NOTES

Chapter 1

1 Yeshiva: An Orthodox Jewish school, traditionally with a male-only student body.

2 Mamale: Affectionate Yiddish term meaning “Little Mama.”

Chapter 2

1 Zaidy: Grandfather.

2 Talmid Chacham: Smart scholar.

3 Bubbe: Grandmother.

4 Rebbe: Teacher.

Chapter 4

1 Tatty: The Yiddish word for father.

2 Shul: Synagogue.

3 Sefer: Holy book.

Chapter 5

1 Dobosh: A Hungarian sponge cake, usually layered with chocolate filling, coated on the sides with chopped nuts, and topped with caramel.

2 Rugelach: A thin, yeasty dough smeared with chocolate, or sometimes vanilla, then rolled into a crescent-moon shape and baked.

Chapter 7

1 Schnell: Fast.

Chapter 8

1 Bris: Circumcision ceremony.

2 Bimah: A raised altar in a synagogue from which the Torah is read.

3 Kugel: A baked dish made from any kind of ground-up vegetable.

Chapter 11

1 Shabbos: Sabbath.

2 Blockälteste: Literal meaning is “block elder.” Nazi prisoner charged with keeping order in a concentration camp.

Chapter 12

1 Zeeskeit: Sweetness.

2 Blech: Cover placed over the cooking area of a stove on the Sabbath.

3 Kiddush: A prayer recited over wine on Shabbos and Jewish holidays.

4 Chrein: A relish for gefilte fish that is made of ground beets and horseradish.

Chapter 14

1 Kokosh: Like a rugelach, but better. Made with a sweet, yeasty dough that is rolled out in a rectangle, smeared with sugar and chocolate, rolled up into a long snake-like shape, twisted into a figure eight, then baked. When sliced the chocolate oozes over the sweet dough and you find yourself in heaven for a few good minutes until the entire thing is gone.

2 Tante: Aunt.

3 L’chaim! To life!

4 Peyos: Sidelocks. All male Orthodox Jews have sidelocks. Usually, they are sideburns under the temple. In Hasidic Jews, they may be longer strips of hair that are curled into one bottle curl on each side of the head.

5 Mazel Tov: Literal meaning, “good luck,” but also used as congratulations.

6 Kallah: Bride.

7 Chuppah: Wedding canopy.

Chapter 15

1 Zeilappell: Daily, often cruel, and always grueling, manual head count of all concentration camp prisoners.

2 Muselmann: Slang term for Nazi concentration camp prisoners who were suffering from both starvation and exhaustion.

Chapter 16

1 Leu: Romanian currency.

Chapter 18

1 Amar Abaya: literally translated as “Abaya said.” Abaya was a Rabbi in the Talmudic era, and his teachings are often quoted in the Talmud.

Chapter 19

1 Chossen: Groom.

Chapter 20

1 Sheifala: Affectionate term that means “Little Lamb.”

Chapter 24

1 Shochet: One who is certified to perform shechita, or the slaughtering of certain cattle or poultry, in accordance with Jewish law, for kosher consumption.

2 Gan Eden: Garden of Eden.

3 Cholent: A traditional Jewish stew.

Chapter 25

1 Jetzt: Now.

2 Häftling: prisoner, detainee.

Chapter 28

1 Mamashein: My good mama.

2 Chinush: Somewhere between chic and slim.

Chapter 29

1 Faigy: Yiddish name that means bird.

Chapter 30

1 Matzah: The unleavened bread that commemorates the Jews redemption from slavery in Egypt. The Israelites had to leave Egypt so quickly they did not have time to let their bread rise.

2 Pesach: Passover. The holiday to remember the redemption of the Israelites from slavery.

3 Tisha B’Av: “The ninth of Av.” A day of fasting, observed annually, in the Jewish month AV. It commemorates the day on which the temple was destroyed and usually falls in July or August.

Chapter 33

1 Seven hundred girls from Auschwitz were transported to the Duderstadt Ammunition Factory from the gas chambers.

Chapter 35

1 Katalin Karády: While the Katalin Karády “look-alike” was in the factory, in charge of Jewish prisoners, the real Katalin Karády was doing everything in her power to help the Jews. She was arrested by the Nazis on allegations that she spied for the allied forces. She was held for three months, tortured, and nearly beaten to death. When she got out of jail, she saved Jewish families who were about to be shot on the banks of the Danube. She bribed the Arrow Cross police with her belongings and gold to get families safely out of there. She even took children home with her and cared for them until after the war.

2 Yapchik: Potato kugel (ground potatoes with onions and oil) baked together with a layer of meat over the top.

Chapter 36

1 Shema: The Jewish proclamation of faith.

Chapter 41

1 Letcho: A Hungarian peasant dish made with bell peppers.