Book 214.
The Librarian of Auschwitz. Loaned to me by Shona France .
This not only tells the story of Dita (13 yr old girl from Czech Republic) but also of Fredy Hirsch (Jewish Youth Leader) and Rudy Vrba and Alfred Wetzler two escapees from Auschwitz "the report they helped compile, telling the truth about the camp as a place of mass murder, led directly to saving the lives of thousands of Jews Budapest who were about to be deported to their deaths. No other single act in the Second World War saved so many Jews from the fate that Hitler had determined for them." https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.tab...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtu...

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://en.m.wi...
7/10 ( )

Classified as a novel with the true story of Dita Kraus as its heart and soul, this was a riveting read; equal parts hope and heart break. Outstanding research, character development, and attention to creating full-bodied individuals kept me reading even as I knew many people would not be alive when liberation from the camps finally arrived.

Challenging, rewarding and important read. ( )

This was an interesting book about the life of Dita Kraus, there were times when the book really drew me into the story and there were other times where I felt lost in the weeds. Overall, I enjoyed learning about Dita Kraus and I think Antonio Iturbe did a good job fictionalizing her story. ( )

Fictionalised version of what happened at Auschwitz. Believable. How people retain some humanity in the face of such a horror.

A story from someone who lived through Auschwitz as a teenage librarian, now illustrated and adapted for teen audiences. A rare find in today's pantheon of series and mass-produced graphic novels. A Jewish teen girl goes through awful conditions knowing the power of books and their ability to remove the mind from harsh realities of concentration camps. Some mature content points this to be older teen-oriented [a minor character is gay, some nudity depicted - not that detailed]. ( )

First, this was billed as a teen book. It is pretty descriptive with the autricities of the Holocaust and the bulk of the book takes place at Auschwitz. Second, this is very good book, 4.5 stars. Some reviews stated that it was "slow" and I believe the depth of the book needed to be long, so the reader could get a better idea of what happened and how long it really took. The main character, Dita, ended up leaving her home at the age of 9 and made it to the liberation at the age of 16. That is a long time to live in such awful and unnecessary conditions.

I enjoy any book that hails the greatness of books and this is one that showed that the little library gave hope in an unthinkable place. ( )

This was a well-researched book and made me think a bit. I wasn't as interested in the parts that didn't have Dita in it, but I know they became important in the whole story. Although it was labeled as a "Young Adult" book, I don't think I would have been able to handle this as a teen. I found it interesting that she met Anne Frank at the end of Anne's short life. I think this book made me feel like I need a break from WWII books for a while. ( )

This was billed as a young adult novel, but I question that young adult designation. This novel was based loosely on the life of 14 year old Dita Kraus. Dita and her family were Czech Jews and were first sent to Terizen and then on to Auschwitz. The Nazis kept a family camp at Auschwitz for about a year so that the press and Red Cross could visit and tell the world that this was a nice place. They even had a "school" for children-with no books, desks, pencils, papers, etc. Through the resistance Dita came to have 8 books which she cared for and passed around. Had she been caught it would have been the gas chambers for her and her family. Dita and her mother were transferred to Belgen-Belsen where things were even worse than Auschwitz. Eventually Dita is liberated by the English. There are some interesting interviews with Dita on Youtube. I felt this book was a little too much fiction--it even had the obligatory romance--prisoner and Nazi officer. It was billed as a novel, so I don't want to judge too harshly. Also, if it was written for 13-17 year olds, I understand the included romance. 447 pages ( )

"A teenage girl imprisoned in Auschwitz keeps the secret library of a forbidden school.

Dita Adlerova, 14, is confined in the notorious extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Compared to her fellow inmates, Dita’s relatively lucky. The several thousand residents of camp BIIb are inexplicably allowed to keep their own clothing, their hair, and, most importantly, their children. A young man named Fredy Hirsch maintains a school in BIIb, right under the noses of the Nazis. In Fredy’s classroom, Dita discovers something wonderful: a dangerous collection of eight smuggled books. The tale, based on the real life of Dita Polach Kraus and the events of 1944 and 1945, intertwines the stories of several real people: Dita, Fredy, several little-known war heroes, even a grim cameo from Anne and Margot Frank. Holocaust-knowledgeable readers will have suspicions about how many characters will die horribly (spoiler alert: this is Auschwitz). Yet somehow, myriad storylines told by multiple narrators offer compelling narrative tension. Why does BIIb exist? Will Rudi and Alice have a romance? What’s Fredy’s secret? Will Dr. Mengele subject Dita to his grotesque experiments? Dita’s matter-of-fact perspective, set in a slow build from BIIb to the chaotic starvation of the war’s end, both increases the horror and makes it bearable to read.

