The Librarian of Auschwitz
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Description
'It wasn't an extensive library. In fact, it consisted of eight books and some of them were in poor condition. But they were books. In this incredibly dark place, they were a reminder of less sombre times, when words rang out more loudly than machine guns...'
Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror that is life in the camp. When Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious books the prisoners have managed to smuggle past the guards, she agrees. And so Dita becomes the secret librarian of Auschwitz, responsible for the safekeeping of the small collection of titles, as well as the 'living books' - prisoners of Auschwitz who know certain books so well, they too can be 'borrowed' to educate the children in the camp.
But books are extremely dangerous. They make people think. And nowhere are they more dangerous than in Block 31 of Auschwitz, the children's block, where the slightest transgression can result in execution, no matter how young the transgressor...
The Sunday Times bestseller for readers of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Choice. From the author of The Prince of the Skies, based on the incredible and moving true story of Dita Kraus, holocaust survivor and secret librarian for the children's block in Auschwitz.
Book Information
Posts
This book had me intrigues when I found it in the library because it is about a part of history in Auschwitz that I hadn’t heard before (and we learn a lot about the history in school). The book is based on a true story but as we get told in the foreword by Dita Kraus (who was the librarian and whose story this book is based on) it is not a documentary. It is about Dita who is brought to Auschwitz when she is 14 where she stays in the family block. There she meets Fredy Hirsch who is in charge of children’s activities and started a secret school. Here it is where she becomes the librarian looking after the precious eight books that they managed to hide from the SS. The story continues from there about life in the Lager and what happens to Dita and the others. While it was a very interesting story I had trouble to really getting into the story and understanding or rather connecting to the characters. The book is mainly told from the perspective of Dita however throughout the book there are a lot of different characters introduced not through Ditas perspective but as a character with its own perspective. The way the author jumped around from the Dita to some of the other characters often came completely out of the blue for me (in the middle of the chapter) and that in combination with the how the story in the first half of the book often switched from the present to Ditas memories just didn’t work for me. Another thing that bothered me because it took me out of the story was that every so often the author inserted information about what happened to specific people later on. That was something that didn’t fit for me and would have been better either as a footnote or in an afterword. Even though the book is not supposed to be a documentary those parts made it feel like it was a historical documentary and not a fiction book based on a true story (I hope that makes sense but I am having trouble putting down the thoughts I have in my head). Overall I guess I can say that while I liked the idea of the book and found the history behind it interesting the book itself just didn't work for me.
Description
'It wasn't an extensive library. In fact, it consisted of eight books and some of them were in poor condition. But they were books. In this incredibly dark place, they were a reminder of less sombre times, when words rang out more loudly than machine guns...'
Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror that is life in the camp. When Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious books the prisoners have managed to smuggle past the guards, she agrees. And so Dita becomes the secret librarian of Auschwitz, responsible for the safekeeping of the small collection of titles, as well as the 'living books' - prisoners of Auschwitz who know certain books so well, they too can be 'borrowed' to educate the children in the camp.
But books are extremely dangerous. They make people think. And nowhere are they more dangerous than in Block 31 of Auschwitz, the children's block, where the slightest transgression can result in execution, no matter how young the transgressor...
The Sunday Times bestseller for readers of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Choice. From the author of The Prince of the Skies, based on the incredible and moving true story of Dita Kraus, holocaust survivor and secret librarian for the children's block in Auschwitz.
Book Information
Posts
This book had me intrigues when I found it in the library because it is about a part of history in Auschwitz that I hadn’t heard before (and we learn a lot about the history in school). The book is based on a true story but as we get told in the foreword by Dita Kraus (who was the librarian and whose story this book is based on) it is not a documentary. It is about Dita who is brought to Auschwitz when she is 14 where she stays in the family block. There she meets Fredy Hirsch who is in charge of children’s activities and started a secret school. Here it is where she becomes the librarian looking after the precious eight books that they managed to hide from the SS. The story continues from there about life in the Lager and what happens to Dita and the others. While it was a very interesting story I had trouble to really getting into the story and understanding or rather connecting to the characters. The book is mainly told from the perspective of Dita however throughout the book there are a lot of different characters introduced not through Ditas perspective but as a character with its own perspective. The way the author jumped around from the Dita to some of the other characters often came completely out of the blue for me (in the middle of the chapter) and that in combination with the how the story in the first half of the book often switched from the present to Ditas memories just didn’t work for me. Another thing that bothered me because it took me out of the story was that every so often the author inserted information about what happened to specific people later on. That was something that didn’t fit for me and would have been better either as a footnote or in an afterword. Even though the book is not supposed to be a documentary those parts made it feel like it was a historical documentary and not a fiction book based on a true story (I hope that makes sense but I am having trouble putting down the thoughts I have in my head). Overall I guess I can say that while I liked the idea of the book and found the history behind it interesting the book itself just didn't work for me.