Category: Learn History Through Fiction

On August 25, 1939, 85 years ago today, The Wizard of Oz officially opened nationwide. Reviews were mostly positive, although some critics accused MGM of encroaching on Disney territory. The film pioneered the use of Technicolor and earned praise for its 17-year-old star, Judy Garland. Re-released in 1949, and shown on TV in subsequent years, The Wizard of Oz is today the third-most watched movie ever (after Titanic and E.T.). Read about the making of the movie and its “big” and “little” stars in A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve., a fictional biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Skipping down the Yellow Brick Road

A fictional biography of the actor who played the Munchkin Coroner

Despite being arrested as an “enemy alien,” Lois Gunden from Illinois established an orphanage and rescue mission for children aged 4 to 16 in Southern France. Many, malnourished and lice-infested, were rescued directly from Camp de Rivesaltes, an internment camp. While the U.S. failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution, history shows some courageous Americans spoke out and saved lives. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

“Enemy alien” Lois Gunden rescued children from a French internment camp

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

Boston Unitarian Minister Waitstill Sharp and his wife Martha, a social worker, joined with the World YMCA to provide humanitarian assistance, rescue intellectuals, organize child transports, and help hundreds of Jews and other refugees escape Czechoslovakia, France, and Portugal throughout the Second World War. While the U.S. failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution, history shows some courageous Americans spoke out and saved lives. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Waitstill & Martha Sharp rescued hundreds of Czech, French, & Portuguese refugees in WWII

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

U.S. Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds of Tennessee was taken prisoner by Germany during the Battle of the Bulge. When Jewish POWs were told to line up for extermination, Edmonds ordered all his men to fallout. Though the German officer threatened him with a pistol, Edmonds declared, “We are all Jews. According to the Geneva Convention, we only have to give our name, rank, and serial number. If you shoot me, you will have to shoot all of us, and after the war you will be tried for war crimes.” The officer turned around and left. While the U.S. failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution, history shows some courageous Americans spoke out and saved lives. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds thwarted German efforts to exterminate Jewish POWS

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

An Inverted Jenny, America’s most valuable stamp, just sold at auction for $2 million. Only 100 copies of the 24-cent stamp were printed in 1918 before a mistake — the plane is upside down — was detected. In the novel One Person’s Loss, an elderly man’s passion for stamp collecting helps a young wife’s parents escape from Berlin during the Holocaust and traces what happens to her husband’s brother, a Resistance fighter. While the U.S. failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution, history shows some courageous Americans helped to save lives. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

From 24 cents to $2 million in value

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

American journalist Varian Fry, working in occupied France for the Emergency Rescue Committee, a private relief organization, used legal and illegal measures to evacuate 2,000 refugees, including prominent writers like Lion Feuchtwanger and artists like Marc Chagall. In 1994, Fry was the first American honored by Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem as a “Righteous Among the Nations.” While the U.S. failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution, history shows some courageous Americans spoke out and saved lives. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Varian Fry rescued 2,000 prominent intellectuals targeted by the Nazis

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

Mexican American Army medic Anthony Acevedo attended the wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. Captured and identified as “racially undesirable,” he suffered as a German POW. Yet he kept a diary of the medical details and deaths of fellow prisoners, which he donated to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum so they would not be nameless and forgotten. While the U.S. failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution, history shows some courageous Americans spoke out and saved lives. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Army medic Anthony Acevedo recorded the deaths of fellow POWs in his diary

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins

Young newlyweds Roswell and Marjorie McClelland were ordinary Americans who took extraordinary action during the Holocaust to save victims of Nazi persecution. Well-educated, they could have earned a good living while staying safe at home. Instead they volunteered with American Friends Service Committee. One step ahead of the Nazis, they moved from Italy to France to Switzerland to assist refugees trying to escape. The exact number they rescued is unknown, but it is estimated to be in the hundreds. While the U.S. failed to end WW2 sooner or admit those fleeing Nazi persecution, history shows some courageous Americans helped to save lives. Read about a German Jewish family who tries to escape to the U.S. in the novel One Person’s Loss. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.

Quakers Roswell & Marjorie McClelland helped hundreds of refugees escape the Nazis

Berlin, 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Germany for Brooklyn before the Nazi slaughter begins