile and burn. It is a shock to him, and a warning - Nazis burn books!
Soon after Felix imagines that his parents sent him a message urging him to return home so he escapes from the orphanage. He finds his hometown, family home, and in it - Poles - Mr Radzyn, who was employed as toilets cleaner declares, that now it is the home of his family. Ms. Radzyn cries: catch him, catch him fast, so we can hand him over! Felix escapes.
On the street Felix meets Polish children, they invite him to play. What are we going to play?
Catching Jews and handing them over to Nazis.
And so on...
In the book, only once a German person appears. It happens, that he was wearing Nazi uniform.
Very well written book, but I will not pass it to my grandson Felix.
At the end of the book there is an author's note: This story is invented, but I spent a lot of time reviewing the documents, diaries, listening to the memories of witnesses. Their stories are real stories.
Their stories...
Once, in the beginning of the 90s, I attended a meeting with Adam Michnik - former dissident, currently editor in chief of the largest Polish newspaper. His parents were Jewish communists. Main topic of the meeting were the memories of martial law in Poland.
At the end of the meeting a gentleman from the audience raised the issue of the return of Jewish property in Poland. Few people supported him, they talked simultaneously. One lady said: when the war started in 1939 Poland did not fight. They let Germans in without any resistance.
Adam Michnik shouted as her: stop it NOW! What nonsense are you saying!
The woman stopped, but quietly murmured to the people around her. They nodded their heads in agreement.
Facts: War effort during German invasion of Poland in 1939 - Germany - 60 divisions, 1.5 mln soldiers, Poland - 39 divisions, 950,000 soldiers.
Casualties: Germany 16,343 killed, Poland 60,000 killed.
P.S1. Once is the first of the 5 books Moritz Gleitzmana telling the fate of Felix in Poland during the war and a bit later. The whole series is heavily promoted in the English-speaking countries. It is placed in the reading program in many high schools in the United States.
P.S.2 - gallows humor never leaves me. When I read in the book, that Nazis spoke in a foreign language I wondered: what a language could it be?
From the book it looks like Nazis did not come from any particular country. So, which language is not associated with any particular country, nationality?
Esperanto!
