Starred Review ALA Booklist (Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2006)

Starred Review Emil and Karl may be one of the first books about the Holocaust for any age and in any language. So says Jeffrey Shandler, professor of Yiddish Literature and Holocaust Studies at Rutgers University, who has translated the book into English for the first time. The novel, written for children, was published in Yiddish in New York, appearing in February 1940. Its author, a Jewish immigrant from Poland who had written two adult novels, was part of a dynamic Yiddish-speaking community in New York. On a visit home to Poland in 1934, he witnessed growing discrimination against Jews, and he wanted American Jewish children to know about it. Now, long after, translator Shandler fills in what was happening when the book was first published. World War II had begun in 1939, but the U.S. was not yet part of it; Germany had invaded Austria; Jews were viciously persecuted and deported to concentration camps. But even Glatshteyn could not foresee the death camps and genocide that were coming. Why has his novel never been translated before? Beyond the amazing publication history, it's much more than a dutiful read. It's a clear, powerful novel that will bring today's readers very close to what it was like to be a child under Nazi occupation. Told in the third-person from the alternating viewpoints of two friends in Vienna-Emil, who is Jewish, and Karl, who is not-the story begins with the classic nightmare scenario. Karl watches the Nazis drag his mother away; they punch him in the stomach and warn him that they will be back for him. He remembers when his Socialist father was shot dead. Karl tries to find shelter with his Jewish school friend, Emil, but after Nazis shoot Emil's father, the two boys are left on their own. They find kindness and shelter with a neighbor, with a brave member of the Underground, and even with a police supervisor; but they also find betrayal and vicious cruelty. They witness the destruction of Jewish stores, and, while being taunted by mobs, they are forced to scrub the city pavements with their hands. In an unforgettable ending, the two friends crowd onto trains, and they are separated. Will they be transported to a safe country or to concentration camps?  The fast-moving prose is stark and immediate. Glatshteyn was, of course, writing about what was happening to children in his time; his story was not historical fiction then. At times, the story reads like an adventure, but the harsh reality is always there, neither sensational nor sentimental. The translation, 65 years after the novel's original publication, is nothing short of haunting.

Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

Written in 1940, this novel set shortly after the Nazi invasion of Austria contains disturbing images of cruel persecution while conveying a powerful message about survival and loyalty. The story unfolds through the alternating points of view of two nine-year-old boys, Emil and Karl, whose friendship strengthens in the midst of adversity. After Emil's Jewish father is executed and Karl's socialist mother is arrested, the boys find themselves thrust into the streets of Vienna. They witness (and at times are victim to) tyranny carried out by soldiers and citizens. In one heartwrenching scene, Jews are forced to scrub a public square with their bare hands; in another, they are corralled in a park to be ridiculed by onlookers. Throughout the novel, the author conjures an aura of chaos, violence and fear. Yet he also pays tribute to the courageous individuals who stand up in the face of injustice and take enormous risks to protect defenseless children such as Emil and Karl as the Nazis began to gain in power, and when the scope of their plan is still largely rumored. Remaining steadfast to their beliefs and to each other until the day they are forced to part, the boys emerge as true heroes who refuse to be beaten down by a dangerous regime. Ages 9-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Apr.)

School Library Journal Starred Review

Gr 5-9-This novel about two boys growing up in pre-World War II Vienna provides a unique perspective. The author wrote the book after returning to America from a visit to Poland in 1934, and was alarmed at how growing Nazi persecution was changing the face of Europe. It was published in Yiddish in 1940. Emil and Karl are school friends. Emil is Jewish and has been forced from school. Although Karl is not Jewish, one day men drag his socialist mother away. He goes to find his friend only to discover that Emil's father has been murdered by the Nazis and that his mother has gone crazy with grief. The two boys are totally alone and must escape the omnipresent storm troopers and find food and shelter. They become both observers and victims of the attacks on Jews. Helped by resistance fighters, they eventually escape the city. This important book, newly translated into English, gives a chilling portrait of a world descending into madness as experienced by two innocent children. The excellent translation effectively conveys the helplessness of the characters. As terrifying as their experiences were, the story was written at a time when the full horrors perpetrated by Hitler were yet to occur. While Emil and Karl escaped, the majority of persecuted children did not. A useful comparison might be made to Hans Peter Richter's Friedrich (Puffin, 1987), which did not have such a positive outcome.-Quinby Frank, formerly at Green Hedges School, Vienna, VA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Horn Book

Finding themselves on their own, nine-year-old Viennese friends Emil and Karl are witnesses to the grotesque humiliation and cruelty of a civilized society gone mad. Polish-born Glatshteyn wrote his harrowing tale of Nazi occupation as it was happening: the novel was published in Yiddish in 1940; his unflinching portrait is a revealing as well as an important document.

Kirkus Reviews

Glatshteyn presents an unstintingly stark depiction of Nazi terror in this story, set in Vienna shortly after the German occupation. Originally published in Yiddish in 1940, Glatshteyn's work tells of Christian Karl and Jewish Emil, inseparable friends, who have only each other after their mothers are carted off by the authorities. How they survive on their own, sometimes with the aid of partisans, often despite casual or intentional cruelties, makes for a wrenching account laced with humiliation, horror, fear, paranoia and incredible courage. Written in spare and readable, though choppy and not always realistic, prose, and filled with some surreal imagery that emerges from the boys' viewpoints, the tale will engage young readers in the friends' plight and their race against time and circumstance. In a poignant conclusion, Emil and Karl are separated while attempting to board the Kindertransport trains to safety. The translator's afterword explains that this is one of the first novels written about the Holocaust in any language and for any age. (Fiction. 10+)

Voice of Youth Advocates

What was Europe like at the brink of World War II for children? One of the most interesting aspects of this book is its historical perspective: This story, written before World War II, was published originally in Yiddish to educate Jewish children in America about what their counterparts in Europe, specifically Vienna, were experiencing. That twist adds weight and value to this newest addition to the body of young adult Holocaust literature. Karl, a nine-year-old boy, sits on the floor of his apartment in shock, having just watched uniformed men break in to take away his screaming Socialist mother. He leaves his apartment in search of his best friend, a Jewish boy named Emil. Emil's father has just been seized leaving his mother in a state of profound shock. When a rabbi comes to take her to a hospital, the boys are left on their own. Passed from one well-meaning person to another, the boys finally escape Vienna with their lives but nothing else, separated even from each other at the last minute. Although the protagonists are nine-year-old boys, this story is one to enhance any library collection or classroom unit on the Holocaust. The innocent and simple tone of the two young boys' story augments the setting of unanticipated violence in pre-war Austria. The inexplicably horrid actions of the Aryan people of Vienna toward their Jewish neighbors and the unique historical perspective of this newly translated tale make it a valuable addition to Holocaust literature.-Mary Ann Darby.