Though no punches are pulled about the unimaginable atrocity of the death camps, a life-affirming history . (Historical fiction. 13-16)" A Kirkus Starred Review, www.kirkusreviews.com

Well, you all know how I felt going into this novel - so how did it pan out?

About 30 pages in I'd decided to bail. The fictionalising of events in Auschwitz really wasn't sitting well with my conscience, and the narrative voice wasn't doing it for me either. It felt like something had perhaps been lost in the translation from Spanish to English; there was a stiltedness to it. At over 400 pages long it's not a short book either, and I wasn't sure I could go the distance given the subject matter.

So I put it to one side, but then my husband and I had a conversation about it. This is a man who won't watch the Titanic movie as he feels disgusted about Hollywood turning a terrible tragedy into entertainment, and who refused to go to Auschwitz when he was in Poland as he didn't want to feel like he was contributing to it being a tourist attraction. I expected for sure that he'd agree that writing a novel about a librarian in Auschwitz was a poor taste way of getting sales, but he surprised me by suggesting that there may be value in reading it given the author's engagement with Dita Kraus, the 'librarian' of Auschwitz. At the back of the book I found that Iturbe had engaged significantly with her, even visiting the Czech ghetto with her where her family were initially moved to, so I decide to pick it up again, and a few more chapters in the narrative style stopped jarring with me and I really got into it.

Having read Eli Wiesel's Night, Iturbe doesn't capture the horror of Auschwitz with the same sharpness of a survivor's own account, but I tried to keep the perspective that his objective wasn't necessarily to be that authority. Rather, he wanted to develop out the story of Kraus' teenage role in Auschwitz as librarian for 8 books as the narrative device for telling the story of the family camp. This was, at the time, a new and suspicious step by the Nazis, allowing families to stay together, with the prisoners informed that after 6 months each intake would receive special treatment. A school for children was allowed to take place every day, a significant event beyond its educational merit as its structure and focus resulted in no children dying whilst attending the school, which statistically was unheard of in Auschwitz hitherto. Needless to say the family camp was simply a ruse to distract any potential inspections from The Red Cross, and you can guess what the special treatment at the end of the 6 months was for so many innocent souls.

The trouble with fictional accounts of something like Auschwitz is that as you become absorbed you can lose the perspective of it being based on real lives. As Iturbe develops the plot of this book and dramatic tension is built up at various points, at times I did feel uncomfortable that the Auschwitz horrors were giving me page-turning moments.

So, in all, I own up - I enjoyed it and zipped through it in 2 days. Should I have enjoyed it? Should it have been page-turning fodder? I still feel that there's an author's selfishness at play in wanting to use Auschwitz as a plot device, but on the other side of the coin he writes of the bravery of a number of people whose stories would probably otherwise be lost in history forever.

4 stars for being a good read. I'm still searching my conscience a little, though. ( )

Antonio Iturbe did a ton of research, cobbling together the actual experiences of 14-year old Dita Kraus, who survived both Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen and other real stories, such as the most well documented escape from Auschwitz. Dita and her parents were first relegated to the Terezin ghetto, before being sent to the concentration camp. Dita is brave and steadfast, and becomes the librarian of a barrack used as a school in case of an inspection. She hides a small handful of diverse books. Real horrors, but the book was slow in many places and many of the characters less than interesting. ( )

