I enjoyed this book but I do feel there was a little of the emotion lost in translation. I adored the characters and loved to hate the bad ones as much as I was willing Dita and the others to succeed. I think this is a wonderful piece of historical fiction and is well written with a wonderful reflection on the horrors that took place during the holocaust. I had to mentally prepare myself for reading it, having read the Tattooist of Auschwitz and having been told it is more harrowing. Having said that, it is a brilliant read

I can’t review this book properly because I don’t feel I have the words to do this story justice and honestly, my opinion is really inconsequential when it comes to the real life stories of WWII. I am lucky that none of my family were caught up in the atrocities of Auschwitz, however being Jewish we all know someone who was/is affected by this war.

The Librarian of Auschwitz is a book I chose to read with my real life book club and in order to read this book I had to mentally prepare myself because I know it is going to be painful, horrific, sad, shocking and in some instances completely unbelievable that human beings can behave and act in the way they did during 1939-1945.

There isn’t really much more I can say, however this is a book that should be read by everyone. The author brings some wonderful characters back to life and shows us that despite the horror and cruelty that the prisoners of Auschwitz experienced there was always an undercurrent of hope, pride and love.

“Auschwitz not only kills innocents; it kills innocence as well.”

Time for some serious, more hard-hitting fiction. Though I don’t know if we can class this as full fiction, as it is based on a true story. Before I saw this book, I had never heard of the smallest library in the world, one that was formed in secret inside Auschwitz during WWII. As part of an experiment, a family camp was created in the death camp of Auschwitz, where rather than splitting up the families, they were kept together. The suggestion came to keep the children together in one of the huts during the day, and entertain them with games and plays, so the parents would work harder knowing their children were being looked after. Little did the Nazi’s know that this hut turned into a tiny little school, teaching everything from math and geography, to language, songs, stories, whatever they could teach, depending on the knowledge of the adults running it. This story focuses on Dita Kraus, a young girl in Auschwitz who is assigned as the Librarian of Hut 13, in charge of hiding their precious few books – as not only would they be destroyed if they were found, but likely everyone involved would be killed. The story is a light tale of what knowledge and stories can do even in the darkest of places, and I think few places are darker than Auschwitz. It was both devastating and heartwarming to read – I have read many a book describing experiences in concentration camps, but this was a completely new experience, as I had never heard of the family camp or the school that they formed there. Parts of the story have been expanded and fictionalized, and some people may not like the balance between focus on Dita and more historical narration of the events in the camp, but I found it very interesting.

This was a difficult read. Very brutal in its descriptions with little sentimentality. I did a lot of crying. Due to its harshness when the main protagonist escapes into her books you find yourself escaping too. Really excellent and one of the best of if it’s genre.

Honestly I found this book very difficult to read; not because of the subject just because it was very slow and awkwardly worded. I am usually very passionate and love books related to WW2 and concentration camps but I just could not get into this one and it took me quite a while to get through this book.

Dita Krauss' story is amazing, don't get me wrong, but I feel that the book could have been condensed more and been slightly easier to follow.

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe is a holocaust novel based on the true life story of Dita Klaus. Dita is 9yrs old when the Nazis occupy Poland and she and her family are first sent to the Terezin ghetto, from there they are sent to Auschwitz to the ‘family camp’. In block 31 the Nazis have allowed their captives to create a school. Not only is this an incredible happening but the adults running the school have a secret that if discovered, will mean certain death. The now 16 yr old Dita is the librarian, she will preserve these books with her life and will ensure that they remain in good repair, even those that are living books, kept safe in the minds of their keepers.

Antonio Iturbe tells this tale beautifully, sharing with the world yet another ‘Eshet Chayil’ (woman of valour) who put the lives of others ahead of her own to ensure that even in that evil place, hope was still alive, the Jews were not broken.

This is a fictional retelling of a true story.
As you would expect, it's a difficult read at times, but still an important one. I really liked the small part this one, brave young girl played in the camps, and whilst much of the book is filled with the most unimaginable horrors, there are still moments of hope.
It was dark reading for bedtimes, but I found it compelling all the same. I don't know if being a librarian myself made it more interesting to me, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to anyone who wants to read an almost-true story based in Auschwitz. I came away more knowledgeable, and very moved.

I can not seem to find the correct words to write about this book. It was fascinating to read how so many people tried to keep life as normal as possible for the children in the family unit. Who would have thought a young girl would have such an important role? Who knew there were books in Auschwitz?
Whilst reading this book, I was researching for more information on the Internet. Without these true accounts, we would never know the full extent of the atrosotites that occurred in the concentration camps.
Dita you really are a living legend.

The main reason that I read books about the war is to find out about those stories and people that didn't make the history textbooks or the news. I am so glad that this story has been told, it's beautiful and inspirational.

