Children’s Toys and Games during the Shoah, as Reflected in Five Hebrew Books

Abstract

The article will discuss games and toys connected to transmitting the legacy of the Shoah, as reflected in five Hebrew stories: Hadubi shel Fred [Bear and Fred: A World War II Story] by Iris Argaman, Grandpa's Third Drawer: Unlocking Holocaust Memories by Judy Tal Kopelman, Bubah me’erets aheret [A Doll from Another Country] by Ofra Galbert Avni, Hasodot shel savtah [Grandma’s secrets] by Ayana Friedman-Wirtheim, and Kaleidoscope by Hava Nissimov. The article will depict the toys found in the books as exhibits for transmitting the legacy of the Shoah, as visual symbols that are also sociocultural objects, as a means of survival for children during the Shoah period, and as relators of a narrative that is passed on from one generation to the next. The article will also discuss the illustrations that accompany the text as contributors to their visual symbolic language.