Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Alicia, My Story:
1. The obvious place to start any discussion is with the remarkable courage of the book's real-life heroine—Alicia Jurman. From where do you suppose her inner-strength comes? Point out specific instances in the book where you find her perseverance and fortitude especially remarkable. Can you imagine how you might have acted under those same circumstances?
2. What did it mean, as Alice describes it, to be a Jew in Eastern Europe in the years leading up to World War II? Describe her experiences of anti-Semitism in her community? Once the Nazi invasion begins, how do the family's Polish neighbors react? Are all Poles in this book anti-Semitic?
3. What inspires anti-Semitism, then and now? Do you believe that hostility toward Jews has declined in post-war Eastern Europe?
4. Talk about Alicia's capture and ordeal in Chortkov prison. What prompts such selfless bravery as that of Jules and Sala Gold?
5. Alicia's friend Milek is another remarkable child. Talk about all he does to save Alicia's life? What do we later learn about him?
6. In her disguise as a gentile presant girl working the fields, how does she mistakenly reveal her true identity?
7. What can we learn about the redemptive power of aiding others in times of great danger—especially Alicia's protection of orphans even younger than she, as well as her work to save members of the Soviet resistance?
8. Even once the war was over, Alicia's struggles continue. Describe her efforts to smuggle Jews to Palestine. Why were the British intent on preventing Holocaust survivors from settling in there? What was your reaction when British frigates ram the Theodor Herzl?
9. In what way is Alicia changed by her ordeals? How does the Holocaust and all she has experienced affect her faith, both her religious beliefs and her beliefs in humanity?
10. What was your experience reading Alicia, My Story? How did it make you feel? Has this memoir altered your view of humanity...or affected your personal faith?
11. Have you read other memoirs of the Holocaust—The Diary of Anne Frank, or Elie Weisel's Night? Perhaps you've read (or watched films of) fictional accounts: The Reader...or The Boy in the Striped Pajamas? How does Alicia, My Story compare to these other works?
12. Reading Alicia, My Story, what have you learned about this period of history that you didn't know before? What lessons can we—people and nations—learn from Alicia's memoir?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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