Johanna Reiss (/riːs/ 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.
[1][2] 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.
Her husband encouraged her to write about her experiences during the war, which resulted in the young adult novel, The Upstairs Room.
Elie Wiesel commented that The Upstairs Room was "as important in every respect as the one bequeathed to us by Anne Frank.
"[5][6] The Upstairs Room's success led to Reiss writing a sequel, The Journey Back, published in 1976.