This is the cover of the book. A little girl is peaking through a crack in a barn wall. The book is written by Kati Preston and illustrated by Dilleen Marsh. Page descriptions are below the page images. — Cover

HIDDENA True Story of the Holocaust

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Welcome to the graphical novel called HIDDEN - A True Story of the Holocaust. This book is written by Kati Preston and illustrated by Dilleen Marsh. It's the proud winner of the CBC Award Winner "FAVORITES".

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A message from Kati Preston: This book is dedicated to my father, who did not survive the Holocaust and to my grandchildren, the living symbols of hope for the future.

In the name of all who can no longer speak, I send you love.

CHAPTER 1Flashback to that Horrible Day

I wake up to a lot of yelling in the yard. I look through a crack in the wall. I can see three soldiers threatening the Hungarian peasant farmer named Erzsebet who is hiding me in her barn. I am afraid. The barn is very close to the house.

[WHAP!] (The captain slaps Elizabeth.)

Soldier 1: WHERE IS THE HALFBREED JEW YOU ARE HIDING?!

Soldier 2: UP HERE!!

The soldiers begin to climb the ladder into the barn. They are looking for me. I remember to hide under the hay. I am too frightened to cry. I stay very still and hold my breath.

I curl up into a ball under the hay, barely breathing.

Why do they want to kill me? I am a good girl!

It wasn't always like this.

CHAPTER 2In the Beginning

...a few months earlier I was so HAPPY!

Piri: Kati, gyere! Kész a Palacsinta!

I hear Piri, our cook, calling from the kitchen. That's Hungarian for "Kati come! The pancake is ready!"

I am not supposed to eat sweet things until I finish the horrible porridge Fraulein makes me eat every morning, but it is her day off, and I eat THREE pancakes.

Piri: Kati come! The pankcake is ready!

Piri knows I love her pancakes. She fills it with sugar and walnuts, rolls it up, and I get to eat it still warm. Piri tries to teach me how to make palacsinta. I try to crack an egg and it ends up on the floor [FWACK!] so Piri only lets me watch.

She separates the eggs and mixes the yolks with sugar. It becomes a pale yellow cream I get to taste. Then she adds milk and flour, and stirs it into a thick liquid. She melts butter in a big black skillet and swirls in a big spoonful of the mixture. Then she flips the paper thin pancake and cooks it on the other side. When done, she slides it onto a plate and puts filling in it.

YUM

Piri laughs a lot and doesn’t make me wash my hands all the time. I am almost 5 years old!

One day Piri took me to her church to see the Christmas nativity display and...I STOLE Baby Jesus!

Priest: YOU'RE GOING TO HELL FOR STEALING THE BABY JESUS

Mami was horrified when we got home and she found Baby Jesus under my coat. I had to apologize to the priest who was VERY ANGRY!

Kati: I'm sorry.

That's when Fraulein, who was Austrian,...

...CAME TO BE MY GOVERNESS.

She came to our our house one day carrying a coat in one hand and a small bag in the other. She stood straight and tall and her hat was tilted sideways on her head.

I don't like reading the stories Fraulein has for me. Everyone is mean and nasty. A little girl burns up because she plays with matches. A boy has his fingers chopped off because his nails are too long. Hansel and Gretel are fattened by a witch who wants to EAT THEM!

Fraulein is very serious. She never smiles.

Fraulein: Good Girls from Good Families don't behave like YOU!!!

I like fairy stories about beautiful princesses who fall in love with a handsome prince and live happily ever after.

I complain about Fraulein...but Mami and Papa tell me...

Mami: Well brought up children from good families have governesses.

Papa: You are very lucky to have her.

Anyway, I am only four and a half and they know best.

I have to go to sleep each night at the same time with my hair in curlers so that I look perfect in the morning.

After I eat the horrible porridge for breakfast [YUCKY!], Fraulein brushes my hair, puts a big bow on my head...dresses me in a beautiful dress...puts on my white stockings with patent leather shoes...and takes me to see my mother.

As we walk through the waiting room where my mother's customers sit waiting to see her, they pat me on the head.

Lady 1: AAAH

Lady 2: Oooh!

Lady 3: Adorable!!!

Lady 4: Such lovely hair!

Lady 5: You are very clever.

Lady 6: What a beautiful dress!

I smile and curtsy like Fraulein taught me. I can now speak and read GERMAN!

At night, I lie in my beautiful bed, all pink and white lace. The walls are covered in pale pink silk with embroidered flowers. The furniture is pink and white with silver handles. The air smells of lilacs that grow outside under my window...and the lace curtains flutter gently in the breeze.

I LOVE MY ROOM!!!

I have a whole wall with shelves full of toys, dolls, and games. I am the fairy princess in my world.

