Synopses & Reviews
Erich Levi doesn't quite understand why his father is so gloomy when the Nazis are elected to power. He's too concerned with keeping his grades up, finding time to hang out by the river with his friends, and studying for his bar mitzvah to worry much about politics.
But slowly, things begin to change for Erich. Some of the teachers begin to grade him harshly and unfairly because hes Jewish. They humiliate him and exclude him from sports events and celebrations. Erich puts up with bullying from the Hitler Youth boys in his class, boys made important and powerful by the uniforms they wear. Most painfully, his best friend, Kurt, shuns him entirely. At home, things are no better. Money becomes more and more scarce as his fathers cattle business suffers, and even his mothers friends look away when they pass on the street.
Not everyone is so cruel, though, and many of the Levis' friends and neighbors remain fiercely loyal at great risk to themselves. With good people still around, Erich can't believe the situation will last, and stubbornly holds on to his dreams even as the home he's always known becomes a dangerous and alien place.
Inge Barth-Grözinger has brilliantly re-created the life of a Jewish family in a small German town during the Nazi era.
Review
"The everyday detail may overwhelm many readers, but even given the wealth of Holocaust fiction on shelves today, little has been written about the early years of the Nazis." Booklist
Review
"[P]resents a shocking microcosm of Nazi persecution of German Jews, as well as a moving lesson in the evil of mass racial intolerance and the great goodness of individual moral courage as witnessed by an innocent school boy." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"This fictionalized window into what are becoming myriad choices in Holocaust literature for young people is and additional purchase." School Library Journal
About the Author
Inge Barth-Grözinger is a gymnasium (high school) teacher in Ellwangen, Germany.
Something Remains grew out of an eighteen-month research project she conducted with her students, tracing the Jewish community of their town and school. It was the story of one student in particular, Erich Levi, that inspired Ms. Grözinger to write this novel.
Anthea Bell is an award-winning translator of books for children and adults. She has translated the works of W.G. Sebald and Cornelia Funke, among others. She lives in Cambridge, England.