On International Children's Book Day this year (2021), a very interesting book was published, which aroused my interest not only as an author who follows what is happening in the domestic book publishing industry, but also as an artist who had the honor of working on this publication. Later, the book was nominated for the National Konstantin Konstantinov Award in the Illustrator category during the National Children's Book Festival in Sliven. It is for these reasons that today I am introducing you to the author of the book "Golden Threads" - Valentina Stein.
The book sparked interest on the very first day of its release. Tell us a little more about how the idea of telling modern children what their peers experienced nearly a century ago came about?
The idea of a story about children's experiences during the Holocaust has existed for a long time, but the decision on how to present the story through a time travel approach arose spontaneously during the first lockdown in Germany in April 2020.
Is it difficult to talk to children about the Holocaust, the Jews and their fate? And is it difficult to talk to parents?
So difficult that it took such a serious shake-up in our modern world, which inevitably raises old questions, feelings and even despair among children and parents around the world, to force me to start the story anyway. I say "started" because this is only its beginning. When you read the book, you will see that nowhere in the text is the Holocaust directly mentioned, there is no murder or violence, with the exception of the book burning in 1933. My only characters, Jewish children, don't even have their own lines. They are speechless in the face of what's happening around them. At that moment, if they say anything at all, it's part of a theatrical role that helps them save themselves.
The reason for this slow introduction to the topic lies in my pedagogical approach to help children become witnesses, to put themselves in the shoes of the characters in history in a safe way. After all, the text was written with the idea of being read by students from eight years old and up. The second reason is my understanding of the distance of the modern generation of children from these events. There is a lot of good literature about the Holocaust for both adults and children, but these are all books written in times when the issue was familiar. Later, the story of the Holocaust begins to sound distant, unreal, and the transitional moment in which we find ourselves now is extremely reminiscent of the years before World War II and its beginning. Lockdowns, evening classes, wearing masks, dismissals, denunciations, wandering children, children in desperate situations – we could see all this again today in Berlin, as well as around the world.
This parallel between the two periods helped me return to the tried and tested approach of time travel. I must emphasize that it is very important because through it we can use modern characters instead of entering into the terrifying stories of children who lived at that time. The idea that children easily read true stories frankly scares me. I do not believe in it. There are biographical stories like that of Anne Frank. Or Judith Kerr's book "When Hitler Stole the Pink Rabbit" - she died two years ago and is the daughter of a prototype of an important character in "The Golden Threads". I even left his real name in the hope that young readers will search for and discover information about this person who lived at that time.
So, instead of telling the already known disturbing stories from the war and the Holocaust, I chose the combination of fact and fiction (FCT). By doing this, I reduce the tension - on the one hand, and on the other - I shorten the distance between this specific historical moment and the present.
In fact, today in Berlin – or at least until the first lockdown began – there was a kind of Renaissance, a romantic commemoration of the times just before the war began. Romance, jazz, Berlin! The golden twenty carefree years were number one in the German and rather in the Berlin film industry. And… here we are suddenly, literally in a day, awakened with this heavy aftertaste of the same bygone time.
Although the story itself is fictional, the places, people, and events are historical facts, and you yourself live in Berlin. Is it time to weave the history of the last century into children's stories?
In Berlin during the difficult days of the Holocaust, many ordinary and good people lived. We should not ignore their existence, and where it is missing, we can create it ourselves. I decided that we need good people, a good example in the German country. To show not only the beasts in people's souls, but to discover the creative light of goodness - to ignite it. I created a fictional, small world of people who existed in the past. This is different from creating fantasy characters whose images are built from scratch. But you know, in Judaism (the Jewish religion) for these same people who survived the Holocaust, there is one important principle: to look for and see the good in a person FIRST! I admit that this is the first time I have used this technique. Instead of recreating or inventing bad characters, I choose neutral personalities from the past and build them in the best light in which I can imagine them. This is how the images of the good confectioner Hamann were born – he really lived, whom you, Milena, drew so beautifully and realistically, expressing precisely this kindness I am talking about; the director Kerr, who in real life is himself saved, in the book becomes a savior; the policeman Liam, instead of killing and persecuting the Jewish children, helps them, and so on and so forth. Let us not forget, however, that this is only the first part of the story.
The book is not in print, but only available on order. Why did you decide to work this way?
I am an independent publisher and author. I have to be both at the same time because I can, I want to, and my ideas are developing. I have been an author since I was a child. With my first poetry collection, I won a national award when I was seventeen. I have not stopped developing in this direction. My experience is related to marketing, media, screenwriting, and production. During my motherhood with my second child, my eldest son pushed me to the wall with an ultimatum to publish my children's books. So at the very end of 2016, I started the first personalized books for Bulgaria. My goal was for them to be professionally produced. We learned on the go while developing the Feenstein brand. My greatest joy from this process were the people – discoveries. Artists, editors, translators – a whole world of beauty, professionalism, and friendship entered my life.
All our books are published in a way that is environmentally friendly – only upon request from a reader (their parents). This makes their publication more expensive, but it is environmentally friendly, there is no storage in warehouses and there is always, always a very special attitude towards each client.
I had the pleasure of creating the illustrations for this book, but you hadn’t actually seen them until the last moment. How did it happen that we worked together on this edition and what did you expect, what did you imagine as illustrations before you saw them?
As I told you, the pleasure of our work depends on the people I work with. I am crazy about them and the work of all of them in general – so much so that I am looking for ways to promote everyone somehow, especially the artists. I am looking for competitions, I am considering creating an exhibition with their works from Feenstein’s books.
So, for this story I had huge questions about who the “right” illustrator was. Then in May last year (2020 – Ed.) I remember that I turned to you as the creator of the website “Bulgarian Illustration” to recommend a name. It turned out that at that very moment you were free for the idea. I will not hide, I had great hesitations, since I had not seen your illustrations that came close to the type of illustration I was looking for. I was won over the moment I received your proposal for a mixed technique of pencil and watercolor. This is exactly what I thought – the parallel between the past and the present. Thus we began work, the result of which brings precisely the spirit of that time, but also the innocence and kindness of the characters that I was looking for.
(You can see photos of the work process in the gallery)
I can’t help but ask you… the book makes a statement that there will be a sequel, but would you return to 1933 again?
Yes, there will be a sequel. I hope we find the funding we need. This sequel will be part of this series, but since it will take us back to the period 1933-1945, it may not be so easy for our young readers and their parents.
Because besides good, there is also evil. We need to get to know both in order to preserve the universe and our future.
Thank you!
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