130 | May• 2019
RD RECOMMENDS
The Boy Who
Followed His Father
into Auschwitz
Jeremy Dronfield(PENGUIN)T
his Holocaust survival
story is a harrowing yet
extremely gripping read.
Teenager Fritz Kleinmann has
to make an impossible choice
when his father, Gustav, is
dispatched to Auschwitz,
Poland: stay or go with him.
The beloved son decides to
join his father on what is an
almost certain trip to death.
Along with the excruciating
detail of day-to-day survival in
two concentration camps, this
is a heart-warming tale of pure
love. The book is based on
interviews with Fritz and thesecret diary kept by Gustav
Kleinmann between October
1939 and July 1945. “The boy
is my greatest joy,” he wrote.
“We strengthen each other.
We are one, inseparable.”
The question, which is
unavoidable while reading
this fascinating account is:
‘What would I have done?’