The island in Vogelstrasse

The Island in Bird Street is a novel by the Israeli writer Uri Orlev published in 1985. It was made into a film in 1997.

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The novel tells how eleven-year-old Alex, who lost his mother, survived for five months in a ruin (his "island") in a Polish ghetto , to which he was able to flee, when his father was deported with other Jews .

The book focuses on the child's everyday problems, feelings and thoughts. This makes it easier for the young reader to identify with the protagonist without being overwhelmed by the gravity of the Jewish fate under the dictatorship of the National Socialists . Nevertheless, all events such as the displacement of the Jews into the ghetto, their isolation there, the deportation from the ghetto to the extermination camps , but also corruption and treason on the one hand and resistance on the other, are present.

The book works without a moral index finger and above all makes it clear what a child is capable of under extraordinary circumstances and that even under adverse circumstances a willingness to help, human warmth and love can be found.

book

• Published in German as Ravensburger Taschenbuch, ISBN 3-473-58075-9
• Also available as a novel