Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Librarian of Auschwitz
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 3/7/1967
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: Spain
NATIONALITY: Spanish
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | no2007094804 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/no2007094804 |
| HEADING: | Iturbe, Antonio, 1967- |
| 000 | 00389cz a2200133n 450 |
| 001 | 7269274 |
| 005 | 20090415052916.0 |
| 008 | 061116n| acannaabn |n aaa c |
| 010 | __ |a no2007094804 |
| 035 | __ |a (OCoLC)oca07496980 |
| 040 | __ |a OrPS |b eng |c OrPS |d ICIU |
| 053 | _0 |a PQ6709.T84 |
| 100 | 1_ |a Iturbe, Antonio, |d 1967- |
| 670 | __ |a Rectos torcidos, 2005: |b t.p. (Antonio Iturbe) back flap (b. Zaragoza, 1967) |
PERSONAL
Born March 7, 1967, in Zaragoza, Spain.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Journalist, writer, and young adult novelist.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Spanish journalist Antonio Iturbe makes his young adult (YA) novel debut with The Librarian of Auschwitz. The novel is based on the true story of a woman named Dita Polach Kraus, who spent her early adolescence in the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp in Germany. According to Iturbe, his novel has its origins in historian Alberto Manguel’s The Library at Night. Iturbe read the book about great historical libraries but also mentioned eight old books that were kept in a clandestine library in Auschwitz. “When I closed the book, this question kept knocking on the door of my curiosity: How was it possible to have a library in the hell of Auschwitz?,” Iturbe told Publishers Weekly Online contributor Donna Freitas, adding: “And then I started looking, and found more than I ever imagined.”
Iturbe’s research into the Auschwitz library led him to learn about Block 31, which was the children’s block of Auschwitz. Formed by the the SS, the block was designed to keep children out of the way while their parents worked as slave laborers. The idea was to keep the children entertained with songs, games, and the like. However, Fredy Hirsch, a German Jew put in charge of block, organized a school and somehow got possession of eight old books.
Meanwhile, Iturbe eventually learned of Kraus after visiting Auschwitz and learning about a novel related to the Auschwitz and the children block titled The Painted Wall. He wanted to read the book by Ota Kraus and eventually tracked down a copy for sale on the Internet. When he wrote to the email address, he got a reply form a woman who signed her name “Dita.” It turned out that she was was a young librarian on Block 31. “It is a moment that cannot be captured in words,” Iturbe told Publishers Weekly Online contributor Freitas. Although Dita was eighty years old at the time, Iturbe began several years of correspondence with her in preparation to write his novel. He eventually traveled to Prague and met with her in person.
In The Librarian of Auschwitz, Iturbe presents a fictionalized account of the secret library and school. Dita Alderova is fourteen years old in December 1943 when she and her parents, along with 5,000 other Jews, are transported from the Theresienstadt ghetto, or concentration camp, in Northern Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) to Aushwitz-Birkenau. For some reason they are placed in a special camp called the Theresienstadt Family Camp. Rita eventually becomes an assistant to Fredy Hirsch in Block 31.
Hirsch assigns Dita to take care of the eight secret books each day. Dita gathers the books from their various hiding places and delivers them to teachers and then collects them again to place them back in hiding. Even though discovery of the books could mean her death, Dita is committed to her secret role as librarian. Then one day a surprise inspection takes place, an inspection that includes the presence of the notorious Dr. Josef Mengele, known as Dr. Death for his unethical experiments on Jewish prisoners, most notably twins. Fortunately, the books remain undiscovered. However, she later encounters Mengele again. He is suspicious and tells her he will be watching her closely from now on. The threat, however, does not deter Dita from role as librarian.
In addition to Mengele, Hirsch includes several other real-life historical figures in the novel, including Rudolf Höss, who was the camp’s commandant, and SS First Officer Viktor Pestek, who fell in love with a Jewish girl. The story takes place over the years 1944-1955 and depicts how Dita’s duties as the librarian gave her a sense of purpose and helped her survive. “All but guaranteed to send readers searching for more information, this is an unforgettable, heartbreaking novel,” wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor. Diane Colson, writing in Booklist, called The Librarian of Auschwitz “a sophisticated novel with mature themes, delivering an emotionally searing reading experience.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 1, 2017, Diane Colson, review of The Librarian of Auschwitz, p. 102; February 15, 2018, Ivy Mason, review of The Librarian of Auschwitz, p. 96.
Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2017, review of The Librarian of Auschwitz.
Publishers Weekly, August 28, 2017, review of The Librarian of Auschwitz, p. 131; December 4, 2017, review of The Librarian of Auschwitz, p. S122.
School Library Journal, August, 2017, Stephanie Wilkes, review of The Librarian of Auschwitz, p. 102.
Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 2017, Cj. Both, review of The Librarian of Auschwitz, p. 56.
ONLINE
BookPage Online, https://bookpage.com (November 1, 2017), Jennifer Bruer Kitchel, review of The Librarian of Auschwitz.
Children’s War, https://thechildrenswar.blogspot.com/ (October 10, 2017), review of The Librarian of Auschwitz.
Common Sense Media, https://www.commonsensemedia.org/ (May 16, 2018), Lucinda Dyer, review of The Librarian of Auschwitz.
Horn Book Online, https://www.hbook.com/ (January 16, 2018), Martha V. Parravano, review of The Librarian of Auschwitz.
People Online, http://people.com/ (November 3, 2017), Sam Gillette, review of The Librarian of Auschwitz.
