It is a question as old as the 1940s -- how do you introduce young children to the horror of the Holocaust in a way they can understand, but that won't overwhelm them? In the picture book
Benno and the Night of Broken Glass, Meg Wiviott answers this questions quite well. The story uses the conceit of telling about Benno the cat to introduce Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) and the beginning of the Holocaust. Events are described without explanation. Benno knows that people are less happy since the men in brown shirts showed up, but not why. He doesn't understand why Inge, (who gives him schnitzel after Sunday dinner) no longer walks to school or plays with Sophie (who gives him chicken after Sabbath supper).
Nor does he know why, one night, the men in brown shirts break into Moshe the butcher's shop and overturn his refrigerators. They rip up Mitzi Stein's fabric and throw the sewing machines at her dress shop into the street. They leave Herr Gerber's grocery alone. Hans the Hausmeister, who gives Benno fresh milk every night, lets the men in brown shirts into the apartment building and points out certain apartments. The men take away Professor Goldfarb. They break the furniture in Sophie's apartment, but not in Inge's. They even set fire to the beautiful Neue Synagogue. The next day, Benno waits for Sophie so he can walk to school with her, but she never comes out of her apartment.
Life goes on for cats, just as it does for children. Both, being powerless, must adjust. Benno still watches Inge's father leave for work. He still follows Inge to school. Frau Gerber still scratches his ears, and Hans still gives him fresh milk. But nothing is ever the same.
An afterword provides information on Kristallnacht, including the fact that few nations spoke out against the events, indicating to the Nazis that the world would tolerate such persecution. A bibliography giving sources and additional children's books about the Holocaust is included.
The book provides a good introduction to the topic for early elementary school age children, while leaving it to parents to determine the appropriate amount of background information and explanation to provide to an individual child.
