Product Description

Suppose your country began to change. Suppose that without your noticing, it became dangerous for some people to live in Germany any longer. Suppose you found, to your complete surprise, that your own father was one of those people. That is what happened to Anna in 1933. She was nine years old when it began, too busy with her schoolwork and toboganning to take much notice of political posters, but out of them glared the face of Adolf Hitler, the man who would soon change the whole of Europe - starting with her own small life. Anna suddenly found things moving too fast for her to understand. One day, her father was unaccountably missing. Then she herself and her brother Max were being rushed by their mother, in alarming secrecy, away from everything they knew - home and schoolmates and well-loved toys - right out of Germany...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #171657 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
'... a compassionate introduction to the whole subject of World War II...' Books for your Children '... an extremely exciting adventure story...' Daily Express '... a charming and touching book, often very funny...' Daily Mail '... exact, intelligent and unsentimental.' Sunday Telegraph

Daily Mail
`... a charming and touching book, often very funny...'

Sunday Telegraph
`... exact, intelligent and unsentimental.'

Customer Reviews

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
I absolutley loved it...I couldn't put it down. I'm really anxious to read the next 3 in the series. if you like happy, exciting, sad, clever, and historical you'll LOVE it.I highly recommend it!
By the way I'm using my dad's account hence the name.
A

6 months in Switzerland, 2 years in Paris and then london.
I totaly adore this book! My mum bought this for me when I was nine (just like Anna), and I have totaly read it to pieces.

Max and Anna's father is a famous Jewish writer, but when the Nazis come into power they must leave everything and flee, first to a village in Switzerland, then to Paris and finaly to London. All the time getting poorer and poorer.

One of the best parts is when she worries about not being able to become an auther because she hasn't had a diffecult enough chidhood!

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
Content: The book describes the changing life of Anna (9), her brother Max (12) and their parents. They live in Berlin in 1933 and the Nazis are on the verge of taking over.
Firstly they are a normal family, affluent, happy, they had a nanny and a scullery-maid - but the situation converts them into a refugee family. The father is a critical journalist who writes political articles for different magazines and is an adversary of the national socialists which keep an eye on him not just because of his articles but of the fact that he's Jewish. So the family goes to Switzerland just with a few things that they don't arouse suspicion. Anna can't take her pink rabbit with her, it has to stay in Berlin.
In Switzerland the children find new friends and go to school there. The problem is that their father can't find work due to the fact that nobody wants to publish his political texts. For want of money they move to France where they hope against hope to live in better conditions.

The author's intention: The book is about a little girl who can`t say good bye to her friend in Berlin - because nobody is allowed to know that her family travel to Switzerland - she has to leave all the things which mean something to her and she has to accustom to many new things. But she manages it all and doesn't give up when it comes to the crunch. That's what she shows to her parents and also to the reader.
She's just a little person who believes in herself and her family and she's confident that they manage everything. Sometimes her firm conviction seems a bit naive- but, I mean, that depends on her age.

Facts: When Hitler stole pink rabbit" takes place between 1933 and 1935, during the time of Hitler. Fundamentally the book, which was written in 1971 and comprises 240 pages, is autobiographical. Judith Kerr, daughter of the famous journalist and detractor Alfred Kerr, describes her own experiences. The story continues in the books The other way round" (1975) and A small person far away" (1979) that's why it doesn't have a happy ending.

Impression while reading: Basically the book is exciting (family is persecuted) and in some places it is sad (uncle Julius and little dog Pumpel die) but I expected a little bit more from the title. The author just tells us twice about the title pink rabbit". So I think it stands for the good time in Germany.

My opinion: I think the book explains - suitably for children - the life of the refugee families at the time when Hitler took over and ordered to kill Jewish people, and all the consequences and historical events happening at that time. The story describes the destiny of many other families, although many didn't have the chance to go to other countries.
And so the reader, in my opinion especially children, learns that it's not important how you think about religion or where you are from because a person is a person. I think although the book is over 30 years old it's a classic and from my point of view it's still up to date and you can compare this book to the diary of Anne Frank.

Furthermore: In 1974 the book was awarded with the Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis" as an outstanding children's book". In 1978 it was picturized (in German) under direction of Ilse Hofmann. The first broadcast was on 25th of December 1978, with Martin Benrath and Elisabeth Trissenaar as parents and Ariane Jessulat and Alexander Rosenberg as Anna and Max.