Not in Kansas Anymore: Holocaust Films for Children

As the Holocaust has been incorporated into the curricula of most American schools, the demand for age-appropriate stories and the increasing leniency of the movie ratings system have stimulated the production of feature films depicting Jewish youngsters facing persecution and genocide. This article analyzes how the films >A Friendship in Vienna, The Island on Bird Street, and The Devil's Arithmetic employ the narrative strategies of the children's novels on which they are based to convey positive messages while portraying the horrific plight of European Jewry under German rule.