The Big Lie

The Big Lie, written by Isabella Leitner and illustrated by Judy Pedersen, is an autobiography of the author’s life and experiences as a Jew living in Hungary during World War II. When I finished this story, I couldn’t help but reflect on how courageous the author and all of the Jews were in trying to survive and endure this horrible period of time.

What a fast read! It starts out describing the family who don’t think that anything will happen to them and that the war will not affect them. Then one day, everything changes. The Nazis have invaded Hungary, and the Jews are forced to obey certain rules, like wearing yellow stars and turning in their radios. Not long after, the author’s family is taken to Auschwitz with the other families in the town. The author and her three sisters manage to stay together, but their mother and other sister are killed. The author and her three sisters are then moved to a succession of concentration camps, and eventually the author and two sisters are able to escape. The other sister was caught and died at another concentration camp. The author, her two sisters, and her brother are reunited with their father in America at the end of the book. The Afterword provides useful historical information that describes the events in Europe and Germany leading up to and through the rise of the Nazis, the Holocaust, and World War Two.

While it is not a picture book, the few pictures included in the book are powerful. They are all done in black and white. The one picture I found the most terrifying was of one of the concentration camps where they were located. It is dark and ominous, thus lending to the mood of the story. I was glad that pictures were included in the book because they provide a context for the story. There is also a picture of a German soldier and a coat with the star on it. These pictures all allowed me to visualize a dark period of time that I never could have otherwise imagined. There is also a map included in the book that traces the Jews’ journey from their home in Kisvarda, Hungary to Auschwitz. I really don’t have a frame of reference for where Hungary and Poland are located, so the map is a good tool for me to use. It would certainly be helpful in a classroom as well.

Leitner included some German phrases like “Los!” and “Schnell!” This makes the story and dialogue seem more realistic. Although I speak German, I can imagine the inclusion of these phrases has the same effect on a reader who does not speak it as it did on the actual characters in the story. One line I found particularly powerful is “They looked like strange two-legged animals that I had never seen before” (43). This line appears when Isabella is looking at her sisters for the first time after they have been forced to cut off all of their hair. It really expresses the dehumanization that occurred in the concentration camps and elsewhere.

As I was reading this book, two other books came to mind—The Diary of Anne Frank and Number the Stars. Both books describe the experiences of young Jewish girls living in Europe, just as this book does, although they do so in different ways.