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The boy who followed his father into Auschwitz : a true story of family and survival / Jeremy Dronfield.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Harper, 2020Edition: First Harper paperbacks editionDescription: xvi, 423, 16 pages : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780063019317
  • 0063019310
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Part I, Vienna -- 1. "When Jewish blood drips from the knife ..." -- 2. Traitors to the people -- Part II, Buchenwald -- 3. Blood and stone: Konzentrationslager Buchenwald -- 4. The stone crusher -- 5. The road to life -- 6. A favorable decision -- 7. The new world -- 8. Unworthy of life -- 9. A thousand kisses -- 10. A journey to death -- Part III, Auschwitz -- 11. A town called Oświecim -- 12. Auschwitz-Monowitz -- 13. The end of Gustav Kleinmann, Jew -- 14. Resistance and collaboration: the death of Fritz Kleinmann -- 15. The kindness of strangers -- 16. Far from home -- 17. Resistance and betrayal -- Part IV, Survival -- 18. Death train -- 19. Mauthausen -- 20. The end of days -- 21. The long way home -- Epilogue: Jewish blood.
Summary: 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.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 940.5318 D786 Available 33111010957500
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Brilliantly written, vivid, a powerful and often uncomfortable true story that deserves to be read and remembered. It beautifully captures the strength of the bond between a father and son."--Heather Morris, author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz

The #1 Sunday Times bestseller--a remarkable story of the heroic and unbreakable bond between a father and son that is as inspirational as The Tattooist of Auschwitz and as mesmerizing as The Choice.



Where there is family, there is hope

In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholster from Vienna, and his sixteen-year-old son Fritz are arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Germany. Imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp, they miraculously survive the Nazis' murderous brutality.

Then Gustav learns he is being sent to Auschwitz--and certain death.

For Fritz, letting his father go is unthinkable. Desperate to remain together, Fritz makes an incredible choice: he insists he must go too. To the Nazis, one death camp is the same as another, and so the boy is allowed to follow.

Throughout the six years of horror they witness and immeasurable suffering they endure as victims of the camps, one constant keeps them alive: their love and hope for the future.

Based on the secret diary that Gustav kept as well as meticulous archival research and interviews with members of the Kleinmann family, including Fritz's younger brother Kurt, sent to the United States at age eleven to escape the war, The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is Gustav and Fritz's story--an extraordinary account of courage, loyalty, survival, and love that is unforgettable.

Includes P.S. insights, interviews & more section containing a message from Kurt Kleinmann, family photographs, and afterword.

"Originally published, in slightly different form, as The Stone Crusher in 2018 by Chicago Review Press."--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 347-356) and index.

Part I, Vienna -- 1. "When Jewish blood drips from the knife ..." -- 2. Traitors to the people -- Part II, Buchenwald -- 3. Blood and stone: Konzentrationslager Buchenwald -- 4. The stone crusher -- 5. The road to life -- 6. A favorable decision -- 7. The new world -- 8. Unworthy of life -- 9. A thousand kisses -- 10. A journey to death -- Part III, Auschwitz -- 11. A town called Oświecim -- 12. Auschwitz-Monowitz -- 13. The end of Gustav Kleinmann, Jew -- 14. Resistance and collaboration: the death of Fritz Kleinmann -- 15. The kindness of strangers -- 16. Far from home -- 17. Resistance and betrayal -- Part IV, Survival -- 18. Death train -- 19. Mauthausen -- 20. The end of days -- 21. The long way home -- Epilogue: Jewish blood.

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.

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