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When the World Was Ours
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Emily Windsnap series, Liz Kessler, comes a poignant and harrowing story of three young friends whose fates are intertwined during the devastation of the Holocaust—based on a true story.
Three friends. One memory.
Vienna. 1936.
Three young friends—Leo, Elsa, and Max—spend a perfect day together, unaware that around them Europe is descending into a growing darkness and that they will soon be cruelly ripped apart from one another. With their lives taking them across Europe—to Germany, England, Prague, and Poland—will they ever find their way back to one another? Will they want to?
Inspired by a true story, When the World Was Ours is an extraordinary novel that is as powerful as it is heartbreaking and that shows how the bonds of love, family, and friendship allow glimmers of hope to flourish, even in the most hopeless of times.
Three friends. One memory.
Vienna. 1936.
Three young friends—Leo, Elsa, and Max—spend a perfect day together, unaware that around them Europe is descending into a growing darkness and that they will soon be cruelly ripped apart from one another. With their lives taking them across Europe—to Germany, England, Prague, and Poland—will they ever find their way back to one another? Will they want to?
Inspired by a true story, When the World Was Ours is an extraordinary novel that is as powerful as it is heartbreaking and that shows how the bonds of love, family, and friendship allow glimmers of hope to flourish, even in the most hopeless of times.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 21, 2021
About the author
Liz Kessler
61 books903 followersLiz Kessler is the author of three novels about Philippa Fisher as well as the NEW YORK TIMES best-selling Emily Windsnap series. She lives in Manchester, England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 842 reviews
May 18, 2021
It is 1936, Vienna. Max and Elsa are celebrating with Leo. It’s his ninth birthday. When asked what he wants to do, Leo picks riding Vienna’s Ferris wheel, the Riesenrad. His father, a professional photographer, captures the image of the smiling best friends. But this sweet photo freezes in time the last true happy day for the friends. The end of innocence is around the corner.
Max’s father, who hates that his son’s best friends are Jewish, has become an SS officer. With the rise of Hitler, Leo can no longer attend school, Elsa’s family leaves for Czechoslovakia believing life in Prague would be safer than Austria and Max’s family moves to Munich as his father becomes a star within the Nazi ranks. The friends are separated and soon the horrors of the war becomes their new reality. Leo and Elsa and their families’ main goal is to simply survive and Max is an enthusiastic participant within the Hitler Youth. Through it all, each has a special place in their heart for that one perfect day back at the Ferris wheel.
When the World Was Ours is written for a younger audience so I was initially hesitant in reading it, fearing it would be too sanitized and simplistic. But that was not the case. The story is heartbreaking and doesn’t hold back. Seeing the war years through the eyes of the three friends as death is all around them, makes for a very powerful read. Inspired by author Liz Kessler’s family history, it is the perfect book to insure teens read an unvarnished story about the Holocaust. I could not stop crying when finished. Adult readers will not be disappointed.
Many thanks to Aladdin Books / Simon & Schuster and Goodreads for the opportunity to read this gripping book in advance of its May 18, 2021 publication.
Rated 4.5 stars.
Review posted on MicheleReader.com.
Max’s father, who hates that his son’s best friends are Jewish, has become an SS officer. With the rise of Hitler, Leo can no longer attend school, Elsa’s family leaves for Czechoslovakia believing life in Prague would be safer than Austria and Max’s family moves to Munich as his father becomes a star within the Nazi ranks. The friends are separated and soon the horrors of the war becomes their new reality. Leo and Elsa and their families’ main goal is to simply survive and Max is an enthusiastic participant within the Hitler Youth. Through it all, each has a special place in their heart for that one perfect day back at the Ferris wheel.
When the World Was Ours is written for a younger audience so I was initially hesitant in reading it, fearing it would be too sanitized and simplistic. But that was not the case. The story is heartbreaking and doesn’t hold back. Seeing the war years through the eyes of the three friends as death is all around them, makes for a very powerful read. Inspired by author Liz Kessler’s family history, it is the perfect book to insure teens read an unvarnished story about the Holocaust. I could not stop crying when finished. Adult readers will not be disappointed.
Many thanks to Aladdin Books / Simon & Schuster and Goodreads for the opportunity to read this gripping book in advance of its May 18, 2021 publication.
Rated 4.5 stars.
Review posted on MicheleReader.com.
August 11, 2021
CW: War crimes on page
Well that was quite moving actually.
Through the eyes of three children we see the devastation that was brought about by the Nazi regime. Initially the story is told with all the joy and innocence of childhood, but slowly the voices change to ones of suspicion, confusion, and fear. A brilliant example of how the cruel ideals of a few, can change the way we feel about the people we once called our friends. A great addition to my booktalk shelves.
Well that was quite moving actually.
Through the eyes of three children we see the devastation that was brought about by the Nazi regime. Initially the story is told with all the joy and innocence of childhood, but slowly the voices change to ones of suspicion, confusion, and fear. A brilliant example of how the cruel ideals of a few, can change the way we feel about the people we once called our friends. A great addition to my booktalk shelves.
July 14, 2021
When the World Was Ours by Liz Kessler, the New York Times bestselling author of the Emily Windsnap series, is a poignant and harrowing story of three young friends whose fates are intertwined during the devastation of the Holocaust; it is based on a true story of three friends in pre-war Vienna. 1936. Three young friends—Leo, Elsa, and Max—spend a perfect day together, unaware that around them big changes are coming as Europe is descending into a growing darkness and that they will soon be cruelly ripped apart from one another. With their lives taking them across Europe—to Germany, England, Prague, and Poland—will they ever find their way back to one another? Will they want to? Inspired by a true story, When the World Was Ours is an extraordinary novel that is as powerful as it is heartbreaking and that shows how the bonds of love, family, and friendship allow glimmers of hope to flourish, even in the most hopeless of times. But sometimes even the best of intentions are not enough to overcome the forces of history.
August 12, 2021
This book was absolutely amazing. But it was heartbreaking as well. I couldn't put it down, and then I sobbed through about the last 50 pages of this book. It hurt. I hurt for Max, and Elsa, and Leo, and his family and everyone who was affected by all this wretchedness.
But the part that made me cry the hardest was the final chapter, the one that took place in our day. It just hurts so badly to know that there are still people dying and losing everything they love and care about all over again. It hurts to know that we still need to talk about this, that we still need reminders to try and make it never happen again. It hurts that everything is still broken.
A picture paints a thousand words, but really, it can do so much more than that. It brings people together, connects them still, even years later. Because while people can change, a picture can't, and that picture reminded them, reminded all of them, who they truly were. Sometimes I think that who you are as a young child is the essence of who you are. You can grow and develop as you age, but your inner self, everything that makes you you, is based upon all your previous years of living. That child is the simplified, black and white version of who you are, and it's still there. You can't get rid of that self, you can only add on to it, so we should always try to add on for the better, rather than for the worse.
But the part that made me cry the hardest was the final chapter, the one that took place in our day. It just hurts so badly to know that there are still people dying and losing everything they love and care about all over again. It hurts to know that we still need to talk about this, that we still need reminders to try and make it never happen again. It hurts that everything is still broken.
