The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz- A True Story of Family and Survival by Jeremy Dronfield
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Web ID: 11772613Powerful & deeply emotional!
I have read many books on WWII & holocaust survivors, and I continue to be shocked with each new story. This a gripping story of father and son who spend 4+ years in multiple concentration camps trying to stay alive. The bond they share gives them the strength to survive the horrors they encounter daily. Vivid details of how they survived until liberation. This is a well written & gripping story of the will of the human spirit to overcome the sadistic Nazi regime. This is a period in history that must never be forgotten. Never Forget!!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A must read!
This book was such a gut wrenching read that made me cry hard but touched my heart so much. My favorite part of the story were the actual family photos and the letter written by the youngest son in this family. The beginning of the book was very hard for me to get through due to all the actual names and historical facts given. It felt almost like reading a history book. But once I got past that, the story was gripping and heart breaking. A must read!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
good history
It is a story that is hard to tell, and has been told many times by various authors and survivors. This one puts you in the barracks with the father and son and aloows you to take this journey with them.As many times as I read about the hollocost I become more assured that we should tell this story forever...we have witnessed the German inhumanity to the people of Europe. It is a wound that will never heal. Great read.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Brilliantly written NonFiction
Historical accounting of a family separated by the tragedies occurring during the German occupation of Europe. The author, very cleverly, transforms one of the most horrific and grotesque incidents in this period of history to a storybook horror containing suspense magnetizing the reader to the book. I expected a plain & simple factual documentation of Jewish communities overcome by German troops under the worst conditions but, instead, transformed into a story containing well-documented facts difficult to comprehend, however, easy to read and follow. Kudos to the author who develops its main characters, Gustav and Fritz, to heroes deserving of such a positive final outcome. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a complete understanding of the struggles incurred during this occupation and the strength of its victims.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Well researched story
I received a copy of The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. The tale of Gustav and Fritz Kleinmann was harrowing. Gustav and Fritz were arrested and sent to Buchenwald. In the midst of facing the harshest conditions known to man, they were made to build the camp around them. After a time there, Gustav was told he would be sent to Auschwitz. All the prisoners had heard horrible things about the camp so Fritz made arrangements for him to be sent with his father, knowing it would probably mean certain death. You could tell that the author completed painstaking research. While telling of the horrific things being done, the story lacked the personal feeling that you would have expected to read in a story of this nature. It didn't leave the reader feeling the angst and emotion like other novels in the same genre. The account was a slow read. I completed the book but not with the same speed and intensity that I usually do, All in all, it wasn't a bad book. It just lacked some of the emotion that should have been portrayed.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Honor Thy Father
There are books you enjoy while reading and others that stay with you. "The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz" continues to haunt my thoughts. Jeremy Dronfield's account of Fritz and Gustav's story affords the best and worst of humanity. A son's love for his father, puts Fritz in harm's way as he follows his father into Auschwitz. Dronfield penned the Kleinmann's story utilizing Gustav's diary and interviews with Gustav's youngest son, Kurt. While writing, he revealed the missing links and what happened to the family. Kurt ends the book with his account of being a child during the war and what life was like being sent to America. He endorsed Dronfield's novel and although found it difficult to discover the truth, brought to life, his family's courage and perseverance. I marvel at Gustav's strength and belief that he would make it through the camps to return to Vienna. Fritz's resourcefulness saved lives and like his father, he wouldn't give up despite the atrocities they faced. Reading Holocaust literature and historical fiction, I've coined the term disturbingly wonderful. I find it difficult to read but I admire survivors' resilience and ability to forgive. The final Holocaust survivors remain and we owe it to them and ones already departed to share their stories. When I hear people say the Holocaust never happened, it sickens me as I've seen firsthand the concentration camps, museums and memorials. The record of survivors' fortitude and love of life puts everyday obstacles into perspective. It's a testament to their character that they refused to be beaten and while not forgetting chose to to forgive and embrace the rest of their lives. To end, a moving tribute to Gustav from his son "Fritz Kleinmann described things as follows: “My father had volunteered for every possible type of skilled work. If Stolten, the work supervisor, called for roofers, my father ran up; if glaziers were in demand, he put his hand up. There was no work he didn’t think he was capable of. When I said to him one evening that I feared what would happen if the SS discovered that he hadn’t mastered these types of work, he replied that he would have mastered them before the SS could figure it out.”
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com