by Stefanie Goldsborough
Winnipeg, Manitoba
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Carol Matas, Turned Away: The World War II Diary of Devorah Bernstein Markham, Ontario: Scholastic Canada, 2005, 199 pages. ISBN: 0439969468 $14.99 (hardcover).
This book is part of a series called “Dear Canada” by Scholastic Canada. The books are written like they were the diaries of children who lived in the past. This book was really written by Carol Matas, who has written lots of books about the Holocaust, such as After the War, The Garden, Greater Than Angels, Rebecca, The War Within, Lisa, and Jesper. This is Ms. Matas’ second book for Dear Canada. She also wrote Footsteps in the Snow: The Red River Diary of Isobel Scott in 2002 about life in the Red River Settlement. The Manitoba Historical Society gave that book a Margaret McWilliams Award. Turned Away is about a ten-year-old girl named Devorah living in Winnipeg in 1941. Most of the people mentioned in the book are made up, but some of the things it talks about really happened. Because Devorah is living during the Second World War, her brothers Adam and Morris, and her cousin Isaac, have gone off to fight. Adam is an RCAF pilot in England, while Morris and Isaac are serving with the Winnipeg Grenadiers in Hong Kong. Devorah writes in her diary about the letters she receives from her cousin Sarah, who visited her in Winnipeg two years before, but is now back home in Paris, France. Sarah’s father was a judge but the Nazis took away his job because he is Jewish. Devorah’s family wants the Canadian government to let Sarah’s family come to Canada, but they won’t. Devorah does not understand why the government will not let Sarah come to Canada. I don’t understand this either—why would Canada not want them to come here? Five thousand Jewish children in France had visas to leave the country but the Canadian government would not let them in. Anyway, Devorah travels with her mother by train to Ottawa to ask the Prime Minister to help these people, but they are turned away. (That is where the book gets its title.) Devorah also writes about her worries when Hong Kong is invaded by the Japanese army, and she and her parents do not know if her brother is alive. Her brother Adam comes back to Winnipeg for a short visit, though. A bunch of men dressed like German soldiers pretend to invade Winnipeg so people would know what it might be like to live in Canada if the Nazis won the war. This part was real. I did not know that this “If Day” really happened! Devorah talks about other stuff besides the war. She goes to the movies and summer camp, eats at restaurants, and talks with her friends about boys and other stuff. She help start a group at her school that raises money for the war effort. At the end of book, there is a section that describes what happens to the people after the war. We find out what happened to Sarah, but I will not say here what it is.
My dad (who read the book with me) noticed that lots of places around Winnipeg were mentioned, but I did not recognize them because most of them are not here anymore. We think this is a book that both history lovers and nonhistory lovers will enjoy, for it really feels like you are living in the book and reading the diary of a real girl. It is easy to understand and it makes you think about how Jews, here and in Europe, were treated badly. I am not Jewish but, like Devorah, I do not understand why some people hate Jews. Parts of it made me sad. I wondered why my country, which I thought was one of the fairest places to live in the world, would not let in more Jews who were trying to escape the war in Europe. I thought it was a little odd that the book ended so suddenly—it did not seem to make sense to stop on 5 November 1942. And it started to lose my interest at one point where Devorah is helping her mother fight to send letters to Hong Kong. Other than that, this book is excellent, especially for kids who do not know what it was like to live in Winnipeg during the Second World War, and do not know much about the Holocaust.
A new life. Jewish refugees arrive in Calgary, 1948.
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Jewish Historical Society, #2519.
Page revised: 24 April 2011