A picture paints a thousand words, but really, it can do so much more than that. It brings people together, connects them still, even years later. Because while people can change, a picture can't, and that picture reminded them, reminded all of them, who they truly were. Sometimes I think that who you are as a young child is the essence of who you are. You can grow and develop as you age, but your inner self, everything that makes you you, is based upon all your previous years of living. That child is the simplified, black and white version of who you are, and it's still there. You can't get rid of that self, you can only add on to it, so we should always try to add on for the better, rather than for the worse.
March 16, 2023
I was blown away but this remarkable story!
February 3, 2021
Inspired by the true story of her father’s escape from Nazi-occupied Europe, in When The World Was Ours the author takes the reader on a journey from Vienna in 1936 to the outbreak of the Second World War and beyond in the company of three childhood friends – Leo, Max and Elsa. Since Leo and Elsa are Jewish, the lives of the three children, and their families, are destined to take very different paths.
Given their youth, the friends don’t always understand, at least to begin with, the full import or implications of the things they see or hear their parents discussing. Only gradually do the youngsters become aware of the consequences of Leo and Elsa’s Jewish faith when anti-Jewish sentiment becomes more widespread and is followed by legal restrictions, and worse. It results in the three friends being separated, unsure if they will ever see one another again.
The author really captures the emotional and psychological toll of their experiences on the three children and the insidious nature of Nazi indoctrination. This is especially evident in the case of Max, who emerges as the most complex character and the only one of the three children whose thoughts are communicated in the third person. His mental contortions as he tries to reconcile what his conscience is telling him about his friends with the anti-Semitic hatred he is being fed by his father and the authorities is hard to witness. “Before long Max had convinced himself Leo and Elsa weren’t Jewish at all. They couldn’t have been. And if they weren’t Jewish then Max didn’t have a problem.”
Max’s fourteenth birthday evokes memories of an earlier birthday shared with Elsa and Leo – captured in a precious photograph – and a rare moment of self-awareness. “In an instant, nothing of his current life was real. He saw it for what it was: a vain, superficial attempt to fit in. To be loved. To be praised by his father…”. Unfortunately, it’s short-lived thanks to the intervention of his father who forces Max to demonstrate his loyalty to the Nazi regime in the cruelest of tests. It is not the last time he will face such a test.
Amidst the heartbreak and tragedy, there are small moments of joy. For example, Elsa’s delight in acquiring a best friend, Greta, and their joint adoption of a cat they feed with scraps. Or Leo’s pride at overcoming the obstacles to getting himself and his mother to safety. These provide a counterpoint to some of the truly chilling scenes in the book: the school assembly at which Jewish children are singled out; the day Max accompanies his father to work and its location is revealed; and, later, Max’s feeling that it is “his destiny” when found a job at his father’s new posting. It’s difficult not to get a sense of foreboding also at Elsa’s hope that the outbreak of war against Germany means, “Everything is going to be all right. I can feel it in my bones and in my heart”.
The fact the book is written from the perspective of the three children makes it both accessible and educational for teenage readers. But it also has much to offer for older readers like myself. As we look around the world today, Elsa’s reflection should provide us all with food for thought. “How rapidly something unthinkable can become commonplace. How easily we let the inconceivable become a new normal. How quickly we learn to stop questioning these things…”
In war, there are rarely happy endings and books, even if works of fiction, that recount the events of the Holocaust are often difficult to read. At the same time, books like When The World Was Ours are an inspiring testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the kindness of strangers.
Given their youth, the friends don’t always understand, at least to begin with, the full import or implications of the things they see or hear their parents discussing. Only gradually do the youngsters become aware of the consequences of Leo and Elsa’s Jewish faith when anti-Jewish sentiment becomes more widespread and is followed by legal restrictions, and worse. It results in the three friends being separated, unsure if they will ever see one another again.
The author really captures the emotional and psychological toll of their experiences on the three children and the insidious nature of Nazi indoctrination. This is especially evident in the case of Max, who emerges as the most complex character and the only one of the three children whose thoughts are communicated in the third person. His mental contortions as he tries to reconcile what his conscience is telling him about his friends with the anti-Semitic hatred he is being fed by his father and the authorities is hard to witness. “Before long Max had convinced himself Leo and Elsa weren’t Jewish at all. They couldn’t have been. And if they weren’t Jewish then Max didn’t have a problem.”
Max’s fourteenth birthday evokes memories of an earlier birthday shared with Elsa and Leo – captured in a precious photograph – and a rare moment of self-awareness. “In an instant, nothing of his current life was real. He saw it for what it was: a vain, superficial attempt to fit in. To be loved. To be praised by his father…”. Unfortunately, it’s short-lived thanks to the intervention of his father who forces Max to demonstrate his loyalty to the Nazi regime in the cruelest of tests. It is not the last time he will face such a test.
Amidst the heartbreak and tragedy, there are small moments of joy. For example, Elsa’s delight in acquiring a best friend, Greta, and their joint adoption of a cat they feed with scraps. Or Leo’s pride at overcoming the obstacles to getting himself and his mother to safety. These provide a counterpoint to some of the truly chilling scenes in the book: the school assembly at which Jewish children are singled out; the day Max accompanies his father to work and its location is revealed; and, later, Max’s feeling that it is “his destiny” when found a job at his father’s new posting. It’s difficult not to get a sense of foreboding also at Elsa’s hope that the outbreak of war against Germany means, “Everything is going to be all right. I can feel it in my bones and in my heart”.
The fact the book is written from the perspective of the three children makes it both accessible and educational for teenage readers. But it also has much to offer for older readers like myself. As we look around the world today, Elsa’s reflection should provide us all with food for thought. “How rapidly something unthinkable can become commonplace. How easily we let the inconceivable become a new normal. How quickly we learn to stop questioning these things…”
In war, there are rarely happy endings and books, even if works of fiction, that recount the events of the Holocaust are often difficult to read. At the same time, books like When The World Was Ours are an inspiring testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the kindness of strangers.
May 10, 2021
Three friends (Leo, Elsa, and Max) celebrate a 9th birthday in Vienna. They are on top of the world, literally on the Riesenrad. It is 1936. Two of the children are Jewish. As Hitler rises to power in Germany in the years to follow, the three friends are pulled apart. The three paths will intertwine in various ways as war begins and the conflicts grow. Having three families in the book provides the unique opportunity to explore different experiences like sponsorship, the attraction of joining the Hitler Youth, and concentration camps. There are some difficult passages and I would not recommend this to children under ten. Reading with an adult or in a classroom as part of a Holocaust unit would be ideal. Very well done and made me cry multiple times.
Thank you to Aladdin and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to Aladdin and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
June 29, 2022
WARNING: this book will make you cry. I'm not saying just a few droplets here and there, I'm talking Niagara falls here! Prepare an entire tissue box.
This book has the honour of being the only book that has ever made me cry. I never cry, but this was different.