The author was interested in finding out about the smallest library in the world and ended up in touch with Dita Kraus.

Dita was 9 when the war broke out and she was in Auschwitz with her family until she was 15. She was sent to the "family camp" in Auschwitz which I had not heard about previously, in which there was a makeshift school and she became the librarian. Books were forbidden in the camp so this was a dangerous job...and there were only 6 books. This camp was important to the Nazis and over the course of the novel you establish why.

Some names are very familiar from history but importantly, this book offers incredible insight and detail into what life was like in the camp. The people involved are varied, we learn about the resistance, the SS soldiers, the different nationalities and language barriers in the camp. I particularly like that at the end the author explains where the people who survived ended up and what their lives went on to be like. Anne Frank is also mentioned as Dita was in the same but when Anne died in Bergen Belsen in 1945, just before being liberated.

I would thoroughly recommend this book, it is important history like this is shared even if it under the guise of a fiction novel. It is beautifully written and it is clear that the author was very careful to include as much as possible from Dita throughout.

Thank you to @netgalley and @penguinrhuk for the opportunity to review.

#libraryatsevern #bookstagrammer #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #netgalley #igreads #bookshelf #thelibrarianofauschwitz

In a sea of novels about the horrors of Auschwitz, this book's focus on a small but significant act of secrecy in the face of certain punishment is a delight to read.
As the author explains, the novel is built of 'bricks' of fact cemented together with the 'mortar' of fiction, and this makes for interesting, insightful and relatively easy reading; not ease about the topic at hand of course, there is no getting away from the horror of what Dita, her family and her compatriots faced and endured, but ease with which the story of the little Librarian of a world where books were the enemy is told.
You get swept up in Dita's story, always knowing that this may not have the stereotypical novel happy ending but hoping all the same.
Wel worth a read.

This is a fictional book based on facts, telling the story of Dita a teenage girl who ends up in Auschwitz. The horrors she ensures and strength she shows are incomprehensible to anyone who didn't go through one of the most heinous atrocities of modern times.
Having read quite a few books about the Nazi camps this book was definitely one I wanted to read. In parts it's horrific and yet there are also small glimmers of hope and how a 14 year old girl took on a task so ordinary and yet live threatening if discovered and yet she never shies away from what she see as her duty.
For me in parts the book wasn't as well written as others I've read but that in no way takes away from the fact that this book is a must read for everyone as each and every survivors story deserves telling.

The Librarian Of Auschwitz is an emotion though fascinating glimpse at life in the notorious concentration camp of Auschwitz. I’ve read a lot of fiction regarding the Holocaust but I’ve not heard of the library there before so found it very interesting to read about it’s existence and how it helped some of the inmates there. The descriptions of the ‘human book’, people who know books so well they know them off by heart were particular interesting to me and I liked how they could be loaned out too!

Dita was a wonderful main character that I grew very fond. Her bravery and her attempts to help others were great to read about, especially as the reader knows the events to be true. Woven in between her story are stories of other inmates in the camp which gives the reader more of an understanding of how terrifying and horrendous life was there. The bits that have stick in my mind were the stories of the awful twin experiments that Mengel performed in the camp, which must have been heartbreaking for their parents to witness.

As is probably expected with a book about the Holocaust this is a highly emotional and heart breaking read with some of the events being very hard to read about. It’s also a surprising gripping story as the reader soon gets to know the different characters that are imprisoned in the camp and quickly becomes aware of what is at stake. This makes the book hard to put down as you want to keep reading to find out what happens to everyone.

Huge thanks to Tracy Fenton for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Tess from Ebury Publishers for my copy of this book which I received in exchange for an honest review.