Publishers Weekly Online, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (October, 12/2017), Donna Freitas, “Q & A with Antonio Iturbe.”
Readings, https://www.readings.com.au (October 23, 2017), Natalie Platten, review of The Librarian of Auschwitz.
Antonio Iturbe is a novelist and journalist. He interviewed Dita Kraus, the real-life librarian of Auschwitz, for The Librarian of Auschwitz.
The Librarian of Auschwitz
Ivy Mason
Booklist.
114.12 (Feb. 15, 2018): p96. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
The Librarian of Auschwitz.
By Antonio Iturbe. Read by Marisa Calin.
2017. 14hr. Simon & Schuster Audio, CD, $39.99 (9781427287076). Gr. 9-12.
Informed by the real-life experiences of Dita Kraus, who was imprisoned in Auschwitz with her family, Iturbe illustrates the lives of the prisoners in the Theresienstadt family camp. While adjusting to a frightening new life of terror, regimented hours, and strict rules, the fictional Dita is asked to take charge of the meager supply of hidden contraband books. She becomes a secret librarian, showing quiet strength and determination in the face of one of history's most horrifying periods. Calin's voice brings depth and vigor to this chronicle. She weaves a tale with her powerful narration, entrancing with her characterizations and accents. Her pacing and tone bring listeners to a terrifying time and place--chilling, alarming, and uplifting them as the story unfolds. In addition to Calin's proficient narration, listeners are granted a bonus conversation with the real Dita Kraus. An excellent audio for those interested in WWII.--Ivy Mason
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Mason, Ivy. "The Librarian of Auschwitz." Booklist, 15 Feb. 2018, p. 96. Book Review Index
Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A531171683/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=67958e36. Accessed 16 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A531171683
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Iturbe, Antonio. The Librarian of
Auschwitz
Cj Bott
Voice of Youth Advocates.
40.5 (Dec. 2017): p56. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC http://www.voya.com
Full Text:
Iturbe, Antonio. The Librarian of Auschwitz. Henry Holt/Macmillan, October 2017. 432p. $19.99. 978-1-62779-618-7.
5Q * 3P * J * S
Set in Auschwitz in 1944, Ditinka--Dita--Alderova and her mother and father are prisoners in the Auschwitz concentration camp where Fredy Hirsch has managed to convince the Nazis that he can keep the children busy with games. Once Fredy's idea is accepted, he secretly involves adults as teachers to create a school; at fourteen, Dita becomes the librarian to their collection of eight books to which she eventually adds "living books"--teachers telling the stories of their favorite books. Dita feels honored and takes her job very seriously. This is not just one story; it is a story containing other stories containing still other stories. Each character at the death camp has a story about the Auschwitz experience, another from life before, and still others of fears and dreams, all creating an abundance of stories and characters. Readers will be caught up in the characters as well as the horrific realities. Iturbe does not play down the war, but the worst events happen off the page. The prisoners know about the ovens; they know that when the population is divided, the group that leaves is going to die. The courage of the prisoners is beyond belief. Statistics remind the reader of the reality.
In his research, Iturbe interviewed Dita, who was rescued and released by Allied forces in 1957. She soon met and married Otto Kraus, and they moved to Israel where the widow now lives with her children and grandchildren.--cj bott.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Bott, Cj. "Iturbe, Antonio. The Librarian of Auschwitz." Voice of Youth Advocates, Dec. 2017, p.
56. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A522759413 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=30cf12ae. Accessed 16 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A522759413
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The Librarian of Auschwitz
Publishers Weekly.
264.49-50 (Dec. 4, 2017): pS122+. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Librarian of AuschwitzAntonio Iturbe, trans, from the Spanish by Lilit Thwaites. Holt/Godwin, $19.99 ISBN 978-1-62779-618-7
Drawing on his own interviews with Holocaust survivor Dita Kraus, who now lives in Israel, Spanish author Iturbe describes the horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau in unflinching, straightforward prose (smoothly translated by Thwaites) that reflects his journalism background. A fierce lover of books, 14-year-old Dita helps out in the makeshift school of Block 31, the children's block in the family camp, and volunteers to take care of eight precious but forbidden books, risking certain death if she were to be found out. The role of librarian for Block 31's tiny collection gives Dita a sense of purpose in a bleak camp where death, torture, and humiliation are omnipresent. As Dita's story unfolds, alternating between her present circumstances at the camp and her memories of Prague and the ghetto of Terezin ("a city where the streets led nowhere"), Iturbe interweaves the names and stories of other survivors and victims of Auschwitz, turning the narrative into a monument of remembrance and history. All but guaranteed to send readers searching for more information, this is an unforgettable, heartbreaking novel. Ages 13-up.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Librarian of Auschwitz." Publishers Weekly, 4 Dec. 2017, p. S122+. Book Review Index
Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A518029957/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=643b6fe0. Accessed 16 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A518029957
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Iturbe, Antonio: THE LIBRARIAN OF AUSCHWITZ
Kirkus Reviews.
