Book review T4

T4

Ann Clare LeZotte’s first novel is a breathtaking new look at World War II and Hitler’s killing machine known as Tiergartenstrasse 4. The Nazi’s elimination of persons who did not fit the mold of a “perfect race” first started with the killing of anyone with disabilities; including all deaf persons, adults or children. LeZotte creates a strong emotional connection to her main character Paula Becker, who is a thirteen year old deaf girl. Deaf since sixteen months old when she had a high fever, Paula and her family finally accepted her deafness after trying several homemade remedies to cure her. I a time when many disabled children were not educated, Paula learns to write and read, learns lip reading and, sign language from a local clergyman. Because of her deafness her parents agree to let their local priest Father Josef move Paula to a safer area of Germany. When asked what readers will take away from a book about the Holocaust from a perspective of a person with a disability, LeZotte, deaf from birth, replies “I hope readers will realize that Deaf and Disabled people have been the victims of the most horrible kinds of persecution, and that we still live on, and value and enjoy our lives.” What makes this novel even more potent is that these sometimes dark and sometimes hopeful facts are written about in verse. Not since Nikki Grimes’ Masquerade Bronx has verse been used to capture such a stirring message. In a verse titles “A Knock on the Door” a portion reads:

That was the night

Terror came into our home

Although I was so young,

I knew that moment

Was a dividing line

Between my childhood

And whatever came next.