This book was amazing, I loved everything about it. The characters, the plot, the historical accuracy-it was perfection! You could tell that a lot of effort and research was put into the making of such a wonderful book.
The characters were all fantastic, and I loved the immensely powerful friendship they had. It's so depressing how their lives had to be torn apart from such a young age, and seeing them grow and mature over the years. Wow. Just wow.
Seeing Max being raised as a Nazi broke my heart, I hated seeing his father force an innocent child from a young age to have these preposterous mentalities, but I guess this was the harsh reality of the time.
Elsa's journey was heart-breaking - what she and her family went through, and what millions of people in real life went through too, was horrifying. How some people could have been so monstrous truly shocks me.
And the ending, the ending!!! I had to re-read it several times because my vision was being too blurred with all the tears.
An amazing, immensely well-written story about the harsh realities of World War II, and brutally shows the evil side of humanity.
This book has the honour of being the only book that has ever made me cry. I never cry, but this was different.
This book was amazing, I loved everything about it. The characters, the plot, the historical accuracy-it was perfection! You could tell that a lot of effort and research was put into the making of such a wonderful book.
The characters were all fantastic, and I loved the immensely powerful friendship they had. It's so depressing how their lives had to be torn apart from such a young age, and seeing them grow and mature over the years. Wow. Just wow.
Seeing Max being raised as a Nazi broke my heart, I hated seeing his father force an innocent child from a young age to have these preposterous mentalities, but I guess this was the harsh reality of the time.
Elsa's journey was heart-breaking - what she and her family went through, and what millions of people in real life went through too, was horrifying. How some people could have been so monstrous truly shocks me.
And the ending, the ending!!! I had to re-read it several times because my vision was being too blurred with all the tears.
An amazing, immensely well-written story about the harsh realities of World War II, and brutally shows the evil side of humanity.
October 19, 2020
This wonderful story will live in my heart forever. Powerfully written with perfect understanding of how children’s minds work, it is very timely in these worrying times where fascism and white supremacy are on the rise. I was a primary school teacher in my past life and would have definitely read this amazing book to my class of eleven year-olds, and then used it as a springboard for discussion. It is not in any way preachy, but gets the message across so well about the horrors of the Holocaust and the brutality and cruelty of the dreadful Nazi regime. I wholeheartedly recommend this book – but be warned, it will probably affect you deeply and will bring tears. And you’ll never forget it.
March 10, 2021
I take a deep breath as I write this, and try to make sense of my thoughts after finishing this book.
This was a raw, unflinching look at the Holocaust but it was told in such an original way. 3 children who grew up together, then their lives went separate ways and yet they were all connected by one photograph, a memory of a wonderful happy birthday. The author's note at the start was helpful in learning the characters and the reasons for the author in shaping their lives, which made it all the more riveting.
Some scenes were extremely painful to read, and the last few chapters had me weeping. Enjoyable is probably the incorrect word to use to describe this book, but this was so powerful.
Highly recommended.
This was a raw, unflinching look at the Holocaust but it was told in such an original way. 3 children who grew up together, then their lives went separate ways and yet they were all connected by one photograph, a memory of a wonderful happy birthday. The author's note at the start was helpful in learning the characters and the reasons for the author in shaping their lives, which made it all the more riveting.
Some scenes were extremely painful to read, and the last few chapters had me weeping. Enjoyable is probably the incorrect word to use to describe this book, but this was so powerful.
Highly recommended.
March 10, 2023
Wow I’m a wreck. This book broke me into pieces—I cried so much. What a gripping, awful, wonderful, WWII story. The writing was probably for an average middle grade reader, but the stories and themes (friendship, acceptance, perseverance, persecution, anti-semitism) were definitely for an older audience. But wow. It was powerful.
April 5, 2024
This is the second of Liz Kessler’s historical fiction novels that I’ve read, and I’m hooked!
Max, Elsa, and Leo are buddies from the first day they met in school. They’re just ordinary kids growing up in 1930’s Vienna, celebrating birthdays, playing, and having adventures together. They are sure that they will be best friends forever. Until things begin to change around them, and in the world, and the three children are forced apart. But they can still be forever friends, can’t they, no matter where they are?…
Excellent historical fiction about WW2, written from the three children’s points of view. They are all affected by the Nazi regime in different ways. Elsa and Leo narrate their stories in their own voices; Max’s is written in third person. This allows the reader to have the experience of seeing Max succumb to Nazi ideology as he grows older, until honor to Hitler becomes more important to him than anything else in the world. It’s chilling to read about his indoctrination, and about how Elsa and Leo’s lives are affected by by rampant anti-semitism, because unlike Max, they are Jewish..There is a disclaimer at the beginning explaining that the book contains some very disturbing attitudes, and scenes, so adult guidance would be necessary for younger readers.
Max, Elsa, and Leo are buddies from the first day they met in school. They’re just ordinary kids growing up in 1930’s Vienna, celebrating birthdays, playing, and having adventures together. They are sure that they will be best friends forever. Until things begin to change around them, and in the world, and the three children are forced apart. But they can still be forever friends, can’t they, no matter where they are?…
Excellent historical fiction about WW2, written from the three children’s points of view. They are all affected by the Nazi regime in different ways. Elsa and Leo narrate their stories in their own voices; Max’s is written in third person. This allows the reader to have the experience of seeing Max succumb to Nazi ideology as he grows older, until honor to Hitler becomes more important to him than anything else in the world. It’s chilling to read about his indoctrination, and about how Elsa and Leo’s lives are affected by by rampant anti-semitism, because unlike Max, they are Jewish..There is a disclaimer at the beginning explaining that the book contains some very disturbing attitudes, and scenes, so adult guidance would be necessary for younger readers.
May 13, 2021
Really enjoyed this book about 3 childhood friends during the holocaust and World War 2. And then following their trials and tribulations throughout the next few years as all of their lives take a wild and crazy, emotional role coaster ride through the ins and outs of war, invasions, escapes, concentration camps, and inevitably, a tragic end for some of the characters. Probably the best book I've read so far about those horrific times and even more heartbreaking coming from the point of view of children. A quick read, but it will linger long in your memory and long, long after you've spilled your tears on the final pages. Would love to see this book available in schools for all young teenagers to read and realize just how good their lives are now.
October 2, 2024
I really loved this book! It was a great story of friendship, resilience and the struggles of loss of identity. This book follows 3 friends from Austria, who's lives take very different paths once the Nazis begin persecuting the Jewish people. I especially enjoyed reading Leo's perspective. But I also really enjoyed Max's, as it was interesting to see his ongoing internal battle with his conflicting morals, and how he slowly began to lose his sense of self to the Nazi regime. Overall, I think it was beautifully written and had an interesting plot.
June 2, 2021
Richie’s Picks: WHEN THE WORLD WAS OURS by Liz Kessler, Simon & Schuster/Aladdin, May 2021, 352p., ISBN: 978-1-5344-9965-2
“Well we all have a face
That we hide away forever
And we take them out
And show ourselves
When everyone is gone”
-- Billy Joel, “The Stranger” (1977)
Billy Joel’s father, a German Jew, escaped the Nazis and reached America, via Switzerland and Cuba.
