We Were In Auschwitz by Janusz Nel Siedlecki, Krystyn Olszewski and Tadeusz Borowski.

I got this book for Christmas from my aunt in Poland, so I've decided to start reading it. I've recently started it, so sadly, I'm only on page 10. But just from reading a few pages, you could tell what the book is basically about. It's about World War 2 and how Jews and Polish people were kept in concentration camps. The 3 writers are all Polish survivors of World War 2.

I think that since I'm Polish and I study the topic in my Polish school, I won't be as surprised about how the German Nazis treated the Gentiles and Jews as to how other people would have reacted. It still shocks me that people had the nerve to do this, but I've heard it all before. Now, the theme is basically like a retell. It's like a story that grandparents would tell to their grandchildren if they have ever witnessed or been through such an event. Its an extremely hard topic to talk about, but also interesting at the same time.

I also think the cover says a lot about the theme and story also. The cover is all covered in navy and blue stripes. It symbolizes the clothes that the prisoners in concentration camps had to wear. In the top left corner, there is a tag on the stripes that says, "P 6643". This symbolizes that P stands for Pole, which is a Polish person, and the number that each prisoner got tatooed on them. 

This book reminds me of a movie that I saw. It was called "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas". It was about a German boy who's father was a general in the German army. The little boy, Bruno, had no idea what his father and his army was doing to these harmless people. He then runs away and finds a Jewish boy in a concentration camp. He sees him on the other side of the barb wired gate and starts having a conversation with him. He asks him why he is wearing "striped pajamas" and of course, the boy tells him. Bruno gets so interested into the boy that he digs a hole underneath the gate to sneak into the concentration camp. The Jewish boy gets him an extra pair of the "striped pajamas" and Bruno puts them on. He also let Bruno borrow his hat to cover up his dark hair, which had to be shaved off in order for people to be prisoners.

Bruno is then very happy that he is with his friend. All of a sudden, they hear an announcement that the prisoners were supposed to go take a shower. Of course, everyone agreed and went to "take the shower". Once they were all stuffed in a dark room, naked, they saw a hole in the middle of the ceiling suddenly open. A man at the top was there, dropping poison into the room. They then noticed that this wasn't a shower, it was a gas chamber. Many Jews and Gentiles got killed in these rooms. Bruno and his friend both died along with all the other Jews and Gentiles. It's a big connection because both my book and this movie have to do with World War 2 and how complicated and hard it was.