The Librarian of Auschwitz, Antonio Iturbi, Dita Kraus, authors; Lilit Thwaites, translator; Marisa Calin, Dita Kraus, narrators
In March of 1939, Dita Adler’s life changed. She was only nine years old at the time and a very happy, only child. She lived in Prague, Czechoslovakia, with her parents. She remembers the square with its famous clock, in a time of peace, before the Germans invaded. The setting seemed ideal. Then in March of 1939, Hitler’s troops entered the city. Different flags flew, street names changed, soldiers appeared in the streets, and race laws were enacted. The normal daily life for the Jews was slowly modified until they lost the ability to move about freely in public spaces, parks, libraries, and schools. They could not use public transportation, could only shop in certain stores at certain times, could not work and could not fraternize with anyone that wasn’t Jewish. Carefully and deviously, they were removed from the public sphere of protection and were essentially erased from memory unless thought of as pariahs. Those who helped them were arrested and their families were placed in grave danger. Thus, few helped them. The slippery slope enveloped the lives of the Jews and what was, at first, just one or two simple rules to follow, somehow morphed slowly into an altered universe with yellow stars on their clothing, their belongings confiscated and mass roundups of all Jews as Hitler proceeded with his plan to annihilate all of them, in the countries he conquered. It was his Final Solution. The propaganda was hateful and so people also became hateful and suddenly hated and feared the Jews.
Dita Adler was moved from place to place with her family. First they had to give up their own home and could not take all of their belongings with them. Then they were forced to live with multiple families in small spaces, with no privacy. Then they were sent to labor camps where they were worked to death, starved, experimented upon, and/or murdered systematically. Their world was governed by human “monsters”. Why did the Jews go to the slaughter so meekly, one asks? They thought “it was just the war”, it would soon be over”. They could not comprehend the horror that faced them, nor could most of the other heads of state in the rest of the world, so, little was done to prevent the horror from spreading like wildfire, taking with it million and millions of innocent victims. Hitler’s dream to create the Thousand Year Reich was a nightmare for everyone else involved.
When Dita and her family were sent to Terezin, the model Nazi camp, set up purposely to fool the inspectors, life was different, but manageable. When they were sent to the family camp of Auschwitz, they were not subjected to the same abuse of other arriving Jews, and were allowed to remain together, but they realized that this was not the resettlement promised; no one was fooled any longer. They were poorly dressed, in insufficient housing with little hygiene, and hardly fed. Disease spread in the crowded quarters and in the mornings, the dead were removed. From there they were sent to Bergen Belsen and left to die. There was no hygiene, no bed of any sort and little food. In the face of all the hardship, Jews fought to maintain discipline and decorum. They practiced what good hygiene they could. They created schools in the hope that the children would have a future. They created a library. In their quiet way, they defied Hitler and survived.
This novel is based on Dita’s story, and her experiences are very real and nightmarish. However, the novel is also embellished with the author’s imagination. Still, in fact, it lauds several unsung heroes that fought to maintain dignity, education and normalcy in a place where dignity did not exist, books were forbidden and the word normal no longer had meaning. A student of the Holocaust will recognize many of the names that are mentioned, like Dr. Mengele and Freddy Hirsch whose cause of death in the book is different than the popular belief, but seems to have plausibility after reading the book. Much of the book is really about the day to day effort of Dita Adler, who worked with Hirsch to protect the few precious books of the “library” of sorts, books that the camp prohibited, but the victims salvaged and protected with their lives. The different ways designed to use and hide the forbidden books were ingenious. There are no adequate words, nor will there ever be, to describe the Holocaust and those that supported it. None can do justice to the moment in history when those devils prevailed. There is no way to ever recognize or pay homage to all the innocent souls who suffered under this reign of terror, except to keep their memories alive with books, books that reveal the horror so that we recognize the danger of it recurring and work to prevent it. Books and knowledge are the very keys to humanity’s salvation.
The cover design is pretty, but its youthful appeal may lock out a significant audience. It begs the question, is it a YA novel or an adult novel? It could be both. Regardless, the novel really informs the reader about the family camp at Auschwitz/Birkenow which existed for only 6 months and provided a semblance of normalcy in an unreal and unimaginable world. Why was it destroyed six months after it was created? Was it set up to fool the world as scholars speculate? Was Freddy Hirsch’s death a suicide as ruled? We may never know, but we must also never forget. Jews were chosen, and they need to be proud of that and their many accomplishments. That is what Jews should be remembered for. Hitler and his thugs wanted to murder and/or eliminate as many Jews as they could before the war ended, because in truth, the Nazis were the worst kind of human beings, failures in any other walk of life, they rose through the ranks of the National Socialist Party. Thank G-d, they failed and Jews thrive today. ( )

Based on the true story of Dita Kraus, the fourteen-year-old who was put in charge of the eight illicit books smuggled into the family camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

When Dita and her parents arrive at Auschwitz, she is lucky enough to get a position as an assistant in Block 31 where Fredy Hirsch runs an illegal school and library. Hirsch gives her the responsibility of looking after their limited collection of books, a duty that Dita accepts along with all its inherent dangers… especially when Dr. Mengele — Death himself — begins to take an interest in her.

It’s a story of survival and humanity, and the power of books to give us hope, courage, comfort, and escape from the bleakest reality. ( )

Oh my goodness. This novel could be an amazing movie.
It is so well written. And the story is so moving!
I didn't know A LOT about Auschwitz and this novel has shown to me that I knew even less than I realized.

