I first read When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit when I was about ten years old. I had gained a mild interest in the events of the Second World War at School and wasn’t quite old enough to have read Anne Frank.
At that age, I don’t think I truly grasped how much of the world it was gently handing me. Back then, it was a story about a girl who lost her toy rabbit – I’d like to say it was a story about train journeys and foreign food and strange schools and homesickness. But in all honesty, the toy rabbit is the only part I actually remember!
Re-reading it now, as an adult, I realise just how much Judith Kerr trusted her readers, both young and old, to understand what isn’t being said.
So, what’s it all about?
This is the story of Anna, who flees Germany with her family just before Hitler comes to power. There are no graphic scenes, no lectures, no looming horror music. And that’s exactly what makes it powerful. We experience the slow, careful dismantling of a life through a child’s eyes: one who is clever, curious, and occasionally infuriated by the unfairness of it all. She misses her old house. She misses her friends. She misses her pink rabbit.
And isn’t that the point? War doesn’t always arrive with a bang. Sometimes it comes in the form of a rushed goodbye, or a suitcase that doesn’t have room for your favourite toy.
As an adult, I noticed so many things I missed the first time: how hard her parents worked to keep the family afloat, how much they sacrificed, and how fragile safety is when the world turns cruel. But Anna remains at the heart of it all. Brave, funny, and incredibly stubborn Anna.
It’s a quiet book. It doesn’t shout, and it doesn’t try to shock. But it stays with you. And re-reading it now, I’m glad ten-year-old me found it; even if I wasn’t yet old enough to appreciate the meaning behind it all. I think it planted something important.
It’s a book I’ll always recommend; especially to children. Especially to adults who once were those children. Especially to anyone who’s ever left somewhere behind and wondered if they’ll ever feel at home again.
Such a beautifully written piece of autobiography, about a time that so many of us struggle to fully understand. But with certain events happening around the world, it’s easy to understand how marginalised people must be feeling right now.