(Sept. 1, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Iturbe, Antonio THE LIBRARIAN OF AUSCHWITZ Godwin Books/Henry Holt (Children's Fiction) $19.99 10, 10 ISBN: 978-1-62779-618-7
A teenage girl imprisoned in Auschwitz keeps the secret library of a forbidden school. Dita Adlerova, 14, is confined in the notorious extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Compared to her fellow inmates, Dita's relatively lucky. The several thousand residents of camp BIIb are inexplicably allowed to keep their own clothing, their hair, and, most importantly, their children. A young man named Fredy Hirsch maintains a school in BIIb, right under the noses of the Nazis. In Fredy's classroom, Dita discovers something wonderful: a dangerous collection of eight smuggled books. The tale, based on the real life of Dita Polach Kraus and the events of 1944 and 1945, intertwines the stories of several real people: Dita, Fredy, several little-known war heroes, even a grim cameo from Anne and Margot Frank. Holocaust-knowledgeable readers will have suspicions about how many characters will die horribly (spoiler alert: this is Auschwitz). Yet somehow, myriad storylines told by multiple narrators offer compelling narrative tension. Why does BIIb exist? Will Rudi and Alice have a romance? What's Fredy's secret? Will Dr. Mengele subject Dita to his grotesque experiments? Dita's matter-of-fact perspective, set in a slow build from BIIb to the chaotic starvation of the war's end, both increases the horror and makes it bearable to read. Though no punches are pulled about the unimaginable atrocity of the death camps, a life-affirming history. (Historical fiction. 13-16)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Iturbe, Antonio: THE LIBRARIAN OF AUSCHWITZ." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Sept. 2017. Book
Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A502192159/GPS?u=schlager& sid=GPS&xid=7246d95c. Accessed 16 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A502192159
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The Librarian of Auschwitz
Diane Colson
Booklist.
114.1 (Sept. 1, 2017): p102+. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
* The Librarian of Auschwitz. By Antonio Iturbe. Tr. by Lilit Thwaites. Oct. 2017.432p. Holt/Godwin, $19.99 (9781627796187). Gr. 9-12.
Most people know something of Auschwitz's horrors: disease and starvation; grotesque medical experiments; profound debasement of human life; and, of course, the terrible Final Solution. Iturbe's astonishing novel spares readers none of the details of these abominations, but its focus is on the relatively unknown family camp located at Auschwitz, which featured a school for the children. Dita Adlerova is the main storyteller, a teenage girl asked to serve as librarian for the school's contraband collection of eight books. Her reverence for her role and for the transformative power of the books in her care imbues Iturbe's story with a mystical quality that is in sharp contrast with the everyday torture of survival. There are other stories intertwined with Dita's, such as that of the charismatic young Fredi Hirsch, burdened by his attraction to other boys, and the hapless SS officer Viktor Pestek, in love with a beautiful Jewish girl. The novel was originally published in Spanish in 2012, and this translation, by Thwaites, captures both the transcendence of Dita's story and the deeply disturbing reality of the concentration camps. Like Markus Zusak's The Book Thief (2006), it's a sophisticated novel with mature themes, delivering an emotionally searing reading experience. An important novel that will stand with other powerful testaments from the Holocaust era.--Diane Colson
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Colson, Diane. "The Librarian of Auschwitz." Booklist, 1 Sept. 2017, p. 102+. Book Review
Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A509161683/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=4ed23aa4. Accessed 16 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A509161683
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The Librarian of Auschwitz
Publishers Weekly.
264.35 (Aug. 28, 2017): p131. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* The Librarian of Auschwitz
Antonio Iturbe, trans, from the Spanish by Lilit Thwaites. Holt/Godwin, $19.99 (432p) ISBN 978-1-62779-618-7
Drawing on his own interviews with Holocaust survivor Dita Kraus, who now lives in Israel, Spanish author Iturbe describes the horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau in unflinching, straightforward prose (smoothly translated by Thwaites) that reflects his journalism background. A fierce lover of books, 14-year-old Dita helps out in the makeshift school of Block 31, the children's block in the family camp, and volunteers to take care of eight precious but forbidden books, risking certain death if she were to be found out. The role of librarian for Block 31's tiny collection gives Dita a sense of purpose in a bleak camp where death, torture, and humiliation are omnipresent. As Dita's story unfolds, alternating between her present circumstances at the camp and her memories of Prague and the ghetto of Terezin ("a city where the streets led nowhere"), Iturbe interweaves the names and stories of other survivors and victims of Auschwitz, turning the narrative into a monument of remembrance and history. All but guaranteed to send readers searching for more information, this is an unforgettable, heartbreaking novel. Ages 13-up. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Librarian of Auschwitz." Publishers Weekly, 28 Aug. 2017, p. 131. Book Review Index
Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A502652703/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=d7ab1304. Accessed 16 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A502652703
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Iturbe, Antonio. The Librarian of
Auschwitz
Stephanie Wilkes
School Library Journal.
63.8 (Aug. 2017): p102. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
* ITURBE, Antonio. The Librarian of Auschwitz. tr from Spanish by Lilit Thwaites. 432p. Holt. Oct. 2017. Tr $19.99. ISBN 9781627796187.
Gr 8 Up--Based on the true story of Holocaust survivor Dita Kraus, this novel features a protagonist who exemplifies courage in the face of death. Fourteen-year-old Dita is imprisoned at Auschwitz along with her mother and father in the "family camp." Her work assignment is to assist the Jewish leader in charge of Block 31, a section created to entertain the children so that their family can work. This block has many secrets, but the most important is that eight books were smuggled in by Jewish prisoners. Dita has been entrusted with their care, making her "the Librarian of Auschwitz," As time passes on, she becomes aware that Dr. Mengele has taken an interest in lier, and while she is terrified that "Doctor Death" is paying attention to her, she finds the courage to protect her books, family, and friends at all costs. Throughout, well-known Nazi leaders and lesser-known Jewish heroes play pivotal roles, making the connection with the historical elements of the horrors of Auschwitz, and later Bergen-Belsen more credible and relatable. Despite being a fictional retelling of a true story, this novel is one that could easily be recommended or taught alongside Elie Wiesels Night and The Diary of Anne Frank and a text that, once read, will never be forgotten. VERDICT A hauntingly authentic Holocaust retelling; a must for YA collections.--Stephanie Wilkes, Good Hope Middle School, West Monroe, LA
KEY: * Excellent in relation to other titles on the same subject or in the same genre | Tr Hardcover trade binding | lib. ed. Publisher's library binding | Board Board book | pap. Paperback | e eBook original | BL Bilingual | POP Popular Picks
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Wilkes, Stephanie. "Iturbe, Antonio. The Librarian of Auschwitz." School Library Journal, Aug.