“President Joe Biden on Friday denounced a recent increase in antisemitic incidents in a statement, calling them ‘despicable, unconscionable, un-American.’
‘In the last weeks, our nation has seen a series of anti-Semitic attacks, targeting and terrorizing American Jews,’ Biden said. ‘We have seen a brick thrown through a window of a Jewish-owned business in Manhattan, a swastika carved into the door of a synagogue in Salt Lake City, families threatened outside a restaurant in Los Angeles, and museums in Florida and Alaska, dedicated to celebrating Jewish life and culture and remembering the Holocaust, vandalized with anti-Jewish messages.’”
--NBC News (5/28/21)
As a child, I had a friend whose mother had numbers tattooed on her arm. Over the years, I had other friends who’d lost relatives in the Holocaust. And I once had a girlfriend whose dad, as a child, had been active in the Hitler Youth movement. These days, I have a connection to a nonagenarian who, as a teenager, jumped from a death camp-bound cattle car, escaping as the Nazi guards shot at her with rifles.
Over the years, I’ve read and written about some truly outstanding books relating to Hitler, the Nazi movement, and the Hitler Youth movement. But WHEN THE WORLD WAS OURS moved me like nothing I’ve read before. It breaks my heart that the author Liz Kessler is a Brit, not an American, since it means this not-to-be-missed read is not eligible for the Newbery Medal. It’s that good--a powerful and impeccably-written story that I wholeheartedly recommend for 10-14 year-olds.
WHEN THE WORLD WAS OURS features three young Viennese schoolchildren who, in the mid-1930s, at the outset of the story, are innocent and inseparable best friends. Leo is a Jewish boy, Elsa is a Jewish girl, and Max is a gentile boy. The story is told from the alternating points of view of the three friends and is organized by calendar year, beginning in 1936 and concluding in 1945. Elsa’s and Leo’s chapters are written in the first person. Max’s chapters are written in the third person, making Max a bit more distant and mysterious to the reader.
A pivotal event takes place at the beginning of the story when, for Leo’s ninth birthday, his father treats the three friends to an outing. The day’s highlight is a Ferris wheel ride featuring large enclosed cars in which the riders can move about.
While on the ride, Leo’s father, a professional photographer, takes a group photo of the three friends at the top of the wheel. Later, he gives each a copy of the photo as a souvenir. These beloved photos mark a cherished friendship that has already hit its figurative and literal high point, and will quickly become a memory.
After the photography that day, Leo’s dad goofs around on the Ferris wheel with the three young friends, causing Leo to accidentally stumble into a British couple. After apologies, Leo’s dad converses with and befriends the couple. They end up trading contact information. Later in the story, the British couple will serve a pivotal role in Leo’s survival. (We know ahead of time that Leo will survive the Nazis because the Leo character was inspired by the author’s father. This means, of course, that Leo must survive in order for the author to exist and tell the story.)
Max has a strained relationship with his father, a Nazi officer on his way up. Max’s father instructs him to no longer hang out with Jewish kids. Longing to please his father, Max somehow convinces himself that joining the Hitler Youth and developing a hatred of Jews has nothing to do with his two old friends.
In 1937 the strained friendship is severed when, fearing the cruelty of the Nazis, Elsa’s family moves to Czechoslovakia.
Max’s family, on the other hand, moves into a furnished penthouse apartment in Munich that seems to have belonged to a wealthy Jewish family who were forced out. In 1943, Max’s family moves again, to a home near Auschwitz. Max’s dad has been appointed to a top position there, and he gets Max a job there too.
The story reaches a breathtaking crescendo when we witness an interweaving of the three family stories years after the Ferris wheel ride: Elsa’s family is sent to Auschwitz on a death camp train. Leo’s now-emaciated dad is there, too, forced into slave labor in exchange for staying alive. And Max and his dad are working there.
The book is prefaced with a content warning. The story includes many vivid examples of the Nazis’s cruelty and is an intense read. I frequently cried while I read it, and often sobbed between readings, thinking about what took place a mere decade before I was born.
That’s the thing that really gets me. When one is a child, history seems like long ago. But from my current vantage point, ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago is just not that long ago.
Given that anti-Semitism has never gone away, WHEN THE WORLD WAS OURS is an important read. With its fine writing and storytelling, this one gets my highest recommendation.
Richie Partington, MLIS
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“Well we all have a face
That we hide away forever
And we take them out
And show ourselves
When everyone is gone”
-- Billy Joel, “The Stranger” (1977)
Billy Joel’s father, a German Jew, escaped the Nazis and reached America, via Switzerland and Cuba.
“President Joe Biden on Friday denounced a recent increase in antisemitic incidents in a statement, calling them ‘despicable, unconscionable, un-American.’
‘In the last weeks, our nation has seen a series of anti-Semitic attacks, targeting and terrorizing American Jews,’ Biden said. ‘We have seen a brick thrown through a window of a Jewish-owned business in Manhattan, a swastika carved into the door of a synagogue in Salt Lake City, families threatened outside a restaurant in Los Angeles, and museums in Florida and Alaska, dedicated to celebrating Jewish life and culture and remembering the Holocaust, vandalized with anti-Jewish messages.’”
--NBC News (5/28/21)
As a child, I had a friend whose mother had numbers tattooed on her arm. Over the years, I had other friends who’d lost relatives in the Holocaust. And I once had a girlfriend whose dad, as a child, had been active in the Hitler Youth movement. These days, I have a connection to a nonagenarian who, as a teenager, jumped from a death camp-bound cattle car, escaping as the Nazi guards shot at her with rifles.
Over the years, I’ve read and written about some truly outstanding books relating to Hitler, the Nazi movement, and the Hitler Youth movement. But WHEN THE WORLD WAS OURS moved me like nothing I’ve read before. It breaks my heart that the author Liz Kessler is a Brit, not an American, since it means this not-to-be-missed read is not eligible for the Newbery Medal. It’s that good--a powerful and impeccably-written story that I wholeheartedly recommend for 10-14 year-olds.
WHEN THE WORLD WAS OURS features three young Viennese schoolchildren who, in the mid-1930s, at the outset of the story, are innocent and inseparable best friends. Leo is a Jewish boy, Elsa is a Jewish girl, and Max is a gentile boy. The story is told from the alternating points of view of the three friends and is organized by calendar year, beginning in 1936 and concluding in 1945. Elsa’s and Leo’s chapters are written in the first person. Max’s chapters are written in the third person, making Max a bit more distant and mysterious to the reader.
A pivotal event takes place at the beginning of the story when, for Leo’s ninth birthday, his father treats the three friends to an outing. The day’s highlight is a Ferris wheel ride featuring large enclosed cars in which the riders can move about.
While on the ride, Leo’s father, a professional photographer, takes a group photo of the three friends at the top of the wheel. Later, he gives each a copy of the photo as a souvenir. These beloved photos mark a cherished friendship that has already hit its figurative and literal high point, and will quickly become a memory.
