Jack Mandelbaum (born Janek Mandelbaum, April 10, 1927 – August 6, 2023) was a Polish-American

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators before and during World War II ...

from

Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...

. His experiences as a boy during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

were the subject of Andrea Warren's

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

of Mandelbaum surviving in a concentration camp and being separated from his family. This book '. talks about how Mandelbaum was in many different concentration camps;and how he considered Gross-Rosen to be the worst of them. Later Mandelbaum learns his father Max Mandelbaum, mother Cesia Mandelbaum, brother Jakob Mandelbaum, sister Jadzia Mandelbaum, and countless other family members were killed in the Holocaust, his only remaining family is his Uncle Sigmund Mandelbaum, Aunt Hinda, and two second cousins on his fathers side. Mandelbaum later met Moniek, a soon to be life long friend, and with him survived the concentration camps and then they later helped other Jewish men and women escape. Mandelbaum had a wife, Claudia Mandelbaum, 7 children, and 12 grandchildren. He died in

Naples, Florida Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 19,115, down from 19,539 at the 2010 census. Naples is a principal city of the Collier County, Florida, Naples–Marc ...

on August 6, 2023, at the age of 96.

Critical reception of the book

Awards for ''Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps'' included the 2004

William Allen White Children's Book Award The William Allen White Children's Book Award is a set of two annual awards for books selected by vote of Kansas schoolchildren from lists prepared by committee. As a single award it was established in 1952 by Ruth Garver Gagliardo, a children's ...

for grades six to eight, the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

's Robert F. Sibert Honor Book for Most Distinguished Informational Book for Children; and Outstanding Children's Book from the

American Society of Journalists and Authors The American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) was founded in 1948 as the Society of Magazine Writers, and is the professional association of independent nonfiction writers in the United States. History The organization was established in ...

References

External links

Midwest Center for Holocaust Education website

Andrea Warren website

Midwest Center for Holocaust Education website: Jack Mandelbaum

2015 NPR interview of Mandelbaum
1927 births 2023 deaths Jewish concentration camp survivors American people of Polish-Jewish descent People from Leawood, Kansas People from the Free City of Danzig {{Holocaust-stub