When the Soldiers Were Gone

Annotation
After the German occupation of the Netherlands, Benjamin leaves the Christian family with whom he had been living and reunites with his real parents who returned from hiding.

From the Publisher
Henk was hidden on the farm when he was young and the Nazi soldiers came. But the war is over now, and Henk finds out that the people he lives with, the people he loves, are not his real family. He doesn't remember his real parents, and now a new life in the city lies ahead of him. Will things ever be the same?

Awards:

Booklist Editors' Choice
A Child Study Children's Book Committee Children's Book of the Year

A moving, well-written novel. (School Library Journal, starred review)

...beautiful first novel captures the hidden survivor's trauma from the small child's bewildered point of view. (Booklist, starred review)

From the Critics
From Booklist  
...beautiful first novel captures the hidden survivor's trauma from the small child's bewildered point of view.
 
From Publisher's Weekly - Publishers Weekly  
A dramatic true event turns pallid in this unconvincing first novel set at the close of WWII. Living on a Dutch farm with Mama and Papa, Henk has rejoiced with them at the defeat of the "bad soldiers"--but his whole world turns upside-down when "Mama and Papa" tell him that they are not in fact his parents. Henk's real name, which he has forgotten, is Benjamin, and his real father and mother are David and Elsbet, Jews who have survived the war in hiding. The boy's reunion with his parents and his transformation from Henk to Benjamin should be exciting subjects, but the characterizations are so pat as to flatten the material. In attempting to narrate from Henk/Benjamin's perspective, Propp relies on artificial-sounding interior monologues with lots of wide-eyed questions: "It wouldn't be proper to call [David and Elsbet] by their first names. What should I call them, he asked himself. How do I know they are really my parents as they say they are?" The dangers of the war, revealed in flashbacks and through Elsbet's conversations with her son, never take on immediacy. Middle-graders interested in a more authentic treatment of problems Dutch Jewish children faced in coming out of hiding after the war should see Ida Vos's novels Hide and Seek and Anna Is Still Here. Ages 10-up. (Feb.)
 
From Susie Wilde - Children's Literature  
ng to live in a city with his real parents, and adopted brother. Finally, painful memories glimmer from his past and he begins to remember, understand, and adjust.
 
From Lois Rubin Gross - Children's Literature  
What is the right age to begin teaching children the literature of the Holocaust? It is a difficult and much-debated question among historical and religious educators. The few picture books that deal with the intense and frightening historical period are aimed at older readers (Innocente's Rose Blanche comes instantly to mind). Vera Propp's chapter book speaks to children in third through fifth grade and, as such, deals not with the issue of genocide but with the fearful and trauma-filled life of a "hidden child." Henk learns, only when his biological parents come to claim him, that the family he considers his own are Dutch "righteous Gentiles" who have sheltered him during the war. Deprived of all that is familiar, the child, who is now called Benjamin, must adjust to an unfamiliar environment and a new family, including an adopted younger "brother," his orphaned cousin Carl. The horrors of the Holocaust are briefly described by Benjamin's parents, but never given graphic substance, which is appropriate for the age of the intended reader. In addition to introducing the Holocaust and the Jewish persecutions during World War II, this book may open discussions on child abandonment and how a contemporary child might react to the loss and the pull between foster and biological parents. Based on a true story, this is a gently told and very appropriate introduction to a tragic subject.
 
From School Library Journal  
Gr 4-6--An uncomplicated account of a boy's readjustment after World War II in Holland. Eight-year-old Henk is stunned when he discovers that the family he has been living with are not his blood relatives. After being reunited with his biological parents, who are Jewish, Henk learns that his name is really Benjamin Van Sorg and that he was sent to live with a Christian family during the war. As he slowly adjusts to his new life and identity, memories from his early childhood gradually return, including the yellow star on his coat and a frightening encounter with a Nazi soldier. At the end of the book, when he and his parents return to their house, the place seems familiar and welcoming, and he finally feels that he is home. Propp's use of simple language helps the story flow smoothly. The author creates and sustains a mood that coincides with the readjustment phase that takes place after a trauma. Historical facts are successfully integrated into the narrative, and Henk's first-person telling makes the effects of the war tangible to readers. When the Soldiers Were Gone rates highly among other stories about the period, such as Jane Yolen's more sophisticated The Devil's Arithmetic (Viking, 1988) and David Adler's Hilde & Eli (Holiday, 1994). A moving, well-written novel.--Adrian Renee Stevens, Beaver Creek School, West Jefferson, NC