When I Grow Up

 When I Grow Up

Krimstein, K. (2021). When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers. Bloomsbury USA. ISBN 9781635573701

Plot Summary:

When I Grow Up is New Yorker cartoonist Ken Krimstein’s new graphic nonfiction book, based on six of hundreds of newly discovered, never-before-published autobiographies of Eastern European Jewish teens on the brink of WWII―found in 2017 hidden in a Lithuanian church cellar.

These autobiographies, long thought destroyed by the Nazis, were written as entries for three competitions held in Eastern Europe in the 1930s, just before the horror of the Holocaust forever altered the lives of the young people who wrote them.

(Krimstein, n.d.)

Analysis:

Ken Krimstein has brought to life an incredibly unique and significant work titled When I Grow Up. In the 1930’s the Yidisher Visnshaftelkher Institut (YIVO) sponsored a series of writing contests for Yiddishuanian youth aged 13-21. They were encouraged to tell the true stories of their families, teachers, schools, ambitions, and events that made a great impression on their lives. Over 700 entries were received and cataloged using a system to protect their anonymity. 

The autobiographies would be judged and winners announced on September 1, 1939. Ironically this was the day the Nazi’s invaded Poland. Their hand-written stories were hidden away and protected during the war, but eventually their whereabouts were forgotten. Most of the young authors did not survive the war. 

When the stories, discovered in a Lithuanian church, resurfaced in 2018, Krimstein began a journey that would result in this haunting non-fiction graphic novel. He selected six stories, translated from their original Yiddish, and presents them here in stirring graphic novel form. He presents the stories with humor (even in the footnotes) and humanity that preserves the author's youthful voices. He captures their teenage longing and quest for meaning. Their stories are filled with desire and angst and ambition. His pen and ink illustrations are beautiful and haunting. It is remarkable to think that at the time of their writing they were unaware of how drastically and tragically their lives were about change. 

This book is a stark reminder to find joy in the everyday, to seek purpose and meaning in our lives, and to remember how quickly it all can change. A beautiful work that I would recommend to anyone.

Book Reviews:

By depicting the personalities of youth lost—with easy beauty and a lack of preciosity—rather than how they died, Krimstein conveys the depth of human and cultural loss that much more profoundly.

(When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers. (2021). Publishers Weekly, 268(46), 62.)

A moving work of literary archaeology, rescuing Jewish texts from the oblivion of history.

(WHEN I GROW UP: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers. (2021). Kirkus Reviews, 89(21), N.PAG.)

Connections:

• Because this book touches on many complicated and deep subjects, the opportunities for connection are plentiful. This could be a part of a Jewish studies unit, a look at the evolution of languages, a study on war, or a unit about the significance of autobiographical writing.

References

Krimstein, K. (n.d.). When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers. Amazon.com. Retrieved September 29, 2023, from https://www.amazon.com/When-Grow-Up-Autobiographies-Teenagers/dp/163557370X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1EHNNXZ4DOPX9&keywords=when+I+grow+up+krimstein&qid=1696030721&sprefix=when+i+grow+up+krimstein%2Caps%2C128&sr=8-1

Krimstein, K. (2021). When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers. Bloomsbury USA.

This review was created as an assignment for SHSU LSSL 5385.