2017, p. 102. Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A499597900 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=07792f8f. Accessed 16 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A499597900
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Auschwitz's Secret Children's Librarian on Life After Unimaginable Tragedy: 'I Love Carefully'
Courtesy Dita Kraus
Sam Gillette November 03, 2017 04:30 PM
How do you live when you’re surrounded by death? Why study history and literature when all sense of humanity is lost?
These are questions that a new book, The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe, grapples with as it pulls back the curtain of history to reveal the story of Dita Kraus (née Poláchová), a survivor of the Holocaust who served as the secret librarian of the children’s block in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp before 3,792 of the prisoners were sent to the gas chambers in March 1944.
Iturbe, a Spanish journalist (the book was translated into English by Lilit Thwaites), interviewed Kraus for the book and linked her story with the narratives of other historical figures. Though a work of fiction, characters like Josef Mengele, who conducted horrific experiments on children in the camp, and Fredy Hirsch, who ran the children’s block and did everything in his power to enlighten and save them, are brought to life.
“The descriptions are different from the reality that I lived through,” Kraus, 88, wrote in an exclusive email interview with PEOPLE from her home in Netanya, Israel. “No one who wasn’t a prisoner in Auschwitz can describe it. In fact, for those horrors no words exist in our vocabulary.”
Dita Kraus
Dita Kraus
Despite being unable to fully capture the hell she barely lived through, Kraus finds the book “riveting” and the study of literature in general an important way to acquaint “readers with important historical facts.”
In the book’s postscript, Iturbe acknowledges that some people might consider the school and the library an act of “useless bravery” because Hirsch and the children ended up dying. But for Iturbe, the school and Dita Kraus’ courageous act to hide the books show how the teachers and students attempted to maintain their humanity.
“If human beings aren’t deeply moved by beauty, if they don’t close their eyes and activate their imaginations, if they are capable of asking themselves questions and discerning the limits of their ignorance,” Iturbe writes, “then they are men or women, but they are not complete persons: Nothing significant distinguishes them from a salmon or a zebra or a musk ox.”
By sharing Dita Kraus’ story, he challenges readers to rethink what they know about being human.
Born in 1929 in Prague, Dita Kraus was 13 years old when she and her parents were sent to the Terezín ghetto. As harrowing as life was there, she developed a love for painting (her art teacher, Friedl Brandeis, would later die in Auschwitz) and met Fredy Hirsch, who was a Zionist and sports instructor. In December 1943, her family, Hirsch, and many others were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her father, Hans, died there.
What set her family’s experience apart from others was their inclusion in Block 31, the family camp, which historians believe was established by the Nazis to hide the fact that Auschwitz was actually a site of genocide.
The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
Courtesy Dita Kraus
“We were the only camp with children, it was all families. Fredy Hirsch ran the children’s block so I was able to work in the block and was responsible for a few books,” Kraus said in a translated video testimony.
In the children’s block the students were given “secret, improvised lessons, taught in small groups according to age,” according to Holocaust.cz. While they were hungry, none of the children died from malnutrition while going to the school. They’d found a semblance of an oasis.
“Fredy Hirsch ordered the counselors to make sure the children bathed, cleanliness and hygiene were essential,” Kraus said, but he couldn’t prevent their deaths. “After three months in Birkenau they were loaded into trucks. That night everyone was gassed to death. Fredy died too.”
But Hirsch didn’t die with the children.
According to the book’s postscript, before the mass murder on March 8, 1944, Hirsch was asked by the Resistance to lead a camp uprising after they learned of the plan for thousands in the camp to be exterminated. Hirsch “went off to think about the proposal,” Iturbe writes and later died because he overdosed on Luminal. But Iturbe and others question whether his death was actually suicide. Did he ask for “a pill because of a headache” and get an overdose of tranquilizers instead?
“He did not commit suicide,” Kraus wrote in her interview with PEOPLE. “He would never choose to die and leave all the children.”
For Kraus and Iturbe, Hirsch was a hero. But did his heroic deeds matter if the children he cared for died anyway? Iturbe touches on this in his novel:
“It was worth it. Nothing has been in vain. Do you remember how they used to laugh? Do you remember how wide-eyed they were when they were singing ‘Alouette’ or listening to the stories of the living books? Do you remember how they jumped for joy when we put half a biscuit in their bowls? And the excitement with which they prepared their plays? They were happy, Edita.” [Miriam, a character from the camp, tells the fictional Dita after she asks about the worth of the school.]…
“It’s enough to be happy for as long as it takes a match to be lit and go out.”
After the mass murder, teenage Dita and her mother, Elisabeth, were taken to Bergen-Belsen — the same camp where Anne Frank died. They were later liberated in April 1945.
“It’s hard to rejoice when you’re surrounded by corpses,” Dita Kraus said during her video testimony. “Thousands more died in Bergen-Belsen, among them, my mother.” Elisabeth died only months after the liberation.
