The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer
The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer
I am in awe of how much information Kelly Rimmer poured through to write this book and the incredible detail in the story. The scene that most affected me started on page 141 and described a group of children from a Warsaw Ghetto orphanage walking past the window of one of the main characters, Emilia. At first, she thinks they are out for a morning stroll with their caretakers. Each is dressed as if for a party and they carry toys, books, and knapsacks. Then, she realizes with horror that they are heading to the Umschlagplatz where they will be deported to a Nazi death camp.
Like all historical fiction, this novel inspired me to do more research on certain topics presented. Kelly Rimmer refers to the orphanage where the children are from as the Korczak Orphanage. I looked that up and found that both the orphanage and the event described were real. Janusz Korczak, was a Polish Jewish pediatrician, children’s author, and educator who specially designed and managed the Korczak Orphanage. In early August, 1942, during the Grossaktion Warschau, German authorities marched the orphanage’s some two hundred children and their caretakers to the Umschlagplatz, where they boarded train cars that would take them to the Treblinka killing center. Korczak refused sanctuary repeatedly and stayed with his orphans. They were never heard from again.
Wherever it was possible for Rimmer to access primary sources, she did. She relied heavily on the “Oneg Shabbat” Archive, also known as the Ringelblum Archive, an incredible collection of over 6,000 documents related to life in the Warsaw Ghetto, including reports, diaries, posters, and drawings documenting the horrid conditions. These documents were discovered after the war, buried underground in metal boxes and milk cans. Emmanuel Ringelbum was a Jewish historian who coordinated a team of more than 50 people to compile and protect the documents, determined to ensure that the story of those who lived and died in the Warsaw Ghetto would not be lost.
The Warsaw Orphan spans Poland’s tumultuous years from 1942 to 1945, covering the distinct periods of the Warsaw Ghetto, the Warsaw Uprising,and the immediate post war period. What Rimmer celebrates in her powerful novel are the consequential acts not by leaders but by those the leaders failed. Her character Chaim puts his community and friends first and represents the courage and determination of all the men and women who fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The character of Emilia is based on Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker and nurse who helped smuggle 2500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. In the novel, Emilia mirrors her mentor Sara, who saw the occupation as a humanitarian tragedy and believed she had a moral obligation to help in any way she could. [p. 248]
In speaking about her novel, Kelly Rimmer has said: “A recent survey conducted by the Jewish Material Claims Against Germany found that almost two-thirds of the American young adults surveyed did not know that six million Jews died during the Holocaust. More than 10 percent of those surveyed believed that Jews caused the Holocaust. I couldn’t find comparable studies of young adults elsewhere, but I fear that for much of the world, the results would be similar. How can it be that our young people aren’t aware of the unfathomable darkness the path of hatred and bigotry led our species to just seventy-five years ago? I do not believe it is the role of historical fiction to educate us about history. We novelists inevitably get things wrong, and sometimes we take liberties to massage our stories into place. I do, however, believe that great historical fiction should pique our curiosity and inspire us to educate ourselves. To that end, wherever it was possible in this book, I have tried to write a story that could have happened—and it is my hope that if you were not familiar with some of the events that take place in this book, you might spend time learning more about them. Those who were lost and those who survived deserve to be honored and remembered for their own sake, but also so that the horror they endured is never repeated.” [Meet Kelly Rimmer]
The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer is an intense story in which we are introduced to both fictional and real-life heroes who fought to save those in the Warsaw Ghetto. It was both heartbreaking and uplifting to see the characters transcend and transform throughout the novel against the backdrop of the war’s horrors. This was one of the best historical fiction novels I have read about the history of Poland during World War II. I highly recommend this book.
For more information about Janusz Korczak, check out the following resources:
Janusz Korczak remembered 77 years after his murder in the Holocaust
Janusz Korczak
The Good Doctor of Warsaw
Janusz Korczak and the Orphans of the Warsaw Ghetto
Janusz Korczak Quotes
12 Things Worth Knowing About Janusz Korczak
National Library of Medicine
Janusz Korczak | Historical Figures of the Holocaust | Yad Vashem
Mister Doctor – Dr. Janusz Korczak and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto
For more information on the Warsaw Ghetto and The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, you may want to review this information:
The Warsaw Ghetto/DW Documentary
Polish Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto/Colorized WWII
The Great Deportation in the Warsaw Ghetto — Abraham Lewin’s Diary
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Allied Responses to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944
Great interviews with Kelly Rimmer and information on the writing of The Warsaw Orphan may be found at:
Interview with Kelly Rimmer
A Special Note from Kelly Rimmer on The Warsaw Orphan
Check Amazon for more on this book I love.
