Roses in a Forbidden Garden is written by Elise Garibaldi. This is written as a memoir about Garibaldi's grandmother, Inge Katz. it is written in a simple style that clearly explains the hardships endured by Jewish families during the Holocaust in Germany. This is an account that is detailed, but not horrific. It can be easily read by Middle School and High School students as well as adults.
Inge Katz is a young girl living in very gracious home, an upper middle class lifestyle. Her father had fought for Germany in the first world war and had a government job. He thought the family would be safe even though there was building Anti-Semitic sentiment building in the town and through out the country.
Garibaldi lays out the story of how Katz's life is turned upside down when the SS come and tell the family to report to the train station. They are deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp.
They are lucky that they are at that camp, the camp known as the show camp. They treatment is slightly better than some of the other camps. They are also at an advantage because they get to stay together as a family and Inge's father is a respected worker at the camp. Inge also works in an office in the camp. While being interned at Theresienstadt, Inge meets Schmuel Berger, a fellow prisoner. They fall in love and after a few months, of evening walks around the camp, Schmuel learns that he is being transferred. He is sent to Auschwitz. There he works hard to stay alive for the rest of the war.
There is a happy ending to this family's story. Inge and Schmuel and most of their families live through the war and also get the chance to grow old together and have children and grandchildren, defying the Nazi goal of Jewish extermination.
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