Discussion Guide for Light from the Yellow Star, by
Robert Fisch, MD
References are to the printed edition of the book.
For web page, see:
http://www.chgs.umn.edu/museum/exhibitions/yellowStar/i
ndex.html
For a video interview with Dr. Robert Fisch, see:
http://www.chgs.umn.edu/educational/video.html
Prepared by Carol Wirstschafter, Ph.d.
Section A:
1. A. What does the title Light from the Yellow Star suggest about the reason why
Robert Fisch wrote the book?
2. The Quotations throughout the text are translations from grave stones in a
memorial cemetery in Budapest, Hungary. What connection is there between the
illustrations on page 6 and a visit to the cemetery?
3. How do people in your family remember friends or relatives who have died?
Section B:
1. What does the picture facing page 8 illustrate about the City of Budapest?
2. What does Robert Fisch tell us about the human bridges in his life?
3. What/who are the bridges in your life?
Section C:
1. What did the Nazi occupation of Hungary mean for Robert Fisch and the other
Hungarian Jews?
2. What doies the picture facing page 10 tell us about the treatment of Jews by
Nazis?
3. What do the hands in this picture represent?
4. Draw or describe hands that could express a different feeling than the one in
the picture.
Section D:
1. What acts of cruelty toward Jews did Robert Fisch experience in the labor
camp?
2. Why does the artist use only black and white to illustrate the destruction of
family photographs in the picture facing page 12?
3. If your teacher tore up a photo/picture of you or your family, what would it
mean to you about yourself and your teacher?
Section E:
The text on pages 18-24 describe the forced marches Robert Fisch experienced in the
winter of 1945. The victims died of typhus, starvation, exposure, and the random
violence of their Nazi guards.
1. What kindness toward the Jews is shown on the picture facing page 20?
2. How is the hand at the top of the picture facing page 20 different from the
other hands? And how does the artist use color to illustrate the text in this
picture?
3. In what ways can you, or organizations or churches or other religious
organizations to which you and your family belong, help people in your
community and other parts of the world? Is any place “too far and distant” to
help people?
4. In what precise ways can you help people in trouble in other parts of the
world?
Section F:
1. Why is the arrival of American troops at Gunskirchen described with the
words, “Like dawn in the darkness thy light arises?”
2. How does the illustration facing page 26 illustrate those word?
3. Can you think of a time in your life that was like a dawn in the darkness? (i.e.
being found when you were lost, recovering from being very sick?)
Section G:
1. What is the relationship between the illustrations facing pages 28 and 30?
2. What does Robert Fisch remember about his father? What does he want us to
remember about the deaths of six million Jews?
3. How do we as a nation remember those who have died in a war?
Section H:
1. What does the writer mean by the phrase: “I feel that all of us who wore the
yellow star were tattooed inside.” Page 32?
2. What obligations has Robert Fisch fulfilled in writing and illuminating this
book?
3. What obligations to family, friends and community do you have in your own
life?
Section I:
1. In what ways has this book achieved its purpose?
2. Place yourt hand over the hand on the cover of the book. How does the
writer/artist connect us to his story?
3. Create a picture or a poem that represents your thoughts and feelings about the
Holocaust.