Over 15,000 children passed through the gates of Terezin, a concentration camp 30 miles north of Prague. Fewer than 100 survived. I Never Saw Another Butterfly, tells the story of the children of Terezin through the eyes of Raja Englandrova. Raja narrates and tells their story in flashbacks as she learns from Irena Synkova, a teacher who gives the children hope when there is no hope left and gives them the courage to write and draw about their experiences. We see the world of Terezin through their eyes, a world of laughter, of flowers, and of butterflies. From behind the barbed wire fences, teachers and students were able to show defiance; by learning even when it was forbidden, by drawing pictures of life as well as of death, and by writing poems about something bright and colorful they may have caught a glimpse of. The most famous symbol of hope was a yellow butterfly from a poem written by Pavel Friedman. Based on the book, I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Poems and Drawings from Terezin Concentration Camp 1942 - 1944 that was originally published in 1964, Celeste Raspanti creates a beautiful tribute to the children whose lives were stolen from them during the terrors of the Holocaust.
I Never Saw Another Butterfly guide sections
