Children and Play in the Holocaust is a emotionally hard to read essay by George Eisen. With a long list of references Eisen presents the experience of children in ghettos, detention centers and concentration camps during the Nazi occupation. These stories challenge the classical theory of play but also reinforce how play is so encoded in our genes that is almost unavoidable.
"Play burst forth spontaneously and uncontrollably without regard of the external situation."
The sociological, psychological, physiological and even political aspects of life during the Holocaust are visited under the lens of children, and adult, play.
"Their play, just like all human experiences, was reflective of and governed by societal, psychological, and economic conditions of the society in which they took place."
For the people in the play field the book can be used as a catalog of play experiences to be classified under the 16 play types by Bob Hughes; to identify the play cycle and the role of adults in free play.
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