The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz

Author Jeremy Dronfield
Narrator John Sackville
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Publish Date 24 January 2019
Run Time 11 hours and 49 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Diaries, letters and journals, Political oppression and persecution, Second World War, The Holocaust, True stories of heroism, endurance and survival, True stories of survival of abuse and injustice.

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What to expect

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz by Jeremy Dronfield, read by John Sackville.

In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholsterer in Vienna, was seized by the Nazis. Along with his teenage son, Fritz, he was sent to Buchenwald in Germany. There began an unimaginable ordeal that saw the pair beaten, starved and forced to build the very concentration camp they were held in.

When Gustav was set to be transferred to Auschwitz, a certain death sentence, Fritz refused to leave his side. Throughout the horrors they witnessed and the suffering they endured, there was one constant that kept them alive: the love between father and son.

Based on Gustav's secret diary and meticulous archive research, this book tells his and Fritz's story for the first time - a story of courage and survival unparalleled in the history of the Holocaust.

Critics Review

An emotionally devastating story of courage – and survival

An extraordinary tale

The Times (Best Books of 2019)

The almost unbelievable true story of Fritz Kleinman, who volunteered to follow his father, Gustav, into Auschwitz. It’s a terrible and dramatic account of the humiliations and evils suffered by Jews in concentration camps and a moving testimony to the bond between fathers and sons

The Times

The inspiring true story of Gustav and Fritz Kleinmann, an Austrian father and son who managed to survive internments in concentration camps from Buchenwald to Auschwitz. Dronfield draws extensively on Gustav’s diary, allowing us inside the incredible bond between father and son that kept them together through harrowing experiences, and, like all the best narrative nonfiction, the story is both immersive and extraordinary. Deeply moving and brimming with humanity.

Guardian

A deeply humane account. This book could not be more timely and deserves the widest possible readership

Daily Express

An absolutely extraordinary story. It is the greatest father and son story I’ve ever come across in my life

Dan Snow

Extraordinary

Observer

We should all read this shattering book about the Holocaust. An astonishing story of the unbreakable bond between a father and a son. Brilliantly researched and written with searing clarity

Daily Mail

An extraordinary tale of endurance and filial love. It is a miraculous story with many twists and Dronfield tells it well in an energetic and lively style

The Times

A unique story of defiance and hope amid the genocide

Daily Mail

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