Although I believe it is absolutely vital that we remain educated about the Holocaust, I'm always a little unsure when it comes to reading fiction about what is often described as almost unimaginable horror. It concerns me that in fictionalising events in a concentration camp, there is a risk of minimising or even romanticising what truly happened there. I was reassured however, before reading The Librarian of Auschwitz that Dita Kraus - whose true story, the book is based on - has written an introduction to Antonio Iturbe's novel, recognising its historical correctness despite never claiming to be anything other than a fictionalised account of real-life events. At the end of the book, the author also movingly describes how he came to meet Dita and as he says, 'The bricks used to construct this story are facts, and they are held together in these pages with a mortar of fiction.'
The Librarian of Auschwitz opens in January 1944 and fourteen-year-old Dita Adler has been a prisoner in Auschwitz-Birkenau since December. On arrival they were told about a secret school established by one of the inmates, Fredy Hirsch, a former youth sports instructor. He has managed to convince the camp authorities that keeping the children entertained in what becomes known as Block 31 would make it easier for their parents to work in the 'family camp' they have been assigned to. In this place where everything is forbidden, school is banned, of course but still teachers whisper lessons to their classes and without blackboards, trace letters, shapes and even geographical features with their hands in the air. Dita is a year too old to join the school but some older children have been taken on as assistants. She is offered the position of librarian, a role she accepts despite being aware that to be found in possession of even one book would result in the SS executing her. This tiny library has just eight books, some in poor condition but in those worst of times they became a beacon of light and hope for Dita and the children and teachers of Block 31.
Dita's story isn't told in a linear fashion; over the course of the novel she casts her mind back to her cut-short childhood, remembering the all too brief moments of innocence before the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia and then the increasing hostility towards Jews which sees her father lose his job, the family removed from their home and eventually summoned out of Prague to move to the Jewish ghetto of Terezin where they live until they are transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944. Although her memories arguably interrupt the flow of the main story, I felt they were vital and allowed us a poignant look at just how quickly the lives of these ordinary people changed.
While Dita is the main character in the book, there are also chapters devoted to other prisoners of the camp - most of whom were real-life inmates and I'm sure I won't be the only reader who will be inspired to research more about their lives. It's an essential reminder that each and every person who was sent to a concentration camp had their own stories, some of which we have learned since but many were lost to the ashes that found their final resting place in this hell on earth. Antonio Iturbe never flinches from writing about the harrowing brutality of life in Auschwitz, from the murder of the millions who were gassed, to the sickening violence perpetrated by camp guards, to the acts of desperation which saw inmates turn on one another as they struggled to survive.
However, despite the horror that is described so vividly within these pages, there remains hope and even beauty. Whether it is through Dita's care of her books and the moments where they bring even just a moment of happiness to a person's life or through the small acts of kindness and courage which still prevailed even at the most terrifying moments, The Librarian of Auschwitz is a compelling reminder of the dichotomy of humanity - unforgivable evil and the most extraordinary bravery existing side by side. There are points in the book where the author's own voice becomes more obvious and I can imagine that some people will prefer him to have remained in the background but I can understand why he can't let some scenes go without commenting on the atrocity of the sheer scale of the Nazis' Final Solution.
The Librarian of Auschwitz isn't an easy read and nor should it be. There were moments in the book where I had to stop reading as I couldn't see the words on the page with the tears running down my face. Over the years, I've read a lot about the Holocaust so I wasn't surprised by the death and violence but it always remains shocking - as it should, we must never become immune to what happened during one of the most shameful periods of our history. It's not a novel to enjoy but I do feel immensely privileged to have learned about Dita's bravery - as Antonio Iturbe writes in his touching afterword, 'Until now, I hadn't believed in heroes, but I now know they exist: Dita is one of them.'

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe is a haunting and powerful read. A truly marvellous book.

I don’t normally enjoy translations, so I started reading this book with some trepidation. I needn’t have been concerned - i flew through this book. It was enthralling, engaging and atmospheric - you could really imagine yourself there with Dita and the children of Block 31. Having read many books on the Holocaust and WWII, I found this book more authentic and compelling than several others I have read. A well rounded set of people who bring different aspects to life - from the teachers to the resistance and a sympathetic SS officer.

The book is based on Dita’s story but it is very clear from the outset that it’s not 100% fact - thus avoiding the furore and fire addressed at similar books based on the account of a survivor.

Utterly gripping, horrifying and yet brings hope through all the horrors that they were subjected to by the Nazis. #NeverForget

At the centre of the horrors of Auschwitz was a very unique prison Block. Block 31 was the place where the children of imprisoned Jewish communities within the camp went each day while their parents worked. It was all a front for when the camp had inspections so they were seen to be looking after and educating the children, sports and singing, no books though.
When fourteen year old Dita arrived at the camp with her mother and father she was soon chosen my by one of the Jewish leaders called Freddy Hirsch to take on a huge responsibility. Dita was asked if she would be the camp librarian to be in charge of the 8 books in total that had been smuggled in by camp prisoners. If the books were found on her it would be punishable by death. Dita knew the huge responsibility that this was, being caught wasn’t just the end of her life, it would have been the end of education for the children in the camp.
This is a story of tremendous courage of Dita and the small community of teachers that put their lives at risk every day. I was totally astonished by the children too when spot inspections were done, so young and yet they were drilled so much that none of them ever gave away the secret of the books as they knew they were so priceless. For all that was going on round the prisoners children were still their future to carry on and being educated to a level that they would have a place still in the outside world.
The story is mainly of Dita’s life in Auschwitz, the tragedies that she faced, her heart ache when she felt let down and the daily horrors she saw, from removing the dead to the terror she felt when she caught the eye of Josef Mengele, who seemed to watch her at times. There are a few side stories too about different people in the camp, some of the experiments carried out on twins, but not in great detail and one of a young German Officer, which I am so glad was included.
If you could say that such terrible appalling atrocities could be written beautifully then this would be the book to say it about. I was totally transfixed with every page knowing that not everyone would walk away from this. The story doesn’t end when the British army arrives it continues on briefly about the people who were responsible for the camp. I loved that the author corresponded with Dita and actually went to meet her, now in her eighties and still as full of life as she ever was. Life’s real heroes.

