The Librarian of Auschwitz: The heart-breaking Sunday Times bestseller based on the incredible true story of Dita Kraus

Product Information

Life, any life, is very short. But if you’ve managed to be happy for at least an instant, it will have been worth living.” After reading some classic Holocaust novels such as Night| by Elie Wiesel and the classic The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank or even great young adults novels such as The Edelweiss Express, or the amazing The Book Thief. Dita’s father Hans died of starvation at the camp aged 44. In July 1944, Dita and her mother were among 1000 women sent by Mengele to a work camp in Hamburg. From there she was sent to Bergen-Belsen. “Even without gas chambers, the camp was a horrific killing machine, where the starving prisoners died by the thousands.” The vast majority of the characters are either German or Jewish. The story shows how the Nazis treated the Jews in both the Terezin ghetto in Prague and in the Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. It focuses on the bravery of Dita and other prisoners to persevere and remain hopeful. Guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes ( much like anything published about the happenings at Auschwitz) this graphic novel is very creatively crafted.

The most beautiful flowers emerge from the foulest dung heap. So maybe, thinks Dita, God isn’t a watchmaker but a gardener.” As a graphic novel writer, he publishes mainly in the French-Belgian market and his work has been nominated to an Eisner Award.Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this graphic novel tells the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust. Conocemos a Dita cuando tiene 14 años y ve que su mundo se empieza a desmoronar. La llegada de los nazis a Checoslovaquia y sus acciones para someter a los judíos harán que pase de tener una infancia normal a acabar en el infierno. Al igual que muchas otras personas, ella y sus padres son obligados a portar marcas que les señalan como judíos y se ven sumergidos en una situación de terror e incertidumbre. El futuro es incierto e intentar sobrevivir cada día es el único plan que se puede tener. Tras ser obligados a vivir en un gueto, acaban siendo trasladados a Auschwitz. Y nada volverá a ser igual. Aunque no entienden muy bien el motivo, Dita y su madre acaban en un barracón en el que las condiciones son ligeramente menos deplorables que en los demás. Y es ahí donde su amor por los libros la ayudará a convertirse en la bibliotecaria de Auschwitz... I loved the entire graphic novel. This is a true story, and it isn’t pretty. Teen readers need to know about the Holocaust, and the graphic novel format of this book will help bring the Holocaust to a larger audience. Rubio and Aroca do an excellent job of illustrating what life was before the war and the horrors of what Dita and her family went though. What’s more, the camp section of the story – the largest section of the story – details more than just Dita’s experiences. They illustrate other groups that were in Auschwitz, including homosexuals.

Although prisoners were only considered children until the age of 14, Fredy succeeded in getting those between the age of 14-16 designated as “assistants”, doing all types of work from sweeping the floor or helping with the distribution of the daily soup.

The librarian of Auschwitz

Content warnings for: antisemitism, holocaust depictions, death, grief, starvation, descriptions of torture and methods of killing, sexual harassment It is always a revelation when you read a book about someone who at such a young age took on a role that was not only dangerous but also one in which death awaited her if she was caught. It’s been nearly seventy-five years since Dita’s number 73305 was tattooed on her arm in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The digits may have faded but the memories have not. She pulls up her sleeve to show us the faded digits, turning to the children, instructing them to share her story with others. The Librarian of Auschwitz is based on the true story of Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus. It is a story born of Dita’s experiences and the rich imagination of the author. A book is like a trapdoor that leads to a secret attic; you can open it and go inside. And your world is different”