The Holocaust was a terrible event that took place between 1933-1945. Imagine being transported from your comfortable life, surrounded by family and friends, to a Nazi run concentration camp. This is what happened to Hannah in the book Devil’s Arithmetic. The author does a wonderful job of depicting the terrors inside the camps. The book does a better job than the movie of the same name of explaining and depicting the horrors of the camp. Both the book, Devils’ Arithmetic, written by Jane Yolen and the movie of the same name that was made in 1999 begin with teenager Hannah taking part in her family’s traditional Seder dinner. She doesn’t understand why they have to remember their history or take part in these traditions that she considers…show more content… In the movie, Hannah doesn’t have a brother and she doesn’t spend as much time thinking about the family she’s left behind. In the book Hannah lives with her aunt and uncle, Shmuel and Gittle, and they are central characters during the concentration camp. They refer to her as Chaya throughout the story, but this name isn’t mentioned in the movie. These two characters aren’t important in the movie, and Gittle isn’t mentioned at all. When transported in the movie, Hannah lives with Rivka and Rivka’s mother. In the book, Rivka is a character that Hannah meets in the camp who helps her survive. The plot also has some differences. In the movie, the settlement is captured after the wedding of Shmuel and his bride; while in the book the capture happens prior to the wedding. Additionally, in the book, several people die during the journey to the camp, but this isn’t shown in the movie. In camp, the author writes about how Hannah was treated as a child and she helps take care to hide the other children from the head officer; but the movie depicts Hannah as older and there isn’t a focus on the children in the camp. Finally, in the book Hannah is transported back home before she is executed, but the movie shows her execution and then she awakens at the Seder
