I Never Saw Another Butterfly

I Never Saw Another Butterfly Celeste Raspanti

1980 * p. 35 * YA Historical Fiction

I read the one-act cutting of the full-length play by Raspanti.

I Never Saw Another Butterfly tells the story of Raja Englanderova, a young Jewish girl who has been sent to the Nazi Camp Terezin during the Holocaust. Terezin is historically the Nazi Camp where many Jewish children were sent.

Raja is the only member of her family left alive. When she first comes to Terezin she is quiet and scared. But Irena, a Jewish woman who has been allowed to stay with the children, befriends her and helps her to know she is not alone. Irena teaches the girls when they aren't being watched by the Nazis.

Raja also befriends a boy named Honza. He sleeps in the boys barracks, and so they try to sneak out at certain times and meet and talk.

The biggest fear of all the children at Terezin is that they will be sent to Auschwitz where they will face certain death. The Nazis take a busload of children every now and then and they never come back.

RAJA: Honza, a sausage--you're wonderful--and sausage, I haven't--but where did you get it?

HONZA: I liberated it...

RAJA: Liberated it? Honza...

HONZA: Actually, I took it.

RAJA: Stole it. No wonder it tastes so good--you're so brave! (They hold hands and run together to another area.)

HONZA: I won't be here--for a few days...

RAJA: Why? Where are you going?

HONZA: Don't take any chances--coming to meet me, I mean.

RAJA: (frightened). Honza, what is it?

HONZA: Nothing. A special detail to build something outside the fortifications. They're picking the strongest--I'll be chosen.

RAJA: But--what if something happens?

HONZA: There'll be a chance for extra food. Maybe another sausage.

RAJA: I don't care about sausage...Honza, I'm afraid!

HONZA: Don't worry...they want the job done--it's some kind of walled courtyard...nothing much can happen...Well, I have to go.

RAJA: Goodbye then...Goodbye. I'll be waiting...waiting...waiting...Please come back.

I Never Saw Another Butterfly shows the horrors that Jewish children faced at Terezin. It is sad, but I think a good eye-opener for youth to understand the history of the Holocaust. It also has a little romance. After reading the one-act cutting I want to read the entire play.

-Appropriate for all readers

-Reading level: age 12 & up

-An easy read, but depressing themes that might be better discussed with more mature readers

-A good bridge to discussing WWII and Holocaust history