Be careful! Good feelings such as these can be misleading. They may blind you to some very painful and bitter truths. As you read, remember that for every Jew who survived, three were killed; for every Jew who was liberated from the concentration camps, seventy-five perished in brutal deaths. Never forget the terrible price that was extracted from the Jewish people during those years. Even though this book may help you learn about a terrible time in human history in an enjoyable way, never think of the Holocaust as a game.
And never forget that survival was difficult, dangerous, and unpredictable. To survive, one needed help, stamina, courage, will, and a great deal of good luck. To survive, one had to endure more than most people can even imagine. If you have ever been frightened, remember that your fright was very small when compared to the daily fear and terror of Jews in Nazi Europe. If you have ever been hungry, remember that your hunger stopped with your next meal while theirs continued for days, weeks, months, and even years. And, if you have ever been lonely, remember how much worse it must have been to know that every other member of your family and all of your friends are gone, probably dead. They had disappeared into the mysterious and terrifying concentration camps, and you were totally, sadly, and darkly alone.
To know and to remember — that is what this book is about. Most of all, I hope you will discover that, if the evil power of the Nazis was real, so was the courage, goodness, determination, and faith of many other people. And, if human beings could create the Holocaust and its terror, human beings (you and I, all of us) also have the power to prevent another Holocaust and to create a society where goodness, caring, and love rule human affairs. As you find words in italics, look them up in the glossary at the back of the book.