Published as: ‘Als Eure Großeltern jung waren. Mit Kindern über den Holocaust sprechen [When Your Grandparents Were Little: Speaking with children about the Holocaust]’ in 1993
Second edition 1998

Als Eure Grosseltern jung waren

When Your Grandparents Were Little


Text by Judith Kestenberg
Drawn by Vivienne Koorland



1- SHEETS 1&2 - Germany is a beautiful country.

2 - SHEETS 3&4 - The Germans were good people and were friends with their neighbors, until…

3 - SHEETS 5&6 - …your grandparents were little

4 -SHEETS 7&8 - and a small, bad man called Hitler became their leader.

5 - SHEETS 9&10 - He wanted to have all the countries around him for himself, that’s how greedy he was.

6 - SHEETS 11&12 - He wanted all German children to become Superpeople, marching and fighting like soldiers.

7 - SHEETS 13&14 - He didn’t want any weak, or sick or different people in Germany. He wanted to send the Jews away or kill them.

8 - SHEETS 15&16 - He wanted all Germans to be Nazis, wearing swastikas and shouting ‘Heil Hitler’.

9 - SHEETS 17&18 - Most Germans were afraid of Hitler, but many loved him, believing everything he said and obeyed him.

10 - SHEETS 19&20 - Hitler’s friends, the Nazis and the SS-men, were glad that Jews had to wear yellow stars on their clothes.

11 - SHEETS 21&22 - They were happy that Jews were not allowed to go to the park or to the movies or ride buses and streetcars.

12 - SHEET 23 - Jewish children were locked out of school

13 - SHEET 24 - and their fathers lost their work, because the SS-men took their shops away.

14 - SHEET 25 - The Jews were afraid of Hitler. Some fled to other countries, while others hid away.

15 - SHEET 26 - Some Germans helped hide Jews, but….

16 - SHEETS 27&28 - many more Jews were locked in parts of the cities called ghettos.

17 - SHEET 29 - Also, Jews and other people who didn’t like Hitler were sent to camps where …

18 - SHEET 30 - …SS-men and women forced them to work hard. They were beaten and killed.

19 - SHEETS 31&32 - The Americans, British and Russians sent their planes, ships and soldiers to defeat Hitler.

20 - SHEETS 33&34 - Many Germans died in the war, even schoolboys and old gentlemen, whom Hitler sent to the front. They had to fight till death.

21 - SHEETS 35&36 - When the Germans no longer wanted to fight and die, Hitler became so furious that he hid in his cellar and killed himself.

22 - SHEETS 37&38 - PEACE!

23 - SHEET 39 - The prisoners came out of the terrible camps

24 - SHEET 40 - and the hidden came out of hiding.

25 - SHEETS 41&42 - The Americans, British and Russians gave them food and clothing.

26 - SHEETS 43&44 - Jewish children went back to school. They could go swimming, to the park and to the movies.

27 - SHEETS 45&46 - But many were very sad, because they couldn’t find their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and grandparents, because the Nazis killed them.

28 - SHEETS 47&48 - The Germans had very little to eat now, because Hitler wasted all their money on ships and planes to wage war.

29 - SHEET 49 - Today, many Germans are ashamed and sad that so many bad things happened in their country.

30 - SHEET 50 - They are happy that there’s a place where Jews can always live - Israel, but they also welcome Jews who want to live in Germany.

31 - SHEETS 51&52 - in Germany now live Jews, Poles, Russians, Czechs, Turks and Hungarians and their children go to school with German children.

32 - SHEETS 53&54 - But unfortunately, there are still stupid people today who still love Hitler and who shout in the streets: foreigners out! Turks out!

33 - SHEETS 55&56 - THAT’S NOT RIGHT!

34 - SHEETS 57&58 - We want to be friends with all people: the weak, the strong, the black-haired and the blonde. We are not better than other people.

35 - SHEETS 59&60 - We don’t want war! We don’t want death! We say: Never again war! Never again Hitler! We are all friends!