Monique believes, based on past research, that she may have been deported to Auschwitz where she was likely killed. Her mom never again saw the unidentified woman who gave it to her.
This “monkey man,” was a tiny figurine of an ape-like creature fashioned from brass. “She said: ‘Little girl, why are you crying?’ And my mother said, ‘I’m crying because it’s my birthday and nobody gave me anything.’ And the woman gave my mom the monkey man.’”
She saw a tall, beautiful lady with brown hair,” Monique recounted of her mother’s experience. “But that night, Oma shares her story of Holocaust survival, the brass monkey charm that she was given in the camp, and a message of kindness and perseverance in the face of disaster.Īs Monique describes it, o n May 24, 1943, her mother was sitting on a stoop crying when someone tapped her on the shoulder. “People have survived worse,” says her mother ― Oma survived World War II, and never speaks of it. The story revolves around Tali, who is staying at her Oma’s (grandmother) apartment after a storm demolishes their house. Over the next few months Monique will be making other school visits. In it she tells the story of a gift from a perfect stranger that her mother (the late Celien Spier) received on her 14th birthday while a prisoner at the Nazi concentration camp in Czechoslovakia called Theresienstadt during the Holocaust. This marks her first picture book for children. As part of Holocaust Education Month, author Monique Polak visited two elementary schools – Our Lady of Pompei in Ahuntsic and Westmount Park to read from The Brass Charm.
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