Mostly, the author tells things in the straightforward voice of Misha. What I Thought:I was prepared for The War within These Walls to be a depressing story. Thanks to a young German soldier, the group found out the ghetto would be permanently emptied-as a present-for Hitler’s birthday.

They made dings here and there, mostly keeping the Germans on their toes around the ghetto. Then he met a group of young Jews who were fighting back. Misha was losing his family and his hope. One night, Misha’s sister decided to cross over for food. Misha’s little sister followed him one day, saw him go into a manhole and later return with food. He stole what he could so his mother could eat. With no other options, Misha secretly left the walled off section of the city Jews lived in and entered the rest of Warsaw, taken over by the Germans. People began dying of starvation, including Misha’s mother. The rationed food was below everyone’s needs. In reality, the Jewish people went north to concentrations camps for extinction. The Nazis told the people they were relocating to a beautiful “Eden” up north. For this reason, the family stayed in Warsaw, rather than be sent away, as many had been. Misha’s father was a doctor and the Nazis needed doctors. a war against some of us.”Ībout the Story: The story centers around one family: Misha, his sister, and their parents. But after the dust of the bombings had settled, a very different war began. A month later, they marched into Warsaw and took up residence as if they would never leave. Opening: “It was September 1939 when the Germans invaded our country. Together they make one final, daring stand.ĭrawing on the actual events of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, Aline Sax’s spare prose and Caryl Strezelecki’s striking images tell a powerful story of incredible courage amid brutal oppression. Misha has no way to protect his parents and sister, and no reason to hope-until one day he meets a group of brave young people who have decided that they will not give in to despair. Back Cover: Misha and his family, like the rest of Warsaw’s Jews, are harassed and humiliated by the Nazis, and eventually crowded together into a single tiny ghetto, every day more people die from disease, starvation, and violence.

The War Within These Walls by Aline Sax