Sarah's Key

by guest blogger Jenni

de Rosnay,T. (2008). Sarah's key . New York, : St. Martins Griffin.

The book Sarah's Key is about the Vel' d'Hiv roundup in 1942 that occurred in Paris. The book is fictional but based on fact about the Vel' d'Hiv roundup. The book is a griping account of Jewish families who were taken from there homes in Paris and sent to a stadium for days on end. There were many children and women and men. Over thousands of Jewish people were taken and sent to the stadium in buses. The conditions in the stadium were horrifying and inhumane. There was no food, no water. Finally the Jewish people were let out of the stadium but only to be taken to prison camps. They were taken via railway and packed into cattle cars. Once at the camps they were separated men, and women and children together. The women and children were together but after a few days they were separated as well. The children were left to fend for themselves. No one to look after them, no one to comfort them. Terribly the children and women and men were sent to Auschwitz where they were gassed and killed. I feel that this book is absolutely necessary to post on the blog because I never knew of the 1942 Vel' d'Hiv roundup, many , many people died and I never learned of this until I began to read this book. I feel that it is an injustice to the few survivors who went through this horrible and cruel event that it is not widely known or talked about or taught. Not only did the Jewish people get taken from their homes and sent to a stadium and sat for days in horrible conditions they were sent to the camps and torn from their families then brutally murdered, just because they were Jewish. That is an atrocity and a very sad thing. I suggest to anyone to read this heart wrenching book and learn about the terrible and vile things that happened to the Jewish people of Paris France in 1942. Learning about this event will forever have an impact on me.