A Review of the Out Of The Hitler Time Series

Out of the Hitler Time is a series by Judith Kerr, semi-autobiographically based on her own life as a Jewish refugee from Germany and coming to Britain. The three books are When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, Bombs on Aunt Dainty and A Small Person Far Away. Anna's Jewish father has been writing anti-Nazi articles before Hitler came to power, and along with Anna's mother and her brother Max, they have to flee the country in 1933. The first book accounts their journey to Switzerland and France before taking up residence in Britain. Bombs on Aunt Dainty looks at the effects of the Blitz in London and the issues faced by the refugees from Europe. A Small Person Far Away has Anna return to Germany, now divided into sections after the war.

These books are the best books I've read about the Second World War. The first book especially can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. These are the books I needed as a child, learning about the Blitz and evacuees. Children have a different perception of time, and history can feel like events that took place a long time ago to people you don't know at that age, and historical fiction demolishes that barrier.

They also have a different perspective on Nazi Germany from that which is normally seen. Anna and her family fled in 1933. That is very early in terms of Hitler's power, before the Second World War even started, towards the end of the decade. As such, you see the fear and uncertainty hanging over them but also optimism at the beginning, as they think they'll be back home in six months.

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is a great introduction to the horrors of Nazi Germany, and while the horrors of the Holocaust aren't discussed in detail, they aren't glossed over, either. The book has a remarkably light-hearted touch to it's subject matter, though. Much of this comes from the family's closeness, keeping each others spirits up. Happy-go-lucky Anna sees most of their travels as an adventure, like her hopelessly impractical father. But the difficulties of going from being an upper-middle class German family to penniless refugees are a driving force of the book, with Anna's mother being the one most often bearing the brunt of it.

Bombs on Aunt Dainty is most definitely more YA, focusing much more on Anna's personal relationships. She's at loggerheads with her parents more often than not. This book also deals with her relationship with a much older man. Sex is discussed. She's a teenager in this one, and it shows. She starts to get more in touch with her passion for drawing, while working to help her family. Many of the refugees from Europe in Britain at the time did not find it easy, with many of the public viewing them as the enemy. This book may not be suitable for children to read straight after reading When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, but that can depend on the individual.

A Small Person Far Away feels older still. Anna is an adult, visiting her mother in hospital in Berlin. Discussions on the ethics of assisted suicide even without an underlying medical issue are frequent in the book, and it has an air of nostalgia and longing for home that adults in particular will identify with. It hasn't quite got the tension of the first two that is inherent with being set during the war and is more of a quiet family story. It's also a vital look at how depression and suicide was misunderstood back then. Anna's mother's illness (explicitly named as depression in the narrative) wasn't caught or treated in the same way it might be now.

The question of ethical treatment of refugees is perhaps more relevant now than it has been at any point in the last 70 years. These books need to be pressed into the hands of everyone you know.