The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe (translated by Lilit Zekulin Thwaites)

My thanks to Tracy Fenton for the opportunity to take part in the Blog Tour of The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe (translated by Lilit Zekulin Thwaites) published by  Ebury. It is my pleasure to be closing the Blog Tour for this thought provoking read.

From Goodreads

For readers of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and The Choice: this is the story of the smallest library in the world – and the most dangerous.

'It wasn’t an extensive library. In fact, it consisted of eight books and some of them were in poor condition. But they were books. In this incredibly dark place, they were a reminder of less sombre times, when words rang out more loudly than machine guns…’

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 books the prisoners have managed to smuggle past the guards, she agrees. And so Dita becomes the secret librarian of Auschwitz, responsible for the safekeeping of the small collection of titles, as well as the ‘living books’ - prisoners of Auschwitz who know certain books so well, they too can be ‘borrowed’ to educate the children in the camp.

But books are extremely dangerous. They make people think. And nowhere are they more dangerous than in Block 31 of Auschwitz, the children’s block, where the slightest transgression can result in execution, no matter how young the transgressor…

My thoughts

This is a powerful story based on the true story of Dita Kraus. To say you have enjoyed this story is an odd thing to say in some ways, as why would you enjoy reading about the horrors that the internees of any concentration camp faced daily. It's one of many books that I feel should be read, it's part of our history and books such as this need to exist, so that we have a written reminder from the perspective of the people who experienced first hand what it was like to live there.

We all need to know about the day to day horrors that they all had to face. We must never forget the lost generations that died at the hands of the Nazis. We all take our freedom for granted and to be incarcerated in such a way, not having done anything wrong at all apart from the fact that they had been born and then in  most cases raised as Jews.

Dita was only around 14 years old, when she was taken to Auschwitz, along with her mother and father. Dita hadn't been there long before she was approached and offered the chance of being the Librarian. It's not a vast Library that she's in charge of, but it's a job that comes with certain problems. The most important one being, that if she was to get caught then her life would potentially be over.

Dita's life as the Librarian is a varied one. Whilst being in charge of the books and trying not to get caught, she does become quite the sought after prisoner and deep down even though it had it's downside, I got the impression that she enjoyed doing it and the contact that it gave her with the other prisoners.

As you read the story the Author encapsulates the day to day life well. As I sat eating my sandwich, I was thinking about the inhabitants and what they would have given to have been able to eat one. Using their meagre food rations as bartering currency at times, I can only imagine how difficult it was to survive on the meagre rations. Yet, they made the most of what they were given as they had no other option. Occasionally going without food themselves, in order to let their loved ones who needed it more have that little bit more in order to help them survive. 

Trying to stay below the radar of the Nazis manning the camps and avoiding eye contact, as this would inevitably lead to you being singled out and suffering at their hands in one way or another.

This is a book that will stay with me for a long time and one that I will be recommending to others in due course. 

I gave it a 5 stars or 10/10. It made me happy and sad in equal measure, shedding a tear or two as it drew to a close.

For info about Dita Kraus, the link below is an article that appeared in the Jewish Chronicle in January, 2018 about her.

https://www.thejc.com/news/news-features/dita-kraus-the-librarian-of-auschwitz-1.457402

About the Author (taken from Wikipedia)

Antonio Iturbe was born in Zaragova, his family moved to Barcelona. He became a journalist, studying at the Universidad of Autonoma of Barcelona, where he graduated in 1991. His first job in journalism was working as a reporter on a local Barcelona television programme. 

After graduating, he created the free magazine Gratix, which he directed and, after taking part in various short media projects, in 1993 got into being the chief supervisor of the supplement television of El Periódico. Subsequently, he became editor of cinema-magazine Fantastic Magazine, and in 1996 he got involved in the emerging book magazine Que Leer, in which he held the position of chief editor, deputy director and, since 2008, director. Throughout these years Iturbe also took part, among many media endeavours, such as the magazine Fotogramas, the book section of Protagonistas in the national radio broadcaster Onda Cero, or in cultural divulgation for Ona Catalana, Icat FM or La Cope de Bilbao, and in cultural supplements for journals La Vanguardia and Avui.

In 2004 he published his first novel: Rectos torcidos.^[2] A humorous novel where the protagonist, a Barceloneta neighbour, starts up his very unique business: To transform Don Quixote and other literature classics into toilet paper to read them in the only place where people have their five minutes of peace a day. In the highest days of Barcelona’s economy he already bitterly criticised the changes Barcelona as a city was undergoing to become a theme park for tourism. In 2008 he published the first title of the children’s book series Los casos del inspector Cito,^[3] illustrated by Álex Omist. A police series with plenty of humor in a way for the youngest to get into their firsts police novels. Los casos del inspector Cito is a collection currently made of 10 books and has been translated into 9 languages. In 2012 he published his third novel: The Librarian of Auschwitz , in its original title La bibliotecaria de Auschwitz.^[4] It is a novel inspired by the life of Dita Kraus, a survivor of Auschwitz who at the age of 14 was in charge of a clandestine library in the barracks Bllb of the Auschwitz concentration camp. This novel has been translated into 13 languages as of now. The novel was awarded the Troa Prize in 2013.^[5] In 2014 Iturbe started a new children's literature series: La Isla de Susú, which is currently at its fourth book into the series, it has also been translated to Korean. The main character is a curious girl living in an island where extraordinary events never cease to happen.

The Librarian of Auschwitz is currently available in hardback, paperback and as an ebook by Ebury publishing.