"An incredible true story powerfully written and sensitively illustrated"
The story of the two Kleinmann brothers was first told in the best-selling The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz, but this edition has been especially written for younger readers more like the age of the boys themselves and also contains some additional material discovered since the first publication.
Fritz and Kurt lived in Vienna and as Jews they were in terrible danger when the Nazis came. Fritz, the older brother, and his father do indeed get taken to Buchenwald as the concentration camp is newly developed and we are left in no doubt about the conditions they suffered both there and in subsequent camps. The careful attention to detail certainly gives a real insight into the realities of how the Holocaust progressed.
Meanwhile the family is trying to get the other children to safety. One sister did escape to a job in England and eventually papers are procured for Kurt to travel to the United States. For Kurt the trauma of leaving all his family behind to travel halfway across the world to a country with a different language and customs is considerable but the main focus of the story is on the plight of Fritz and his father. As the title of the adult novel indicates Fritz did indeed choose to follow his father on the transport to Auschwitz and to almost certain death, rather than be separated. The strength of their relationship is deeply moving and beautifully conveyed. The story of how they survived until war ended is completely remarkable and so although harrowing the book ultimately has a very positive and inspirational message about human resilience and courage.
The impact of the illustrations certainly contributes to the effectiveness of the storytelling in what deserves to become as much of a classic as Ann Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl.
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