Children and Play in the Holocaust
Games among the Shadows
By George Eisen
University of Massachusetts Press
Occasionally an accident of research produces a book more engaging than the one the historian originally intended. While sifting through material for his Ph.D. dissertation, which dealt with an entirely different topic, Eisen came across a diary from the Vilna ghetto written by Zelig Kalmanovitch. His tone was sober, but not entirely so. The passage that caught Eisen's eye concerned a playground erected around 1942 and the author's inner conflict surrounded the coexistence of games and sports and mass murder in the ghetto.
This sensitive book is an important achievement that makes a significant addition to Holocaust scholarship.'—Choice
'A compelling study which breaks new ground in Holocaust historiography. The subject, too long overlooked, is both tragic and fascinating and Eisen's interdisciplinary methodology combining history, psychology, and anthropology enhances the effect of the treatise.'—Journal of Holocaust and Genocide Studies
'The vision of these children and the unfulfilled dreams of their parents will float before your eyes long after you have put down this book.'—Newsletter, Association of Jewish Libraries
'The author suggests that the Jewish communities tried to use play to bring an element of sanity into the lives of young people in the midst of the catastrophe and that children utilized these activities to help them adapt to the new world they were thrust into. . . . A study which raises many questions and challenges the reader in a variety of ways.'—Canadian Journal of the History of Sport
'This book is without peer. The story of the Holocaust needs to be told again and again and again, from every angle, and if the tellers are as skilled as George Eisen, we shall never forget.'—Journal of Sports History
George Eisen teaches at California State Polytechnic University. He is a contributor to Meaningful Play, Playful Meaning, edited by Gary Alan Fine, and author of Understanding Leisure.