This is a very moving and heartbreaking account of life in Auschwitz. It is amazing how books helped the children's minds temporarily escape the horrors that were going on around them. This book shows so much bravery and the strength of human spirit. Stories like this need to be retold and listened to.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

A powerful book based on first hand accounts from Dita Kraus, a young girl who spent time in Auschwitz during the second world war, where she acted as "librarian" to the prisoners paltry collection of forbidden books. She originally told her story to Spanish journalist Antonio Iturbe, and the resultant book was then translated to english by Lilit Zekulin Thwaites. While the book does have a factual basis, some events , names and dates have been changed and the story has been tweaked for dramatic effect. The reason I mention all this, is that despite the importance and power of the story being told, I did struggle at times with the way it was presented. The book at times felt like a history textbook, with paragraphs about the causes of the war, the histories of prominent Nazis , the other camps etc, then would abruptly shift back to the more personal story of Dita . However even this aspect of the story lacked emotion, the tone was almost that of an impartial observer. The timeline also shifted around quite a bit, and this non linear form made the book feel choppy and disjointed. I am unsure if it is an issue with the translation being too academic for want of a better word, of if it is that the book manages to fall between the two stools of fiction and non fiction. I think it may have been better as a straightforward non fiction book. Overall though I am glad I read the book, and learned about the incredibly inspiring DIta, I still struggle with the quality of the writing ( or translation) which is a real shame.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I have always had a fascination with Auschwitz, primarily because I have never been able to truly understand how we as a human race can be responsible for the unspeakable things that took place there. I am also full of admiration for those who survived the ordeal and went on to forge lives for themselves afterwards, as for me that shows a real determination of spirit. When the opportunity came up to read the Librarian of Auschwitz I knew that this was a book I had to get my hands on.
Although primarily a work of fiction, the story itself is based on fact. The family camp and block 31 were real, there was a secret library in Auschwitz and the librarian was a 14 year old girl called Dita. Fredy Hirsch was in charge of block 31 until his death. Several of the other characters also existed and in a touching part at the end the author reveals what became of them after the war.
The book takes you between life in the camp and life for Dita and her family before this time. It is told mainly from Dita’s point of view and although it was a little slow starting and the jumps in time took a little getting used to I did find that I couldn’t put it down. As books were considered to be something that Jews should not have access to you get a real understanding of the fear that Dita lived with as she became solely responsible for their distribution within the camp and also ensuring that they were never discovered. She lived with the knowledge that one slip up could send her to the gas chamber or worse – one of Josef Mengele’s experiments. There were also those known as “living books”. These were the teachers in the family camp that used the stories in their memories to educate the children. You learn about the close bonds between family separated due to gender and the friendships that are forged due to circumstance.
The author has clearly done his research with this book and I will admit that my curiosity got the better of me as I found myself searching online for more information about some of the main characters in the book, making them more real. For this I have to thank him as I now have an insight into something that previously I knew nothing about. We have all heard of the horrors that took place but very little was known about this small place of hope that existed.
If you are looking for a no holds barred factual account of life in Auschwitz then this book may not be for you. If, however you accept it as a story based on real people and events in the camp then I think you will appreciate it. If you are wondering why I won’t say love or enjoy it…. Well for me I just think these are not words I would never feel comfortable using considering the subject matter but I do think it’s a book you should pick up and read.

The Librarian of Auschwitz is marketed as a novel but it reads as creative nonfiction in the journalistic style of Susan Orlean. Author Antonio Iturbe’s interviews with the real Dita Kraus and information from the interviews with Rudolph Rosenberg make the novel more true than not. Anne Frank and her sister show up in the book as well. The narrative quality of the writing makes it a little difficult to ascertain what portions of the book are fictitious (but we can assume that specific conversations, some scenes, character actions and reactions have been embellished for the story). I would have liked an author’s note that makes clear to teen readers what is true and what is not.

The specifics of the Holocaust are horrendously and horrifically true, yet teenager Dita’s amazing story as protectorate of books for the children of the “family camp” school was new to me. Her strength and the strength of those around her in the face of their inhumane treatment is inspiring and humbling. Dita, the other children, and their teachers find refuge in the stories and facts from the eight illicit books they have and hide. It is this refuge, that allows Dita to hold on to her own humanity and to stand up for others. The novel is truly an ode to the power of books. If you liked “The Book Thief,” “The Librarian of Auschwitz” will keep you up all night reading.