After the photography that day, Leo’s dad goofs around on the Ferris wheel with the three young friends, causing Leo to accidentally stumble into a British couple. After apologies, Leo’s dad converses with and befriends the couple. They end up trading contact information. Later in the story, the British couple will serve a pivotal role in Leo’s survival. (We know ahead of time that Leo will survive the Nazis because the Leo character was inspired by the author’s father. This means, of course, that Leo must survive in order for the author to exist and tell the story.)
Max has a strained relationship with his father, a Nazi officer on his way up. Max’s father instructs him to no longer hang out with Jewish kids. Longing to please his father, Max somehow convinces himself that joining the Hitler Youth and developing a hatred of Jews has nothing to do with his two old friends.
In 1937 the strained friendship is severed when, fearing the cruelty of the Nazis, Elsa’s family moves to Czechoslovakia.
Max’s family, on the other hand, moves into a furnished penthouse apartment in Munich that seems to have belonged to a wealthy Jewish family who were forced out. In 1943, Max’s family moves again, to a home near Auschwitz. Max’s dad has been appointed to a top position there, and he gets Max a job there too.
The story reaches a breathtaking crescendo when we witness an interweaving of the three family stories years after the Ferris wheel ride: Elsa’s family is sent to Auschwitz on a death camp train. Leo’s now-emaciated dad is there, too, forced into slave labor in exchange for staying alive. And Max and his dad are working there.
The book is prefaced with a content warning. The story includes many vivid examples of the Nazis’s cruelty and is an intense read. I frequently cried while I read it, and often sobbed between readings, thinking about what took place a mere decade before I was born.
That’s the thing that really gets me. When one is a child, history seems like long ago. But from my current vantage point, ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago is just not that long ago.
Given that anti-Semitism has never gone away, WHEN THE WORLD WAS OURS is an important read. With its fine writing and storytelling, this one gets my highest recommendation.
Richie Partington, MLIS
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September 30, 2023
Hartverscheurend mooi 💔 Het is zo makkelijk om te vergeten dat het nog maar kinderen zijn. De gruwelijkheden van de oorlog raakte iedereen en dat is in deze YA echt mooi en realistisch neergezet.
"Daarna, wanneer ik mijn familie, mijn naam, mijn haar en mijn kleding kwijt ben, besef ik dat het laatste wat ik nog had van me is afgenomen: mijn identiteit. Ik ben niemand meer. Vanbinnen voel ik iets uitgaan, en ik weet dat het proces van sterven is begonnen."
"Daarna, wanneer ik mijn familie, mijn naam, mijn haar en mijn kleding kwijt ben, besef ik dat het laatste wat ik nog had van me is afgenomen: mijn identiteit. Ik ben niemand meer. Vanbinnen voel ik iets uitgaan, en ik weet dat het proces van sterven is begonnen."
March 11, 2024
I was drawn to this book because it is narrated by three children - there is something so raw and innocent about seeing things through the eyes of a child. Except when things get very dark, and events come through even darker when that innocence is lost.
The book starts with three children in 1930s Austria, who are firm friends. Two are Jewish, one is not. Then comes the Anscluss - the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany.
The friends become separated by the ensuing horrors - can their friendship endure?
The book starts with three children in 1930s Austria, who are firm friends. Two are Jewish, one is not. Then comes the Anscluss - the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany.
The friends become separated by the ensuing horrors - can their friendship endure?
January 27, 2022
Liz Kessler is een Engelse schrijfster uit Southport. Ze schrijft voornamelijk kinder en young-adult boeken. Met Toen de wereld nog van ons was schrijft ze haar eerste verhaal over de Holocaust.
Een verhaal met waargebeurde insteek.
De insteek van dit verhaal werd gevormd door de herinneringen van haar eigen vader en andere familieleden aan de Tweede Wereldoorlog. De waargebeurde feiten werden aangevuld met eigen ideeën. Waar de scheiding ligt tussen fictie en Non-fictie verteld de auteur zelf in een kort voorwoord, alsook wat ze wil bereiken met het schrijven van dit boek.
Het hele verhaal speelt zich af tussen 1937 en 1945 en eindigt met een sprong naar 2021. Alles, met op de achtergrond en na een tijd de voorgrond, de tweede Wereldoorlog of de start daarvan.
Toen de wereld nog van ons was verteld ons het verhaal van drie vrienden. Max, Elsa en Leo zijn beste vrienden en doen dan ook alles samen. Als ze op Leo zijn verjaardag samen het reuzenrad nemen in Wenen en krijgen als aandenken een foto van hen samen. Die foto wordt gezien als het teken van hun vriendschap. Maar de wereld verandert langzaam en de tweede Wereldoorlog komt alsmaar dichterbij. Leo en Elsa zijn joods en verlaten Oostenrijk omdat ze hun leven niet meer zeker zijn. Max verhuist met zijn vader naar Duitsland waar deze een belangrijke rol zal vervullen in het nazi regime. Kunnen de drie vrienden hun vriendschap in ere houden of zal deze barsten vertonen.
Quote Het enige wat er echt toe deed, was dat, toen hij en zijn vrienden even later op de boot sprongen en samen de stad aan zich voorbij zagen trekken, de band van hun vriendschap zo diep en breed voelde als de Donau zelf.
Een emotioneel geschreven verhaal.
Kessler schrijft het verhaal zodanig dat de emoties van het blad spatten. Een voorbeeld hiervan is: Hij hield zichzelf voor wat hij ook maar wilde horen, ook al wist hij diep in zijn hart dat het allemaal gelogen was. Ze slaagt erin met één zin de emotionele toestand van het personage te schetsen. De achtergrond waarop alles gebeurt wordt ook mooi omschreven . Bv Een bruine sjaal die zo harig is dat ik eerst dacht dat hij leefde. Zonder al teveel in detail te treden over de gruwelen in een concentratiekamp slaagt ze er toch in om de ernst van de situatie te laten doordringen.
Verstaanbare personages
De manier waarop ze de drie vrienden en hun familie neerzet is zeer goed. Hun keuzes en manier van denken voelen verstaanbaar aan voor de lezer. Je leeft echt mee met de drie. Een thema dat ook wel naar boven komt in het verhaal is dat je omgeving toch wel bepaalt wie je wordt of dat ze willen dat je wordt. Dit komt het meeste naar boven in het verhaal van Max. Die neemt de zwaarste rol op zich in dit verhaal. Kessler heeft ervoor gekozen om elke keer te veranderen van perspectief over het verhaal. Ze wisselt continue tussen Elsa, Leo en max. Bij Leo en Elsa beleef je alles mee vanop hun schouder, terwijl er voor het verhaal van Max gekozen werd om vanaf de zijlijn toe te kijken. Dit werkt enorm goed voor dit verhaal. De lijdensweg van Elsa en Leo komt door die ik-vorm extra binnen bij de lezer. Bij Max bekijk je als lezer hoe hij verandert tijdens de oorlogsjaren.