Dita was left to navigate the world alone. She would later marry Otto Kraus and moved with him to Israel, where they both taught English and raised their three children (their only daughter would pass away at 19 after a long illness).
Though free, Dita Kraus was unable to forget Hirsch and her time as the librarian of Auschwitz. Here’s more from the interview:
At what age did your childhood end?
This is a most difficult question. A person’s childhood develops into youth and adulthood. I did not pass these stages. The war started when I was ten and the restrictions imposed on the Jews made me mature early. I was forced to manage on my own already in the ghetto when I was 13. On the other hand I was forbidden to attend school after grade 5 and had huge gaps in my education. Perhaps I didn’t have a real childhood.
Were the small moments of happiness Mr. Iturbe writes about in the book actually possible? When, if ever, did you feel happiness while under the Nazis?
One could not feel happiness in those circumstances. Only some relief from time to time.
Did books and serving as the librarian help you survive?
Reading books has always been part of my life and I cannot understand how a person can spend his/her days without books. Although many books have had a decisive influence on me, sadly, the books in Auschwitz would not have helped us to survive because we were all marked for the gas chambers.
What helped you survive the most?
Perhaps an initial good constitution and luck, luck and, again, luck.
How/when did you first fall in love with your late husband?
I met Otto [Kraus] a few weeks after I returned to Prague in 1945. I knew him from the Kinderblock in Auschwitz, but we had never spoken. At first it wasn’t love. He was not the tall, good-looking prince of whom I had dreamt. Only slowly did I become fond of him but my feelings grew, until they became the bond that lasted our whole life.
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How do you understand good and evil?
Too philosophical for little me.
What do you want people to learn by reading about your experiences?
People should understand: This is what man is able to do to others, be forewarned.
Have you reached a state of forgiveness? Or is it not possible?
I don’t know. With the passing of years I am less and less able to comprehend how human beings could do what was done to us. The generation of Germans who perpetrated those horrors is no longer alive.
In a world filled with hatred and nationalism, what is your advice?
I have no advice. Greater minds than mine are trying to change hate into tolerance. But others are fanning the flame of hatred and discord. And they claim to do it by divine command. That is why we need to teach tolerance in schools. And books can play a part by acquainting readers with important historical facts.
How is your life still impacted by what happened to you and your family?
Surviving almost three years of hunger, degradation and humiliation, the loss of my parents, grandparents, uncles, cousins and friends has influenced my whole life. I still discern what matters in life and what is trivial. I love carefully, because the loved ones die and I need to avoid the pain. These are only the main features of the impact, there many more residues of my holocaust.
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The Librarian of Auschwitz
Book review by Lucinda Dyer, Common Sense Media
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Parents need to know that The Librarian of Auschwitz is a novel based on the real-life experiences of Czech teen Dita Kraus, who was a prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp. At age 14, Dita was entrusted with one of the most dangerous clandestine jobs in the camp. She was chosen to protect the precious and forbidden eight books that prisoners had smuggled into Auschwitz. Books that would be used in the secret school created by prisoners for the children of Block 31. The novel moves from Dita and her family's privileged life in Prague to Auschwitz and then to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The violence is sometimes graphic (how people died in the gas chamber, how their bodies were removed, a hanging, mentions of the medical experiments of Dr. Mengele) and the threat of it is ever present as people are beaten, starve to death, and get taken off to the gas chambers. In preparation for writing the novel, author Antonio Iturbe met with and interviewed Dita Kraus, who survived the camps and now lives in Israel.
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Adult Written bymoiself December 27, 2017
age 15+
Excellent book, but may be too intense for many readers
My 14-year-old son picked up this book from the library--he really enjoyed it and recommended it to me, so I also read it. The story is based on the true life... Continue reading
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Adult Written byF M February 27, 2018
age 18+
There is a lot of talk about sex. It’s is often traded as a commodity. Women are assaulted and fondeled. Adult consensual sex is mentioned both homosexual and... Continue reading
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What's the story?
Before she became THE LIBRARIAN OF AUSCHWITZ , Dita Kraus lived a comfortable life with her parents in Prague. Now, in 1944, she and her parents are in a special section of Auschwitz called the Family Camp. In Block 31 of the camp, a secret school for children has been established. As books are forbidden, the school must rely on eight books that have been smuggled into the camp: a geometry textbook, H.G. Wells' Short History of the World, a Russian grammar, a novel written in Russian, The Count of Monte Cristo, Freud's New Paths to Psychoanalytic Thought, and Dita's favorite, The Adventures of the Good Soldier Svejk. Under the watchful eye of the leader of Block 31, Fredy Hirsch, it's Dita's job to keep the books safe, storing them each night in a secret compartment. Secrets and unanswered questions are at the heart of the novel. What is Fredy hiding, and could he possibly be a traitor? Can Renee trust the SS guard who promises her freedom? Why is Dr. Mengele so interested in Dita? As for what becomes of families once they are rounded up and taken from the Family Camp, that's not a secret. An epilogue let's readers know how Dita's life unfolded after she was liberated from Bergen-Belsen.
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Is it any good?
This is a haunting, heartbreaking, and unforgettable Holocaust story -- a powerful testament to the courage of a teen girl who risked her life to preserve eight forbidden books. Even teens who don't love reading or share Dita's passion for books are sure to be caught up in a gripping storyline that features secret meetings, a possible traitor, daring escapes, and even romance.