This is a fictionalized writing of real-life events. There was a librarian of Auschwitz. There were people that escaped, that survived, of course, that died.

I would strongly suggest this novel for a Book Club, be that a Young Adult Book Club or some other kind. It was truly amazing!

Adrianne ( )

It is an inspiration book that shows the best and the worst of people even in the darkest of times.

YA Historical Fiction based very closely on real-life events in the Theresienstadt "family camp" in Auschwitz in late 1943-March 1944, focusing on Dita, a 14 Czech Jewish girl who cares for 8 precious books smuggled past the guards. Dita becomes known as The Librarian, as she controls the lending of the books out to teachers in the family camp as they try to maintain a routine of secret schooling the children. Life in Auschwitz during this time period, surrounded by the constant threats of illness, murder and persecution by the Nazis, is told through several threads of survival, friendship, love and heroism. ( )

3.5 stars. As many others have said, this is harder to rate because it’s based on real people and the horror they lived through. I had a hard time getting through this. I’m not sure if it was the translation, but it seems to not flow very well. It had some awesome insights and I appreciated all the info at the end. Dita’s story was an incredible one and I’m glad it was shared. ( )

This is the second book about Auschwitz that I have read recently, and you can probably guess the title of the other very publicised book, but I have to say that The Librarian of Auschwitz stands head and shoulders above the rest. From early on, I knew that this wasn't going to be an easy read as the level of detail in the book depicted the full horror of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp; a level of detail that was welcome, however difficult to read, as this period of history should be portrayed as close to the truth as it can be.

Dita was only 9 years old when the Germans invaded her home in Prague; and at aged 14, Dita is imprisoned in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. This is a book based on real facts from Dita's life with a bit of fiction woven into it to create a compelling story from which you cannot bear to tear your eyes away. The way that the prisoners in the camp tried to create elements of normalcy showed a strength of character that was beyond admirable in the face of adversity. A school for the children, with teachers no more than children themselves, and Dita taking charge of the precious eight books in the camp gave the prisoners a reminder of the normal life they once knew.

As Dita's story is told, I loved reading the actual true facts, albeit sometimes horrific and shocking, but it adds gravity and depth to the story and reminds us that it's not a purely fictional account of a nameless Holocaust survivor. I really enjoyed reading about the customs performed at Passover and the symbolism of the traditional food prepared for the meal. It's always good to learn from books, especially when you're least expecting it. I certainly know a lot more about the concentration camps than I did before reading this book; although it's not a pleasant history, it's one that should not be forgotten.

I feel slightly guilty saying that I enjoyed The Librarian of Auschwitz but it is such a compelling read; it's vivid, descriptive and informative and a MUST READ for all readers, not just those who enjoy historical fiction. I will say that you need to wrap up warm to read The Librarian of Auschwitz as, despite sitting in a warm sunny spot to read, I was constantly getting goosebumps from the powerful and emotional words in this outstanding book. A very highly recommended read.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. ( )

In concentratiekamp Auschwitz is pal onder de ogen van de nazi s in het geheim een schooltje opgezet. Daar waar boeken streng verboden zijn, verbergt de veertienjarige Dita onder haar jurk de kleinste en meest clandestiene bibliotheek die ooit heeft bestaan. De acht boeken worden door haar en de andere kampgenoten gekoesterd als schatten. Dita geeft niet op en verliest nooit de wil om te leven. De verhalen voeren haar mee naar een andere wereld. De bibliothecaresse van Auschwitz is een ontroerend, waargebeurd verhaal over de moed van een jong meisje en hoe boeken mensen kunnen helpen in de verschrikkelijkste omstandigheden.

Dita was 9-years old when the war started, and 14-years old when she and her parents were brought to Auschwitz. At Auschwitz, for a while, there was a children’s school in Block 31. Dita was soon asked to be the school’s “librarian”. Books were prohibited, but somehow there were 8 books that had been smuggled in. It was a dangerous job, as Dita would have to make sure the books were never discovered by the guards.

Dita was a real person, and the author interviewed her. Many of the additional people were also real – a couple of additional people/situations the author included were people who escaped (one SS guard, and one Jewish boy who was was helping in the camp, so actually was in a “good” position, as compared to some of the others) to try to get help (the SS guard wanted to help one of the prisoners escape, along with her mother, and the Jewish boy wanted to get word out to the international community as to what was really happening in the concentration camps). I quite enjoyed this one, and it was interesting to read about the Block 31 school, the “library”, and the escapees, none of which I’d heard about before (that I recall). ( )

This isn't one of those titles that when someone asks "how is it" you want to answer "great" because it has roots in reality, and the topics/history covered is many shades less than something that should rank as incredible, or amazing, or anything with a positive connotation, and yet...I couldn't completely shy away from the use of that particular word "great" when conveying my thoughts in brief.