Ondanks alles een hoopvol slot
Het slot van het boek zit zeer goed in elkaar. Sommige verhaallijnen komen samen en worden mooi afgesloten. Dit op een serene manier dat zeker past bij het verhaal.
Conclusie
Een pracht van een verhaal dat omschrijft hoe drie vrienden zich proberen stand te houden in een veranderende wereld. Ze volgen een pad, gebaseerd op de waarden van hun ouders, in de hoop dat ze niet ten onder gaan in het geweld van de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Zeer mooi geschreven met emotie in bijna elke zin die op papier gezet geweest is.
Een verhaal met waargebeurde insteek.
De insteek van dit verhaal werd gevormd door de herinneringen van haar eigen vader en andere familieleden aan de Tweede Wereldoorlog. De waargebeurde feiten werden aangevuld met eigen ideeën. Waar de scheiding ligt tussen fictie en Non-fictie verteld de auteur zelf in een kort voorwoord, alsook wat ze wil bereiken met het schrijven van dit boek.
Het hele verhaal speelt zich af tussen 1937 en 1945 en eindigt met een sprong naar 2021. Alles, met op de achtergrond en na een tijd de voorgrond, de tweede Wereldoorlog of de start daarvan.
Toen de wereld nog van ons was verteld ons het verhaal van drie vrienden. Max, Elsa en Leo zijn beste vrienden en doen dan ook alles samen. Als ze op Leo zijn verjaardag samen het reuzenrad nemen in Wenen en krijgen als aandenken een foto van hen samen. Die foto wordt gezien als het teken van hun vriendschap. Maar de wereld verandert langzaam en de tweede Wereldoorlog komt alsmaar dichterbij. Leo en Elsa zijn joods en verlaten Oostenrijk omdat ze hun leven niet meer zeker zijn. Max verhuist met zijn vader naar Duitsland waar deze een belangrijke rol zal vervullen in het nazi regime. Kunnen de drie vrienden hun vriendschap in ere houden of zal deze barsten vertonen.
Quote Het enige wat er echt toe deed, was dat, toen hij en zijn vrienden even later op de boot sprongen en samen de stad aan zich voorbij zagen trekken, de band van hun vriendschap zo diep en breed voelde als de Donau zelf.
Een emotioneel geschreven verhaal.
Kessler schrijft het verhaal zodanig dat de emoties van het blad spatten. Een voorbeeld hiervan is: Hij hield zichzelf voor wat hij ook maar wilde horen, ook al wist hij diep in zijn hart dat het allemaal gelogen was. Ze slaagt erin met één zin de emotionele toestand van het personage te schetsen. De achtergrond waarop alles gebeurt wordt ook mooi omschreven . Bv Een bruine sjaal die zo harig is dat ik eerst dacht dat hij leefde. Zonder al teveel in detail te treden over de gruwelen in een concentratiekamp slaagt ze er toch in om de ernst van de situatie te laten doordringen.
Verstaanbare personages
De manier waarop ze de drie vrienden en hun familie neerzet is zeer goed. Hun keuzes en manier van denken voelen verstaanbaar aan voor de lezer. Je leeft echt mee met de drie. Een thema dat ook wel naar boven komt in het verhaal is dat je omgeving toch wel bepaalt wie je wordt of dat ze willen dat je wordt. Dit komt het meeste naar boven in het verhaal van Max. Die neemt de zwaarste rol op zich in dit verhaal. Kessler heeft ervoor gekozen om elke keer te veranderen van perspectief over het verhaal. Ze wisselt continue tussen Elsa, Leo en max. Bij Leo en Elsa beleef je alles mee vanop hun schouder, terwijl er voor het verhaal van Max gekozen werd om vanaf de zijlijn toe te kijken. Dit werkt enorm goed voor dit verhaal. De lijdensweg van Elsa en Leo komt door die ik-vorm extra binnen bij de lezer. Bij Max bekijk je als lezer hoe hij verandert tijdens de oorlogsjaren.
Ondanks alles een hoopvol slot
Het slot van het boek zit zeer goed in elkaar. Sommige verhaallijnen komen samen en worden mooi afgesloten. Dit op een serene manier dat zeker past bij het verhaal.
Conclusie
Een pracht van een verhaal dat omschrijft hoe drie vrienden zich proberen stand te houden in een veranderende wereld. Ze volgen een pad, gebaseerd op de waarden van hun ouders, in de hoop dat ze niet ten onder gaan in het geweld van de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Zeer mooi geschreven met emotie in bijna elke zin die op papier gezet geweest is.
February 14, 2022
Gosh. This book was just so good. It's up there in my top World War 2/Holocaust books.
In When the World Was Ours, we follow three children, Leo, Elsa, and Max, throughout the course of the war. The story opens when they are 9 years old, celebrating one of their birthdays with a magical day on the town. The three are best friends, inseparable. But Leo and Elsa are Jewish, and as Europe falls under Hitler's sway, the three take different paths.
This book completely broke my heart. I expected sadness, knowing that it was a book about the Holocaust and Nazi Germany, but it still was a gut punch. I appreciate that the author based one of the storylines on her own family's history.
These kinds of books are so important. I think it is easy to imagine that World War 2 is ancient history and that we live in a much more enlightened society. But, particularly Max's storyline shows that under the right (or rather, wrong) conditions, any one of us could turn our backs on a group of people who have been othered the way Jews, Roma, LGBTQ, and anyone different was during the 1930s and 40s. Never again means never again for anyone.
This is definitely making it into my top reads of 2021.
Thank you to Netgalley for a free e-arc in exchange for a review. It was so good I bought myself a physical copy because I plan on handing this book to all of my kids to read.
In When the World Was Ours, we follow three children, Leo, Elsa, and Max, throughout the course of the war. The story opens when they are 9 years old, celebrating one of their birthdays with a magical day on the town. The three are best friends, inseparable. But Leo and Elsa are Jewish, and as Europe falls under Hitler's sway, the three take different paths.
This book completely broke my heart. I expected sadness, knowing that it was a book about the Holocaust and Nazi Germany, but it still was a gut punch. I appreciate that the author based one of the storylines on her own family's history.
These kinds of books are so important. I think it is easy to imagine that World War 2 is ancient history and that we live in a much more enlightened society. But, particularly Max's storyline shows that under the right (or rather, wrong) conditions, any one of us could turn our backs on a group of people who have been othered the way Jews, Roma, LGBTQ, and anyone different was during the 1930s and 40s. Never again means never again for anyone.
This is definitely making it into my top reads of 2021.
Thank you to Netgalley for a free e-arc in exchange for a review. It was so good I bought myself a physical copy because I plan on handing this book to all of my kids to read.
March 7, 2022
All the stars for this incredible piece of WW2 middlegrade historical fiction!
Our story opens in Vienna, Austria in 1936 and it is Leo's 9th birthday and he and his 2 best friends, Max and Elsa, are riding the Ferris wheel in the town's center and then headed home to enjoy Leo's mom's famous Sachertorte. While riding the Riesenrad, Leo's father takes a photo of the 3 children, and it's a moment burned into each of their collective memories through the horrors of the next several years to come and the harrowing twists and turns their stories, lives, and friendship takes.