Fact and fiction are blended so seamlessly in The Librarian of Auschwitz that some readers may have difficulty recognizing which characters are real and which are fictional. To make sure readers can identify the real-life characters in the novel, there's a "What Happened To …" section at the back of the book. It reveals the fate of both Nazis (Dr. Mengele, Adolf Eichmann, and camp Kommandant Rudolf Hoss) and prisoners (Dita's best friend, Margit Barnai, and Resistance leader David Schmulewski). A postscript discusses the controversy surrounding the mysterious death of Fredy Hirsch. Whether teens have read widely about the Holocaust or are just beginning to learn about this period in history, the story of Dita Kraus is a must read.
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Talk to your kids about ...
Families can talk about the strong bonds between parents and children that are part of The Librarian of Auschwitz. Can you imagine you and your family going through what Dita and her parents experienced?
What other books or movies about the Holocaust have you read or watched? Why is it important to remember and learn about this period in history?
Dita risked her life to protect eight books. Do you think that was heroic or reckless?
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Book details
Author: Antonio Iturbe
Genre: Historical Fiction
Topics: Book Characters, Friendship, Great Girl Role Models, History
Book type: Fiction
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc.
Publication date: October 10, 2017
Publisher's recommended age(s): 13 - 18
Number of pages: 423
Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
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The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
Reviewed by Natalie Platten
23 Oct 2017
The Librarian of Auschwitz is based on the true story of Dita Kraus, a 14-year-old girl imprisoned, together with her mother and father, in the family camp at Auschwitz. The family camp was an experimental initiative of the Nazis, to create a false representation of life in the camp to the outside world in order to hide genocide. At its peak, 17,500 prisoners were assigned to the family camp at Auschwitz. Tragically, only 1294 survived. In this section of the camp, family members were allowed to mix and there was even a purpose-built children’s block where children received basic lessons and could play games. But these prisoners did not benefit from any special conditions; they suffered from hunger, cold, exhaustion, illness and poor sanitation like any other prisoner at Auschwitz.
Antonio Iturb has drawn on research and personal interviews with actual survivors of the family camp for his fictionalised retelling of this disturbing record of human suffering. In this way, we meet the heroine of this story, Dita, who’s given the challenging task of librarian and caretaker of contraband books, of which there are eight paperbound and six living (ie. those shared orally through storytelling). To be discovered with banned material would mean certain death for Dita, so being custodian of these precious few books places her at great personal risk. But this is a risk Dita feels emboldened to take as the exchange of ideas, knowledge and education is a form of rebellion and gives hope in a hopeless situation.
Hope carries the characters of this story forward with resistance against their persecutors. Survival is the ultimate defiance. But hope takes real courage as like ‘a razor-thin edge…each time you put your hand on it, it cuts you’.
Natalie Platten is the assistant manager and children’s book buyer at Readings Doncaster.
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The Librarian of Auschwitz
The Librarian of Auschwitz
Antonio Iturbe, Lilit Thwaites
$26.99Buy now
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Web Exclusive – November 01, 2017
The Librarian of Auschwitz
The enduring power of books to calm and comfort
BookPage review by Jennifer Kitchel
Antonio Iturbe’s prize-winning third novel, The Librarian of Auschwitz, translated by Lilit Thwaites, is a haunting lyrical tale in the vein of Elie Wiesel’s Night and Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl.
Iturbe interviewed real-life Auschwitz prisoner and survivor Dita Kraus in preparation for writing this fictionalized account of her life. Moving back and forth in time, Iturbe shows us Dita’s journey—from her middle-class family home in Prague to the Jewish ghetto known as Terezín, and finally to the family camp at Auschwitz. At 14, Dita is too old for the horrifying “lessons” being taught to the other imprisoned children, but she is entrusted to collect and distribute the few books snuck into the camp. Over the course of a year, the reader walks with Dita as she experiences the dehumanizing terror of life in a concentration camp.
The daily horrors of imprisonment are palpable, but Iturbe blends in moments of joy, love and mystery—each all the more poignant for their rarity. An essential addition to any reading list focused on the Holocaust, The Librarian of Auschwitz is best suited for an older teen audience due to some language and violence.
Jennifer Bruer Kitchel is the librarian for a Pre-K through 8th level Catholic school.
The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe, translated by Lilit Thwaites
In December 1943, Dita Adlerova, 14, along with her parents and 5,000 other Jewish prisoners arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau from the Theresienstadt ghetto (also referred to as Terezín) in Czechoslovakia. Unlike most of the Jews who were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, this transport arrived with the notation SB - Sonderbehandlung. No one really knew what was meant by special treatment, but they were put into one of nine separate camps in Birkenau, called BIIb, and referred to as the Theresienstadt Family Camp. These prisoners were allowed to keep their clothing and their hair wasn’t shaved, although living conditions were just a deplorable as elsewhere in Auschwitz.
Thanks for Fredy Hirsch, the prisoner in charge of the children, Dita becomes an assistant in Block 31, a barracks that has been converted into a space for children during the day so that their parents can work. It is also a place that houses a secret school which includes a library of eight books that have been smuggled in by other prisoners and are in various states of disrepair. Dita’s job is to care for the books every day - removing them from their hiding place, delivering them to the teachers, and carefully putting them back into their hiding place. Dita takes her job so seriously, that when a surprise inspection that includes Dr. Josef Mengele happens, she risks everything to hide the books under her smock.
But later that day, Dita runs into Mengele again,and she believes that he seems to know that she was hiding something that morning. He tells her he will be watching her from now on. His threat informs Dita’s life in Auschwitz with additional fear from then on, yet it doesn’t stop her from continuing her job as the librarian.