My parents tip-toe into my room, but I wake up. They look beautiful, coming home from a ball. Mami wears a long dress and Papa looks so handsome in his white shirt. It makes his skin look darker. I smile at them. They kiss me. I smell Mami’s perfume. Papa smells of cigarettes and cologne.

Mami and Papa: Kati, we love you.

They kiss me again as I fall asleep.

Later I wake up crying. I had a nightmare. Fraulein rushes in and leans over my bed telling me to be quiet or I’ll be punished.

Fraulein: BE QUIET!

Suddenly Papa appears...pushes her aside, and under her disapproving glare carries me to their bed.

Papa: Ssshhh, you're okay, Kati.

Fraulein: Hmpf!

I snuggle between them and breathe in their scent. I am the safest princess in the world.

Our house looks over the park and the Koros River, which runs through the town. I can hear the water running at night...when it is quiet.

PAPA owns huge fish tanks in the river where he keeps live fish for the market.

He sells fish to all the shops in town. Some days he brings home live fish for our meals. We keep them swimming in the bath until they are cooked. I go and watch the big fish swimming around in the tub. It has long whiskers, like an old peasant.

Kati: I'm sorry you're going to be eaten. I feel bad, but you end up tasting so GOOD!

[splurch]

Most people live in apartments and the rich children live in big beautiful apartments like ours. The street is wide and quiet, but it is still in the center of town.

Part of the apartment is Mami’s dressmaking business, the Salon. She has a large workroom with forty seamstresses and a fitting room for the customers. The room where she cuts the dresses has a long table.

MAMI is always cutting, cutting, cutting.

They make beautiful dresses for ladies who come from many places. “Gabi Salon,” named after my mother, is famous.

She keeps all the seamstresses busy!

When I am taken for walks, we go to the opera square or the park. The town has the opera and several theatres and cinemas. Fraulein sometimes takes me to see Mickey Mouse cartoons, but she prefers to scare me with her stories. We go to the park for “fresh air” every day. She doesn’t care if it rains or freezes. I get dragged outside for “fresh air” no matter what the temperature is.

Fraulein: A healthy mind lives in a healthy body!

Kati: It's c-c-cold!

I am never allowed to eat on the street. Fraulein thinks it is rude. I stare with envy at the children eating roasted chestnuts. [SRRUNCH]

We don’t have cars. If we need to go somewhere we get a horse-drawn taxi to take us.

Because we do have a telephone, many people come to use it. Most people have no phone.

Sunday afternoons, like most people in town, Mami and Papa take me for a walk up and down the main street. Many people stop and greet us, telling them what a beautiful little girl they have. I walk between them holding their hands.

I am so proud!

Man on street: You are lucky to have such a lovely little girl! Delightful!

Woman on street: Your little girl is SO beautiful!

Istvanka is my best friend. He has big blue eyes and curly golden hair like a prince in the fairy tales. He lives on our street, and Fraulein allows me to play with him because he comes from “a good family.” His father is a doctor. He doesn’t have a governess because his mother looks after him. Their apartment is very large, like ours. Istvanka’s parents had an artist make a sculpture of his head, which is on their bookshelf. It is white marble, and you can see the ringlets in his hair.

I envy him, but I love him anyway, and I want to see him every day. We go walking together, and we run up and down the circular drive in front of the Opera. He runs harder than me but tires faster. We play a game. The game is that...

Kati: If I catch you, I get to KISS YOU!!!

Istvanka: YUCK!

He hates me kissing his cheeks, but fair is fair.

There are other children playing on the street, but I am not allowed to play with them. They are not "proper" children. I complain to Papa, but he says I have to listen to Fraulein, she knows best.

They have so much fun. I want to join in!

Istvanka and I go to the Jewish kindergarten twice a week. There are fifty-two of us. We sing and listen to Jewish stories, all in Hungarian. Fraulein doesn’t invite the other children from the kindergarten over to play, but I do go to their birthday parties dressed in velvet dresses with lace collars.

There are cakes with lots of whipped cream, and Fraulein doesn't stop me eating sweet things.

I am PAPA’S little girl. He is the person I love most in the whole world. I love Mami too, but PAPA is my hero. He is tall, dark, and handsome. He looks like a film star. He smells very nice, a mixture of tobacco and cologne. I love to bury my face in his neck. PAPA always wears a white shirt and a long white scarf around his neck. He has beautiful white teeth, and he throws his head back when he laughs. He teaches me all about the stars in the sky. We find animals and monsters in the clouds.

Papa: Do you see that funny little dragon, Kati?

Kati: I see it! I see it!

Sometimes we sit on the balcony just before bed, and he tells me stories. He doesn't need a book; he invents the stories and we laugh a lot. His stories never scare me. They are nice.