Cannot say enough good things about this one. Gobbled it right up in a matter of a few sittings this Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Inspired by true events in Liz Kessler's family history, this is a heartbreaking and honest portrayal of the Holocaust for younger readers, but handled with such compassion and tenderness.
When I closed the cover, I just held the book to my chest as a I wiped a stray tear or two. So be warned!
Loved it!
Our story opens in Vienna, Austria in 1936 and it is Leo's 9th birthday and he and his 2 best friends, Max and Elsa, are riding the Ferris wheel in the town's center and then headed home to enjoy Leo's mom's famous Sachertorte. While riding the Riesenrad, Leo's father takes a photo of the 3 children, and it's a moment burned into each of their collective memories through the horrors of the next several years to come and the harrowing twists and turns their stories, lives, and friendship takes.
Cannot say enough good things about this one. Gobbled it right up in a matter of a few sittings this Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Inspired by true events in Liz Kessler's family history, this is a heartbreaking and honest portrayal of the Holocaust for younger readers, but handled with such compassion and tenderness.
When I closed the cover, I just held the book to my chest as a I wiped a stray tear or two. So be warned!
Loved it!
September 21, 2024
This was an amazing book! I forgot I was even reading while reading this. I was engulfed and deeply changed by this story. Amazing wording and thought provoking topics brought up
The ending is not for the weak, I am deeply affected by the ending to say the least
The ending is not for the weak, I am deeply affected by the ending to say the least
April 30, 2021
I found this to be an incredibly heartbreaking story. I like that the author wrote it through the perspective of 3 children.
I received this ARC and would love to read it again soon. Thank you Simon & Schuster and Goodreads for this opportunity!!
I received this ARC and would love to read it again soon. Thank you Simon & Schuster and Goodreads for this opportunity!!
September 24, 2023
i cried i cried so hard i love this book it's gorgeous i was hung up on it for months like an ex. the experience was golden.
March 8, 2022
Holy moly. This book. The friendship between these three kids in spite of everything they were put through is just amazing. I loved this book so much. I ripped my heart out, yet in the end there was hope. It was realistic, which I feel is lacking sometimes in middle grade historical fiction. It doesn't beat around the bush, yet doesn't put the worst parts on the page. The only thing I will say is that I wish we got more of Leo's storyline. Other than that, pure perfection and one of my all time favorite middle grade historical fiction.
June 10, 2024
I almost regret reading this in public because every emotion I was feeling must’ve been written so clearly across my face, I probably looked insane.
June 3, 2022
Auf dieses Hörbuch bin ich zufälligerweise im Zuge der Netgalley Lesechallenge gestossen und obwohl ich eigentlich nicht (mehr) so gern Bücher lese, die als Zielgruppe "Middle Grade", also jüngere Leser:innen, haben, hat mich hier die Inhaltsangabe so angesprochen, dass mir die Geschichte anhören wollte.
Wichtig zu erwähnen ist zu Beginn, dass die Handlung zu Zeiten des Zweiten Weltkriegs spielt und damit auch der Holocaust thematisiert wird. Das ist für mich etwas, das sich aus dem kurzen, offiziellen Klappentext nicht direkt herauslesen lässt. Die Szene mit dem Riesenrad spielt dabei insofern eine wichtige Rolle, dass es ein Erlebnis unserer drei Protagonist:innen ist, das sich noch vor Kriegsbeginn abgespielt hat und die Jugendlichen in den nachfolgenden Jahren immer wieder als schöne Erinnerung an unbeschwerte Zeiten begleitet.
Doch diese Zeiten sind vorbei, als Hitler in Deutschland die Macht erlangt und sich dadurch der Nationalsozialismus im ganzen Land ausbreitet. Betroffen davon sind alle drei der Protagonist:innen, wenn auch aus unterschiedlichen Gründen. Während Leo und Elsa beide jüdischer Abstammung sind und den zunehmenden Hass gegen Juden in ihrem eigenen Land zu spüren bekommen, bleibt Max davon verschont, gerät jedoch durch seinen Vater, einem ranghohen Offizier der deutschen Armee, ebenfalls in die Fänge des Nationalsozialmus.
Was mir an diesem Hörbuch besonders gut gefallen hat, waren die Perspektivenwechsel zwischen Leo, Elsa und Max. Durch diesen Wechsel ermöglicht es uns die Autorin, unterschiedliche Folgen des Nationalismus kennenzulernen. Während bei Leo, Elsa und deren jeweilige Familie die Flucht aus Deutschland im Vordergrund steht, gewährt uns Kessler mit Max einen seltenen Einblick in einen Charakter, der Anhänger von Hitler und seinen Ideologien wird. Und das ist etwas, das ich bislang in noch fast keinem ähnlichen Buch zu lesen bekommen habe und ich deshalb nicht nur mutig, sondern auch beeindruckend fand. Kessler ist es in meinen Augen ausserordentlich gut gelungen, darzustellen, wie die "Gehirnwäsche" der Nationalsozialisten funktioniert hat und bei Max Anklang gefunden hat. Er wollte immer nur eines: Dazugehören. Und genau das Gefühl der Dazugehörigkeit hat er bei den Nationalsozialisten gefunden. Je länger der Krieg gedauert hat, desto weniger erinnert er sich an seine einstmalige jüdische Kindheitsfreunde, bis er irgendwann Hitlers Theorien nahezu blind gefolgt ist.
Kessler hat einen unglaublich einnehmenden und fesselnden Schreibstil, der mich die ganze Zeit über mit den Schicksalen der Kinder hat mitfiebern lassen - ganz besonders natürlich mit denen von Leo und Elsa, denen nicht beide die Flucht aus Deutschland gelungen ist, sodass irgendwann auch das Thema Konzentrationslager eine Rolle spielt. Obwohl ich bereits einige Bücher gelesen habe, die sich mit dem Holocaust befassen, ist mir dieses hier besonders nahe gegangen. Ich hatte beim Zuhören das Gefühl, eine stille Beobachterin einiger sehr menschenverachtender, brutaler und emotionaler Szenen zu werden und bin einmal mehr erschüttert, dass sich so etwas tatsächlich vor nicht allzu langer Zeit in Deutschland abgespielt hat.
Ich wäre rückblickend aber ehrlich gesagt nie im Traum darauf gekommen, dass die Zielgruppe dieses Buches junge Leser:innen sein sollen, denn die Geschichte hat sich angefühlt, als wäre sie für Erwachsene geschrieben worden, die Kinder (die im Laufe der Geschichte zu Jugendliche werden) beobachten.
Die unterschiedlichen Perspektiven werden von unterschiedlichen Sprecher:innen gesprochen, die ihre Sache allesamt ausserordentlich gut machen. Ausserdem hat dieser Wechsel der Erzähler:innen bei der Orientierung geholfen, aus wessen Sicht die Handlung gerade erzählt wird.