The Librarian of Auschwitz is a powerful novel with a brilliant blending of fact and fiction. It is told mostly in the present tense, and I think the writing style may remind you of The Book Thief, especially the voice of the omniscient narrator who knows what has happened as well as what will happen. And I have to be honest and say it is a difficult book to read at times, but then, so are all books about the Holocaust.
Several of the characters are based on real people. Most of the Nazis in charge of Auschwitz, like Josef Mengele, the Doctor of Death, and Rudolf Höss, the camp commandant. The main character, Dita Adlerova, reflects the experiences of the real librarian of Auschwitz, Dita Polach Kraus, whom Iturbe interviewed in Israel when he was researching this novel. Iturbe also includes the stories of Fredy Hirsch, Rudi Rosenberg, and SS First Officer Viktor Pestek. Hirsch and Rosenberg were prisoners in Auschwitz, while Pestek was a guard who fell in love with a young Jewish girl. Other characters in the novel are strictly fictional, but whether real or fictional, each one contributes to the overall picture that Iturbe draws of this section of Auschwitz, an anomaly in what was a place where most people were sent to be killed upon arrival.
And Dita's story is certainly an exemplary one. In the midst of so much heartbreak and horror, Dita derives a real sense of strength and purpose as the librarian, coming up with ways to improve the delivery of the fragile books to teachers, and carefully repairing them each day when they are returned. And, with the help of Fredy Hirsch, her sense of purpose develops into a way that Dita is able to cope with her own overwhelming fear, learning to accept it as part of who she is, and by recognizing it, she is able to overcome it and go on despite everything.
Thus, Iturbe’s draws Dita as a study of courage in the face of fear, and it becomes all the more poignant and admirable as she faces the horrors of Auschwitz, and later Bergen-Belsen. And while the actual atrocities that were endemic in the Nazi’s concentration camps and their treatment of Jews are difficult to fully capture in words alone, readers should know that Iturbe doesn’t hold back, that some of what he writes is quite graphic.
Though fear, hunger, cold, death, cruelty, and loss of loved ones are the daily experiences of Dita and the other prisoners in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, ultimately The Librarian of Auschwitz is a life-affirming novel that manages to end on a note of hope for the future.
A Teacher's Guide for The Librarian of Auschwitz is available from the publisher, Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) HERE
This book is recommended for readers age 13+
This book was an ARC received from the publisher
Map of Auschwitz II (Birkenau) showing Theresienstadt Family Camp BIIb and Block 31 where the secret school was held
Review of The Librarian of Auschwitz
January 16, 2018 by Martha V. Parravano 4 Comments
The Librarian of Auschwitz
by Antonio Iturbe; trans. from the Spanish by Lilit Žekulin Thwaites
High School Godwin/Holt 424 pp.
10/17 978-1-62779-618-7 $19.99
January 1944: “In this life-destroying factory that is Auschwitz-Birkenau, where the ovens burn corpses day and night, Block 31 is atypical, an anomaly.” It’s where the children in camp BIIb, or the “family camp,” are kept busy so their parents can work more efficiently — or so the Nazis think; in reality, the prisoners are running a school. Even more extraordinary, the school has a librarian: fourteen-year-old Edita Adlerova (based on a real person), in charge of eight precious, forbidden books and more “living” ones — teachers who tell the children stories they know by heart. Iturbe’s remarkable account uses an immediate present tense to immerse readers in Dita’s story as she goes about what constitutes daily life in Auschwitz, all the while risking everything to distribute and hide the library’s books. Iturbe centers books as well, often pausing to relate the plots of the ones Dita reads (e.g., H. G. Wells’s A Short History of the World); these seem like tangents but in fact serve to reinforce one of the novel’s themes: that books save lives. Unlike many Holocaust accounts, where the death camps in their unimaginable horror can feel separate from real, everyday life, here Iturbe continually and crucially reminds readers that Auschwitz happened in the real world: we get dates and hard facts (“During the night of the 8th of March, 1944, 3,792 prisoners from the family camp BIIb were gassed and then incinerated in Crematorium III of Auschwitz-Birkenau”); we follow many other people’s narratives — including a few who escape the camp. An epilogue tells of the protagonist’s life after liberation; back matter includes a “postscript” describing the author’s meeting with the real Dita (married name Kraus) when she was eighty, information about the fates of other people from the story, and a list of primary sources consulted. The front and back endpapers are maps of the concentration camp in 1944.
From the January/February 2018 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.
Martha V. Parravano About Martha V. Parravano
Martha V. Parravano is book review editor of The Horn Book, Inc., and co-author of the Calling Caldecott blog.
Q & A with Antonio Iturbe
By Donna Freitas |
Oct 12, 2017
Mario Krmpotic.
Antonio Iturbe is the author of The Librarian of Auschwitz, a novel inspired by the true story of Edita (Dita) Adlerova, who spent her early adolescence in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Dita took it upon herself to be the heroic keeper of what might be regarded as eight of the rarest books in history—rare because they were in Auschwitz, a place where books were forbidden, and where being caught in possession of a book would be punished by death. Iturbe, a Spanish journalist, spent years corresponding with and interviewing Adlerova in preparation to write his first YA novel published in the United States. The first Spanish edition of The Librarian of Auschwitz was published in Spain by Editorial Planeta in 2012. PW caught up with Iturbe over Skype at his home in a town just outside of Barcelona, Spain. This interview was conducted in Spanish, and translated into English; the Spanish version follows the English.
How did you first hear about a library in Auschwitz?
