Review: The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz
The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz: A True Story Retold for Young Readers by Jeremy Dronfield Quill Tree Books (imprint of HarperCollins), 2023 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Ronda Einbinder Buy at Bookshop.org In 1938 Hitler decides to invade Austria, disrupting the lives of the Kleinmann family. Jeremy Dronfield details the story of two brothers who lived to tell their very different experiences. Kurt, who was ten years old when he was sent to America, was a personal friend of Dronfield and shared his father Gustav’s diary on which this book is based. Brother Fritz is taken away with Gustav to begin years of suffering and survival together. Fritz is given an opportunity to be freed but chooses to go to the most brutal camp of them all, Auschwitz, with his father. Kurt's life is quite different. He is loved by the family who has taken him in, attending camp each summer and celebrating his Bar Mitzvah. Sister Edith is sent to England and is able to keep in touch with ...