Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen

I first heard about Luba from the folksingers Curtis and Loretta in 2003 when they played a concert for Friday at the Ford at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library. Loretta said that she had written the song "Angel of Bergen-Belsen" after reading an article in a news magazine about Luba saving over fifty children from death in a Nazi concentration camp. After she and Curtis performed the song, she expressed a wish to find Luba, who was reported to still be living. I volunteered to help.

In my part of the search, I learned that Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen, a children’s picture book with text Michelle R. McCann and illustrations by Ann Marshall, was scheduled to be published. McCann had interviewed Luba, according to the press release. I told Loretta but I never saw the book until Friday, when my coworker Nancy Long loaned it to me.

Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen is a beautiful book. Marshall's illustrations practically glow. For each picture page there is a page of text by McCann based on the story Luba told her. What I like most about the story is that Luba did not really accomplish the miracle of saving the children by herself; she inspired many in the concentration camp to help her. I also like that the book has some extras, including a list of all the children, a story about the survivors gathering in 1995, a bibliography, and a nice photo of Luba Tryszynska-Frederick on the back cover. I recommend the book to young and old.

Loretta has been granted her wish and has met and sung for Luba. More of that story is told on the Curtis and Loretta website. (Click "news" on the menu on the left of the main page. Go to the bottom of the resulting "What's Happening" page and click link to old news for October 2003.)

McCann, Michelle R. Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen. Berkeley, Calif.: Tricycle Press, c2003. ISBN 1582460981

Go to rickindex to find more book, movie, and music reviews.