Daniel's Story

Daniel's Story
The cover for the book.
Author(s)	Carol Matas
Original title	Daniel's Story
Translator	Zach Hays
Country	Poland
Language	English
Genre(s)	Children's novel
Publisher	Daniel Weiss Associates
Publication date	1993
Media type	Print (paperback or hardcover)
Pages	131
ISBN	0-590-46588-0
OCLC Number	26503664

Daniel's Story is a children's novel by Carol Matas, telling the story of a young boy's experiences in the Holocaust in World War II. It is honored at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. by means of an exhibit.

Plot Summary

Daniel barely remembers leading a normal life before the Nazis came to power in 1933. He can still picture once being happy and safe, but memories and days are fading as he and his family face the dangers threatening Jews in Hitler's Germany in the late 1930s. No longer able to practice their religion, vote, own property, or even work, Daniel's family is forced from their home in Frankfurt. First, they are deported to the Lodz ghetto in Poland, and then to Auschwitz - the Nazi extermination camp. He survives the torments of the death camp and is transported to Buchenwald. Daniel endures to witness the camp's liberation in 1945.

Though many around him lose hope in the face of such terror, Daniel, supported by his courageous family, struggles for survival. Yet he manages to retain his life, hope and dignity through the horrors of Hitler's Final Solution.

Major and minor characters

• Daniel (Protagonist)
• Mother
• Father
• Erika (The younger sister of Daniel who plays the violin)
• Uncle Peter (Husband of Leah and a favorite uncle of Daniel. Was arrested for parking violations from years earlier and was eventually exterminated)
• Opa Samuel
• Peter (a young boy that Daniel meets and befriends near the end of the book)
• Oma Rachel (deported and exterminated due to illness)
• Uncle Leo
• Uncle David (Daniel's uncle that moved to North America)
• Uncle Walter
• Uncle Aaron
• Auntie Leah (Daniel's strict aunt who was shot in the second part of the story, while trying to save her daughters from deportation)
• Auntie Hannele
• Oma Miriam (Made Daniel a Hitler youth uniform. Killed herself from overdose of sleeping pills a month after Daniel's bar mitzvah)
• Opa Karl (Died before the story takes place)
• Friedrich (Daniel's cousin and the son of Auntie Leah)
• Mr. Schnider (Daniel's German teacher who doesn't like Jews)
• Rosa (Daniel's first love/fiance at the end)
• Karl (Daniel's boss in the Photography Studio of the concentration camp and a part of the movement.)
• Adam (Daniel's friend while in Buchenwald. Is killed by SS Soldiers)
• SS Soldiers (Recurring throughout the story)