Hey all! I just finished reading a Holocaust book…The Librarian of Auschwitz is another one of those Holocaust books based on the true story. So unlike my other book reviews, there won’t be any what I like and what I don’t like. Instead I will be just telling you simply my thoughts.
Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this is the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust.
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 volumes the prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees. And so Dita becomes the librarian of Auschwitz.
Out of one of the darkest chapters of human history comes this extraordinary story of courage and hope.
Antonio González Iturbe is a Spanish journalist, writer and professor. Currently, he is the director of the cultural magazine Librújula.
Dr Lilit Thwaites started learning Spanish at McGill University in Canada, and completed her PhD at the University of Toronto, with a specialisation in contemporary Spanish literature, and the work of women writers in particular. Brief stints as a high school teacher in Rhode Island (Spanish & French) and several years as a tutor in the Spanish Departments at the Universities of Toronto & Calgary added invaluable teaching and research experience to her CV. A move to Australia followed (1981), and the start of almost thirty years as an academic at La Trobe, commencing as a tutor and eventually serving as Head of the Spanish Program and Deputy Dean of the Faculty. After a brief period of retirement, Dr Thwaites returned to La Trobe for eighteen months as Acting Director of the Academic Language and Learning Unit, overseeing the implementation of the Unit’s restructure. Re-retirement has meant a return to her status as an Honorary Research Fellow in Spanish at La Trobe, allowing her to focus primarily on literary translation (Spanish>English) and ongoing research projects, and on the organisation of, and involvement in, events and activities that promote all things Spanish (especially visits and lectures by writers from Spanish-speaking countries).
As some of you all know, I like to read books based on Holocaust. This book is no exception. The story is about a Czech Jewish Girl named Dita Kraus who is in charge of the secret library in Block 31, that is designed for the children to gain “knowledge”. And owning books is forbidden according to the Nazi law so it is interesting how the secret library is carried out under the Nazis.
Despite the title being “The Librarian of Auschwitz,” , this book also tells about the resistance movement that is involved in Auschwitz–Rudi Rosenberg who manage to escape from Auschwitz with another inmate and who gave horrific descriptions of what is happening in real in Auschwitz. The book also talks about a small romantic relationship between a Jewish girl named Renee and a Nazi soldier who also escaped from the camp but was eventually caught and executed. The books also details out the horrors of the Auschwitz as well, which is sometimes too emotional to read about.
Anyway, so this is actually a short book review. Stay tuned for my next book review tomorrow!
Tropical Girl Reads 