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The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz

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The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz

By: Jeremy Dronfield
Narrated by: John Sackville
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About this listen

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz by Jeremy Dronfield, read by John Sackville.

In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholsterer in Vienna, was seized by the Nazis. Along with his teenage son, Fritz, he was sent to Buchenwald in Germany. There began an unimaginable ordeal that saw the pair beaten, starved and forced to build the very concentration camp they were held in.

When Gustav was set to be transferred to Auschwitz, a certain death sentence, Fritz refused to leave his side. Throughout the horrors they witnessed and the suffering they endured, there was one constant that kept them alive: the love between father and son.

Based on Gustav's secret diary and meticulous archive research, this book tells his and Fritz's story for the first time - a story of courage and survival unparalleled in the history of the Holocaust.

 20th Century Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Judaism Military Modern War Holocaust Survival

Critic Reviews

An emotionally devastating story of courage - and survival
An extraordinary tale
The almost unbelievable true story of Fritz Kleinman, who volunteered to follow his father, Gustav, into Auschwitz. It's a terrible and dramatic account of the humiliations and evils suffered by Jews in concentration camps and a moving testimony to the bond between fathers and sons
The inspiring true story of Gustav and Fritz Kleinmann, an Austrian father and son who managed to survive internments in concentration camps from Buchenwald to Auschwitz. Dronfield draws extensively on Gustav's diary, allowing us inside the incredible bond between father and son that kept them together through harrowing experiences, and, like all the best narrative nonfiction, the story is both immersive and extraordinary. Deeply moving and brimming with humanity.
A deeply humane account. This book could not be more timely and deserves the widest possible readership
An absolutely extraordinary story. It is the greatest father and son story I've ever come across in my life
Extraordinary
We should all read this shattering book about the Holocaust. An astonishing story of the unbreakable bond between a father and a son. Brilliantly researched and written with searing clarity
An extraordinary tale of endurance and filial love. It is a miraculous story with many twists and Dronfield tells it well in an energetic and lively style
A unique story of defiance and hope amid the genocide
All stars
Most relevant
Set in the context of the relentless, unthinkable inhumanity and evil perpetrated on an extraordinary, industrial scale by the Nazi machine, this is not only an astonishing story of survival, but an account of how humanity, resistance, ingenuity, decency, hope and dignity among otherwise ordinary people can combine to prevail over the murderous indifference of a brutal regime. A poignant and confronting story of extreme hardship and unmitigated cruelty that is ultimately uplifting and inspiring.

A Profoundly Moving Story, Beautifully Written, Magnificently Read

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This book has been brilliantly written, written in a way that makes it extremely vivid. It is a powerful and often uncomfortable true story that deserves to be read and remembered.

brilliantly written

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An outstanding read/listen! Hard to find a point to stop listening. The whole story is very well written and well researched for its use of dates and events. The narrator is brilliant. It can be very confronting at times but I would highly recommended it.

Brilliant story!

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So heartbreaking and yet also miraculous! What an incredible story, thank you for those who did the research and put all the effort in to getting this told. These facts need to be known so the world can never do this again!

This story needs to be heard

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This is a story of the sheer horrors of man kind during the second world war. However it is simply captivating to hear the friendship forged the helped keep so many alive. After my recent visit to eastern and central Europe on a high school music tour and visiting the camp of Auschwitz the story is a griping one that echoed through the walls of the camp. During the visit the sheer closeness to where they experienced it but also the distance to how I could never experience and comprehend the pain they went through. It is a simply gripping true story of family, friends and there journey to survival. would highly recommend.

Simply chilling but captivating

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