Grandpa’s Third Drawer: Unlocking Holocaust Memories

Of all the places in the world, Uri really loves to be at his grandparents’ house. There he can stay up way past his bedtime and eat as many sweets from the chocolate box as he likes. There’s only one forbidden place in that house: the third drawer in Grandpa’s desk. This drawer is locked. No one ever opens it until one day when Uri finds the key to the third drawer. From that moment, nothing is ever the same.

Grandpa’s Third Drawer takes up the difficult challenge of discussing the Holocaust with young children, of teaching its heritage and memory, all in a gentle and unobtrusive manner. The story of a silent grandfather unexpectedly confronted by his curious and loving grandchild is accompanied by rich illustrations that show authentic preserved objects donated by Holocaust survivors from Theresienstadt.

The original Hebrew edition won the Israeli Ze'ev Prize for Children’s Literature in 2003 and won the first prize in Mits'ad Hasfarim (a nationwide survey of all schoolchildren in Israel for first to third grades) in 2003 and 2012. Grandpa’s Third Drawer is now included in Israel’s Paths of Memory nationwide Holocaust learning program in all schools.