Johanna's family owns the largest clothing store in town. Her grandfather founded it and built it up with his own hands - at least that's the family legend. But when Johanna travels to Israel on a class project in 1995, she finds out that the Lewin family originally owned the store. She learns that in the course of "aryanization" during the Nazi regime, her grandfather legally acquired the company according to the anti-Semitic laws of the Third Reich. Joanna is worried: her family's wealth is obviously founded on injustice. Should she keep silent, or can she wake the sleeping dogs?
Her grandfather's sudden death follows soon after her discovery, and so she embarks on a further investigation, discovering that he was an enthusiastic Nazi supporter! Johanna confronts her aggressively defensive father, their arguments escalate, and it almost comes to a falling-out. Yet, it is an eye-opening fight and marks Johanna's entrance into adulthood as she is left with many questions and with her own life to sort out.
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Her grandfather's sudden death follows soon after her discovery, and so she embarks on a further investigation, discovering that he was an enthusiastic Nazi supporter! Johanna confronts her aggressively defensive father, their arguments escalate, and it almost comes to a falling-out. Yet, it is an eye-opening fight and marks Johanna's entrance into adulthood as she is left with many questions and with her own life to sort out.
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Used availability for Mirjam Pressler's Let Sleeping Dogs Lie