The Upstairs Room

The story is about Jews in Holland slightly before and during World War II. The story centers around a family with one girl that's a teacher (Rachel), a younger sister (Sini), and the youngest sister, Annie. It goes into how people thought they were save where they were, and then how the Jews began to leave the area. Annie's mother is ill and refuses to leave, though, and this effectively traps the family in the area during the German take-over. This also happens to be the author's personal story.

The story talks about the people who helped hide the Jews and how much danger, including death, they went through to do that. It also covers how the attitudes of non-Jewish people tended to change as more and more German propaganda was fed to them. It also covers how the restrictions on Jews grew more and more as time went on.

In the case of this family the father hides one place, the mother remains in the hospital, Rachel hides at another location, and the two other girls hide at one place and then at another.

The story also covers how horrible the German soldiers were, and how people were routinely taken out and shot. Then, as time goes on, the Germans take Jews to 'labor camps' and it's a good while before people realize that most of these were actual concentration camps.

The story also describes what the girls had to endure where they were staying and how difficult a life it was for them and the people who hid them.

It's a very well-done story about a time of great darkness and horror brought about by hatred and greed. It's something that happened once and could happen again.

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