Point of View

Yellow Star is a first-person account of a child’s experience during the Holocaust. “Am I not valuable to the Germans?” (16), Syvia asks her father to understand her place. Because Yellow Star is based on Syvia’s memories, the author, Syvia’s niece, puts the memories into narrative form. Syvia is four-and-a-half years old when she relocates to the Lodz ghetto. She does not understand what is happening around her.

Syvia plays with her new friends, but gradually sees her belongings disappearing. Syvia understands without knowing that her belongings are being sold or used for survival. Her perspective does not allow for anticipating or dreading the horrors that are taking place around her. She is aware that people go missing, but does not automatically assume that they are dead, such as with her friend Hava.

As Syvia ages, her understanding of what is happening around...