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His name is Yossel. In another time, in another place, this fifteen-year-old boy could have grown to be a great artist. But in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II, Yossel, a Jew, is an untermensch and thus has no rights-and no future. When the Nazis confiscate his family's home and force them to live in the overcrowded tenements of the Warsaw ghetto, it appears that Yossel's artistic gift will be shattered. Instead, the awful suffering of his family, the terrible conditions of the ghetto, and the increasingly barbaric treatment inspire him. Yossel: April 19, 1943 is his story, told through his sketches. It is a compelling account of increasing horror depicted by an artist whose soul drives him to bear witness through his art.
And it is a tale of inspiring triumph; of how people deprived of everything rise above the horror and degradation that is their existence and, in a final act of defiance and humanity, turn on their oppressors and launch the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943.