Before my walks, he always gives me money to give to the poor. PAPA says that if somebody begs, they need help.

I never bring money back because there are always poor people begging. PAPA tells me that even if I am a good girl from a “good family,” I am no better than anyone else, even the beggars.

One evening I was chewing on a gold chain PAPA gave me for my birthday and it broke. He didn’t scold me; he just took the chain and put it in his pocket. A few days later I got it back fixed as good as new. PAPA never scolds. He teaches me to be better.

I love it when PAPA comes home from work and throws me up in the air. After he catches me he lets me search his pockets. He always has a smalll present for me...a piece of candy, a pretty picture...a marble...a small toy...or a ribbon for my hair.

PAPA throws his head back and laughs.

Fraulein: You SPOIL her!

PAPA can swim like a fish.

He takes me to the swimming pool when it is warm. I love the swimming pool. It has big sculptures of green frogs, spewing water into the center of the pool. [SPLISH SPLUNK]

PAPA is teaching me to swim, but I cannot put my ears under the water. When I was a baby I had to have an operation, which makes my ears hurt.

I am never afraid when PAPA is there...he would never let anything hurt me.

Kati: I'm a MERMAID!

I lOVE my PAPA so much!

Mami: Shall we go for a walk?

MAMI is very pretty and elegant. She has beautiful clothes. When we all go out for our walks on Sunday she wears a hat and some-times a fur coat.

MAMI also has a collar made of two foxes that clip together where their noses are. They have glass eyes. I feel sorry for them because they are dead.

Kati: I LOVE the way you smell MAMI!

I have a little fur hat and a muff. Mine is made of white rabbit fur. I don’t feel sorry for the rabbits because I don’t see their faces.

I still remember her smell when I was a baby. It is a mixture of milk and perfume. I love her perfume, and sometimes I just sit and sniff her perfume bottle on her dressing table.

MAMI often wears evening dresses. She and Papa go to a hotel in town where they have dinner and play cards. The hotel is called “Panonia,” and I can see it from the Opera when I go there to play.

MAMI has short hair like a boy and a kind smile. When I am sick, she sleeps in my room until I get well again. She has soft beautiful hands and love pale skin.

[SNIFF] I smell her perfume.

MAMI loves to brush my hair and sing Hungarian lullabies to me.

MAMI and PAPA love each other very much.

We have a huge Christmas tree every year. It is very tall and almost reaches the ceiling. There’s an angel on the very top and many delicate, beautiful ornaments hanging on the branches.

There are candles in little holders clipped to the branches. Every evening they are lit. The tree is beautiful, like a fairy tale AND...very year the tree catches fire from the candles. There is a bucket of water nearby and they throw it on the flames. IT IS SO EXCITING!!!

The candies called “szaloncukor” are special Christmas candies that melt in your mouth. They hang on the tree, but I am not supposed to eat too many of them in case I get a stomachache. Of course, Fraulein doesn’t want me to eat any, but it is Christmas so I do anyway!

The presents under the tree are mainly for me. I open them one by one. They bring in the last present. The box moves. I undo the bow and find...

Kati: EEEH a KITTY!!!

I will call her “Lily” and she will be my best friend forever. THIS IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!

I AM SO HAPPY I CAN'T SLEEP.

Mami's Family...

Man 1: A Jew?

Man 2: Huphf

Man 3: She married a Jew?!!

I only have one grandmother. She lives with her other daughter, Aranka. I don’t see her often. Piri says Mami's relatives don't visit us much because they don't like Papa because he is Jewish.

Grandmother: You must pray for your mother. She married a JEW!

He is not very Jewish. We have a tree every Christmas!

Mami's father died some time ago in a train accident.

Papa's Family...

When Papa was only twelve years old his father died after he fell through ice on a river.

His mother was left with thirteen children to bring up alone. She died when I was about three.

Young Papi: Papa?

Papa has a twin brother but he doesn't look like him at all. I always wanted a twin sister, one who looked like me. We could play wonderful tricks on Fraulein.

Kati: It's ME, Fraulein!

Kati's twin: No, it's ME!

CHAPTER 3Life is Changing

Our apartment is the only one big enough for twenty-eight extra people to have dinner. They come for big meals on birthdays. The family is so big we have to push several tables together in the dining room.

I DO see Papa's family, my aunts, uncles, and cousins - although my cousins are older than me and don't really come over to play much.

Woman 1: I'm not worried. He's a friend of the family.

Woman 2: The baker wouldn't sell me bread today.

Man 1: They want us to register.

Woman 3: Isn't it for our safety?

Woman 4: I don't feel very safe!

Woman 5: I agree, but what can you do?!

Man 2: Things are changing.

Man 3: Things are always changing.