Das Ende des Buches hat es dann noch einmal in sich und wie bei der Thematik nicht anders zu erwarten, muss man hier nicht mit einem Happy End rechnen - selbst wenn man es unseren jungen Protagonist:innen wünschen würde. Alles andere wäre aber auch nur Schönfärberei gewesen. Das Buch hat mich definitiv sprachlos zurückgelassen.
Fazit:
"Als die Welt uns gehörte" erzählt anhand von unterschiedlichen Perspektiven die Schicksale dreier Kinder, die zur Zeit des Zweiten Weltkriegs gross geworden sind. Kessler schildert die Folgen des Nationalsozialismus dadurch aus verschiedenen Sichten, die mir allesamt nahegegangen sind und mich am Ende sprachlos zurückgelassen haben. Das Hörbuch ist wahnsinnig einnehmend, fesselnd und tragisch und hat für mich ein weiteres Jahreshighlight beschert - wenn auch ein trauriges. Doch solche Bücher sind wichtig, denn dadurch soll nie in Vergessenheit geraten, was sich damals abgespielt hat. Und damit kann ich eine Hörempfehlung aussprechen.
Wichtig zu erwähnen ist zu Beginn, dass die Handlung zu Zeiten des Zweiten Weltkriegs spielt und damit auch der Holocaust thematisiert wird. Das ist für mich etwas, das sich aus dem kurzen, offiziellen Klappentext nicht direkt herauslesen lässt. Die Szene mit dem Riesenrad spielt dabei insofern eine wichtige Rolle, dass es ein Erlebnis unserer drei Protagonist:innen ist, das sich noch vor Kriegsbeginn abgespielt hat und die Jugendlichen in den nachfolgenden Jahren immer wieder als schöne Erinnerung an unbeschwerte Zeiten begleitet.
Doch diese Zeiten sind vorbei, als Hitler in Deutschland die Macht erlangt und sich dadurch der Nationalsozialismus im ganzen Land ausbreitet. Betroffen davon sind alle drei der Protagonist:innen, wenn auch aus unterschiedlichen Gründen. Während Leo und Elsa beide jüdischer Abstammung sind und den zunehmenden Hass gegen Juden in ihrem eigenen Land zu spüren bekommen, bleibt Max davon verschont, gerät jedoch durch seinen Vater, einem ranghohen Offizier der deutschen Armee, ebenfalls in die Fänge des Nationalsozialmus.
Was mir an diesem Hörbuch besonders gut gefallen hat, waren die Perspektivenwechsel zwischen Leo, Elsa und Max. Durch diesen Wechsel ermöglicht es uns die Autorin, unterschiedliche Folgen des Nationalismus kennenzulernen. Während bei Leo, Elsa und deren jeweilige Familie die Flucht aus Deutschland im Vordergrund steht, gewährt uns Kessler mit Max einen seltenen Einblick in einen Charakter, der Anhänger von Hitler und seinen Ideologien wird. Und das ist etwas, das ich bislang in noch fast keinem ähnlichen Buch zu lesen bekommen habe und ich deshalb nicht nur mutig, sondern auch beeindruckend fand. Kessler ist es in meinen Augen ausserordentlich gut gelungen, darzustellen, wie die "Gehirnwäsche" der Nationalsozialisten funktioniert hat und bei Max Anklang gefunden hat. Er wollte immer nur eines: Dazugehören. Und genau das Gefühl der Dazugehörigkeit hat er bei den Nationalsozialisten gefunden. Je länger der Krieg gedauert hat, desto weniger erinnert er sich an seine einstmalige jüdische Kindheitsfreunde, bis er irgendwann Hitlers Theorien nahezu blind gefolgt ist.
Kessler hat einen unglaublich einnehmenden und fesselnden Schreibstil, der mich die ganze Zeit über mit den Schicksalen der Kinder hat mitfiebern lassen - ganz besonders natürlich mit denen von Leo und Elsa, denen nicht beide die Flucht aus Deutschland gelungen ist, sodass irgendwann auch das Thema Konzentrationslager eine Rolle spielt. Obwohl ich bereits einige Bücher gelesen habe, die sich mit dem Holocaust befassen, ist mir dieses hier besonders nahe gegangen. Ich hatte beim Zuhören das Gefühl, eine stille Beobachterin einiger sehr menschenverachtender, brutaler und emotionaler Szenen zu werden und bin einmal mehr erschüttert, dass sich so etwas tatsächlich vor nicht allzu langer Zeit in Deutschland abgespielt hat.
Ich wäre rückblickend aber ehrlich gesagt nie im Traum darauf gekommen, dass die Zielgruppe dieses Buches junge Leser:innen sein sollen, denn die Geschichte hat sich angefühlt, als wäre sie für Erwachsene geschrieben worden, die Kinder (die im Laufe der Geschichte zu Jugendliche werden) beobachten.
Die unterschiedlichen Perspektiven werden von unterschiedlichen Sprecher:innen gesprochen, die ihre Sache allesamt ausserordentlich gut machen. Ausserdem hat dieser Wechsel der Erzähler:innen bei der Orientierung geholfen, aus wessen Sicht die Handlung gerade erzählt wird.
Das Ende des Buches hat es dann noch einmal in sich und wie bei der Thematik nicht anders zu erwarten, muss man hier nicht mit einem Happy End rechnen - selbst wenn man es unseren jungen Protagonist:innen wünschen würde. Alles andere wäre aber auch nur Schönfärberei gewesen. Das Buch hat mich definitiv sprachlos zurückgelassen.
Fazit:
"Als die Welt uns gehörte" erzählt anhand von unterschiedlichen Perspektiven die Schicksale dreier Kinder, die zur Zeit des Zweiten Weltkriegs gross geworden sind. Kessler schildert die Folgen des Nationalsozialismus dadurch aus verschiedenen Sichten, die mir allesamt nahegegangen sind und mich am Ende sprachlos zurückgelassen haben. Das Hörbuch ist wahnsinnig einnehmend, fesselnd und tragisch und hat für mich ein weiteres Jahreshighlight beschert - wenn auch ein trauriges. Doch solche Bücher sind wichtig, denn dadurch soll nie in Vergessenheit geraten, was sich damals abgespielt hat. Und damit kann ich eine Hörempfehlung aussprechen.
May 15, 2021
WOW is what I can say to this book it was so unputdownable and emotional Kessler really knew how to take my feelings because I really felt for these children and they felt so realistic that I felt this book like a movie I really loved Leo, Max and Elsa their friendship was pure and unique to read about even though this was a middle grade it does deal with deep topics so read the triggers before you dive into it I really loved this book so much!
January 7, 2023
I really loved this book. The three friends, three perspectives, three different paths.
July 1, 2022
WOW. This book!!! Finished it in one sitting, and I cannot remember the last time that happened
August 10, 2023
(4,5 ster). Ik moet dus nooit huilen om boeken (ijskoud persoon ben ik), maar dit exemplaar... De aanloop naar en de ontwikkeling van de Tweede Wereldoorlog door de ogen van drie allerbeste vrienden uit Oostenrijk die ieder op hun eigen manier slachtoffer zijn van alles wat de fascisten bedachten. Poeh.
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