T4 by Ann Clare LeZotte

Just a brief comment about a brief, but powerful book. T4 by Ann Clare LeZotte, a novel in verse, is an excellent follow-up book for any literature or history class studying the Holocaust.

LeZotte tells the story of a young German girl caught up in the threat of Hilter's Tiergartenstrasse 4 program. As Nazi forces attempted to exterminate the Jews, they also created an evil program aimed at those of any race, class, or nationality who they determined to be defective due to physical or mental frailty. Paula Becker, a young deaf girl, was one such example. Simply because she was deaf she became the target of T4.

This short novel tells the tale of her struggle to avoid the gas chamber. She relates a life of constant movement. With the help of a young man she calls Poor Kurt, she is able to move from one safe haven to another to avoid discovery and certain death. Her story reveals the frightening facts of how the medical profession was used to justify the deaths of innocent victims simply because of their unfortunate handicaps.

T4 is yet another example of the horrors of the Holocaust and the awful evidence of mankind's potential for evil.