Johanna Reiss
{{Short description|Dutch-American writer (born 1932)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
|image =
|imagesize = 150px |
| name = Johanna Reiss
| caption =
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1932|4|4|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Netherlands
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = novelist
| nationality =
| period = 1969 - present
| genre =
| subject = The Holocaust
| movement =
| notableworks = The Upstairs Room (1972)
| spouse = Jim Reiss (1955–1969)
| partner =
| children =
| relatives =
| awards = Newbery Honor, ALA Notable Book, Jewish Book Council Children's Book Award, Buxtehuder Bulle Prize
| signature =
| website =
}}
Johanna Reiss ({{IPAc-en|r|iː|s}} {{respell|REESS}}; born 4 April 1932) is a Dutch-American writer whose work focuses on her experiences as a Jewish child during the Second World War. Her books have been compared to the writing of Anne Frank.
Early life
Johanna Reiss was born Johanna "Annie" de Leeuw on 4 April 1932 in Winterswijk in The Netherlands, one of three sisters. Reiss was from a Jewish family and survived the Holocaust, along with her older sister Sini, by hiding in the attic of a farming family (Johan and Dientje Oosterveld, and his mother, Opoe) in the rural village of Usselo for three years.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/books/review/Garis-t.html?_r=1|title=Twice Stricken |work=The New York Times|accessdate=30 March 2012|first=Leslie|last=Garis|date=22 February 2009}}{{cite web|url=http://www.eldercountry.com/spotlight/april09.shtml|title=Spotlight on Johanna Reiss |publisher=eldercountry.com|accessdate=30 March 2012}} Her mother was in hospital, where she died from causes unrelated to the conflict, and her father and oldest sister Rachel were in hiding, separately.{{cite web|url=https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120228/murray-hill-gramercy/gramercy-writer-chronicles-life-during-after-world-war-ii|title=Gramercy's 'Anne Frank' Tells of Three Years in Attic Hiding From Nazis|work=DNA Info|author=Mary Johnson|date=28 February 2012|access-date=26 August 2022|archive-date=26 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826235938/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120228/murray-hill-gramercy/gramercy-writer-chronicles-life-during-after-world-war-ii/|url-status=dead}}
After World War II, Reiss graduated from college and taught elementary school. In 1955 she moved to the United States, where she married Jim Reiss and brought up two daughters. Her husband encouraged her to write about her experiences during the war, which resulted in the young adult novel, The Upstairs Room.
Professional life
Reiss's YA novel The Upstairs Room, which outlined her experiences during the Second World War, was published in 1972. It won several awards, including a Newbery Honor Book, an American Library Association Notable Children's Book, and a Jane Addams Peace Association Honor Book. It also won the National Jewish Book Award,{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners|title=Past Winners|website=Jewish Book Council|language=en|access-date=2020-01-19}} the Juvenile Book Award and the Buxtehuder Bulle, a German children's book award. Elie Wiesel commented that The Upstairs Room was "as important in every respect as the one bequeathed to us by Anne Frank."{{cite book|url=http://mhpbooks.com/books/a-hidden-life/|title=A Hidden Life |date=February 2009 |publisher=mhpbooks.com|accessdate=30 March 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.verzetsmuseum.org/museum/nl/activiteiten_en_nieuws/activiteiten,2008_voorbij/johanna-reiss.html|title=Ontmoeting met Johanna Reiss |publisher=Vezetmuseum.org|accessdate=30 March 2012|language=nl}}
The Upstairs Room's success led to Reiss writing a sequel, The Journey Back, published in 1976. This tells the story of Reiss and her family's attempt to rebuild their lives after the war.
In 2009, Reiss wrote A Hidden Life, a memoir about her childhood memories, as well as her husband's suicide.{{cite book
|title=A Hidden Life: A Memoir of August 1969 (catalog entry)
|date=February 2009
|publisher=Melville House Publishing
|url=http://mhpbooks.com/book.php?id=110
|accessdate=27 July 2009}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/books/review/Garis-t.html|title=Twice Stricken|work=New York Times|author=Leslie Garis|date=20 February 2009}}
Reiss regularly visits schools in both the US and Europe to talk about her experience of the Holocaust in The Netherlands. In May 2018, she was awarded the Knight of Order of Orange-Nassau in recognition of her speaking efforts by the Dutch government.{{cite web|url=https://www.rtvslingeland.nl/2235-johanna-reiss-benoemd-tot-ridder-in-de-orde-van-oranje-nassau|title=Johanna Reiss benoemd tot Ridder in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau|date=27 April 2018|accessdate=1 September 2018}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Library resources box|by=yes|lcheading= Reiss, Johanna}}
- {{official website }}
- {{LCAuth|n79066623|Johanna Reiss|6|}}
- [http://www.eldercountry.com/spotlight/april09.shtml Spotlight on Johanna Reiss]
- [http://www.johannareiss.com/JRschool.2015.htm Webpage regarding speaking engagements]
- [https://rtvslingeland.nl/2235-johanna-reiss-benoemd-tot-ridder-in-de-orde-van-oranje-nassau Johanna Reiss was Knighted in Holland in the Spring of 2018. She is a Knight (Ridder) in the Ordre van Oranje-Nassau (Order of Orange-Nassau).] (Dutch language)
{{Portal |Children's literature}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reiss, Johanna}}
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:People from Winterswijk
Category:Dutch emigrants to the United States
Category:Jewish American children's writers
Category:Dutch women children's writers
Category:Newbery Honor winners