Books have an echo, and some books tell us about others. I arrived at this story by reading The Library at Night by the historian Alberto Manguel, which gives an overview of the great libraries across history. The book made a brief note that in the extermination camps of Auschwitz, eight old books were collected into what may be the most minuscule and clandestine public library in history. When I closed the book, this question kept knocking on the door of my curiosity: How was it possible to have a library in the hell of Auschwitz? And then I started looking, and found more than I ever imagined.
What drew you to this story, and to the history of Block 31 (the children’s block of Auschwitz)?
The SS wanted a barracks to keep the children entertained while their parents worked like slaves in the workshops of the camps. They put a German Jew named Fredy Hirsh in charge of organizing songs and games, but they wanted nothing of religion or teaching. The greatness of Hirsch is that, in a place where life hung from a thread and anyone could be sent at any time to the gas chambers, he put a couple of boys at the door as guards, while inside he organized a school. He even managed to gather eight old books clandestinely. To me, what he did seemed like something far more important than heroism: it was, in the midst of the need of each person to fight for survival, an extraordinary act of generosity.
How did you learn about Dita? And how did you first get in touch?
I was looking for documentation on Block 31 [the children’s block of Auschwitz] and I traveled to Poland and visited Auschwitz. I’d read references about a novel set in the family camp [of Auschwitz] by Ota Kraus, called The Painted Wall, but the book was out of print and I couldn’t find it anywhere. Then finally, I found a web page where someone had it for sale, and I wrote to an email address to make a request for the book. The person who responded to my request signed her email “Dita.” I’d read in a book by Nili Keren, the Shoah expert, that the young librarian was called Edita. So I asked her if she had anything to do with the girl from Auschwitz. She answered, “Yes, but now I am 80 years old and I live in Israel.”
It is a moment that cannot be captured in words.
From there, we began a correspondence by email, and finally found ourselves together in Prague. Knowing Dita Kraus is one of the important things that has happened in my life.
Why did you decide to write Dita’s story as a novel for younger readers?
I never considered the age of the reader, really. In fact, I thought the subject could turn away some young readers looking for entertainment in a book. My surprise has been that, since the first edition in Spain, I began receiving messages of appreciation from young readers—by the way, mostly girls—because they identified so strongly with the story. For me, this response from young readers who’ve claimed this book as their own has been incredibly satisfying. I’m not afraid of the future because every day I see that we have a wonderful young generation.
How has the reception of your novel been in Spain, and in other countries where it is published? And what is your hope for it in the United States?
This is my first book published in the United States, and I have no idea what the reception will be like. In Spain the book has had a very good reception. There must be more than a dozen editions by now. Sometimes you just don’t know what nuances affect things. For example, in Italy the novel has gone quite unnoticed, but in the Netherlands I have already lost count of the number of editions and it continues to be reissued. I was also surprised by the book’s success in Brazil. I was at the Porto Alegre Book Fair and signed more books there than in Spain. Even in Japan, this summer readers voted it as their favorite translated book of the year. This shows that although our planet is enormous, we are all closer than we realize.
What does Dita think of all this? Have you done any events together?
Dita came to Spain for the book release in Barcelona, and everyone fell in love with her. We also did a book event together in Prague—she is Czech—and attended a literary festival together.
Dita scolds me a little bit for the way I describe in the novel how she was inspired to become the librarian. She says that I make her look like a heroine and that I’m exaggerating! Her version of the story is that Fredy Hirsh asked her to be in charge of the books and so she did it. If he had asked her to sweep with a broom, she would have done that, too. She insists that she did not do anything that others didn’t do.
It is true that Dita did what she had to do, but the incredible thing is that she did it in those terrible circumstances. That she fulfilled what was entrusted to her already seems astonishing to me. Dita is a person of great modesty, and it bothers her that other survivors might think that the book highlights what she did over what others did. If there are mistakes, it’s my fault and it’s just my passionate way of looking at things.
Could you tell us a little something about your life as a writer in Spain?
I studied journalism and worked for more than 20 years in magazines and I’ve also collaborated on literary journals. I actually run my own magazine. I also teach cultural communication classes at a university, I write for the newspaper La Vanguardia, and I write during every possible free moment that I have. Don’t ask me why, but I can’t live without writing! I live in a town about 25 kilometers from Barcelona, and for many years I went back and forth every day by train between my home and the city. I think I’ve read hundreds of thousands of pages on the train.
What do you think of the Independence movement happening in Catalunya right now?
Nationalist sentiments are born of that fantasy of homelands and of nations: when you look at the Earth from an airplane you see mountain ranges, rivers, valleys, and maybe people if you get low enough, but you never see a “nation.” Nations are not here. They do not exist, we invent them. Administrative decisions to unite and manage territories are given too much importance and, with respect to those in power, there is a dangerous, patriotic, visceral ingredient with all the flags waving everywhere and the hymns.
The government of Catalonia wants to break away from Spain and has long been favoring—quite skillfully—what separates people rather than looking for what unites them. And the government of Mariano Rajoy has been acting stubbornly for years from Madrid, without sensitivity to the feelings of the Catalan people. I don’t like either side. They have succeeded in creating a problem between them where there hadn’t been one. My homeland is my family.
What’s next for you? Will you be writing another book for children?
A few months ago, my new novel came out in Spain. It’s called A cielo abierto, and it won the Biblioteca Breve award. It’s the story of the French airmail pioneers, among whose pilots was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of The Little Prince. I love Saint-Exupéry. Also, coming out soon in Spain is a book I’ve written about 50 amazing moments in the history of literature—who said that literature is boring? Come and read it