Once upon a time, the word wasn't as accepting, understanding, or inclusive as it should be...wait, okay so that's pretty much ANY time, but for the sake of this review, let's go with it, shall we? Once upon that time, people were persecuted for their heritage, for their beliefs, for their features, for the blood that ran through their veins...pretty much for everything that made them THEM and not "them". That time we're once upon-ing was filled with brutality you can't imagine, bloodshed like you'd never want to see, and lies held up as truths until the hidden cracks in their veneer finally wore through and the world could see them as they were. The thing is...this isn't a story so much about ALL THAT though it most definitely is there, but about all the things that went into making daily life livable to some degree.

It's a story about the hardships and terrors, but also about the friendships however tenuous, the relationships however distant, the hopes and dreams for the future....whether they would be there themselves to actually see it come to pass. It's about how one can survive something so atrocious, and still come out on the other side a different version of ones self, but still ones self. It's about the power of the written word to transport us from the most dire of straights to something more beautiful beyond. I admit, I was captivated by the work, and while yes, there is fiction with the facts, it was instilled just so, that it allows readers to fully immerse themselves in the time. This was not a title received for review, but a book I purchased for my personal library that I am slowly rebuilding after Hurricane Michael's destruction...and I doubt I could have chosen a better title to dive into at the time. ( )

The story being told in The Librarian of Auschwitz is fascinating, but the way it is being told doesn’t do it justice. I found myself zoning out a lot during this book because of the lack of rising action. I’ve thought long and hard about this, because the partially-fictionalized stories of the real people in this novel have a lot of potential, and I think these stories should be told, but the experience was challenging for me as a reader. To put it frankly, I was bored.

Although I enjoy history, my main interest leans toward stories older than WWII. That said, I find myself drawn to tales about the Holocaust because of the horror of it – these are stories and truths that need to be known and told. The Librarian of Auschwitz screams to be that kind of story, and indeed, Dita seems to be that kind of person who should be remembered. The way Antonio Iturbe went into it was interesting, because it’s a piece of historical fiction… but it also relies heavily on real people. Where a book like The Book Thief does very well because of the way it took a real, horrible event and built a character that stole the reader’s heart… The Librarian of Auschwitz barely scrapes Dita’s surface.

I found it interesting that Iturbe chose to change Dita’s last name, but not her first. Her character and the others feel torn between the author wanting to tell their stories, but not wanting to speculate too much about their thoughts and feelings. And with something like Auschwitz, I understand his hesitation. The way the story rolled out… I think it would have been more successful if it was fictionalized a little more. Not to take away from the real stories, but to pull it away from the expectations of Auschwitz and give the author a little more freedom to flesh out the characters. There was a bit at the end talking about the real life people, and I think that it honors them very well… but in sticking so close to reality, the book lost something of heart.

I also do want to mention that I read the English translation of The Librarian of Auschwitz. This book was originally published in Spanish, and translations always lose a bit of something. It depends on the translator, of course, but that could be the case here.

This book was enough to make me interested in Dita Krause and the Children’s Camp at Auschwitz and Freddy Hirsch, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to keep my attention. The way this novel seemed to be awkwardly suspended between fiction and non-fiction made it drag out and kept the characters at an arms length. The writing style was strongly telling (not showing) and just generally… it felt like the right story, but the wrong storyteller. ( )

There appears to be a plethora of books recently dealing with atrocities committed during the 2ndww. The Librarian of Auschwitz is a fine example and shows how in the midst of living amongst the wretchedness and unbelievable cruelty of Auschwitz ordinary everyday life can just continue. It says something for the human spirit that when all around you are dying the simple pleasure of reading a banned book or discussing them can somehow bind people together and make day to day living in such squalor seem bearable. The story of Dita Kraus is a blend of mixing the facts around a well presented novel and makes for inspirational reading. Bringing order and resilience is really the only way to survive and the simple task of lending and discussing creates a kind of normality when faced with evil from such monstrous individuals as Joseph Mengele and Rudolf Hoess commandant of Auschwitz. A difficult book to read but essential if we are ever to understand how the evil intent of men must not be allowed to prevail. ( )

A 14-yr-old getting books into children's and teacher's hands in Auschwitz. It's hard to believe, but it's based on a true story. A wonderful storyline that many will enjoy! ( )