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Librarian of Auschwitz, The

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It took a few chapters to get that ‘hooked’ feeling...(part of it might’ve been my mental debate)....I’ve owned the ebook since it was released - but when one has read as many books about the holocaust as I have ( as many of us have)....we begin to tiptoe cautiously —

Dita and her family are in the concentration camp of Auschwitz. Where thousands of innocent lives are taken every day, horrific experiments are done on children, families are ripped apart, they are forced to live like cattle, fighting for beds with barely any food. It's horrific and really is quiet difficult to read. But it was a reality which makes it all the more raw and gut wrenching.Conocemos a Dita cuando tiene 14 años y ve que su mundo se empieza a desmoronar. La llegada de los nazis a Checoslovaquia y sus acciones para someter a los judíos harán que pase de tener una infancia normal a acabar en el infierno. Al igual que muchas otras personas, ella y sus padres son obligados a portar marcas que les señalan como judíos y se ven sumergidos en una situación de terror e incertidumbre. El futuro es incierto e intentar sobrevivir cada día es el único plan que se puede tener. Tras ser obligados a vivir en un gueto, acaban siendo trasladados a Auschwitz. Y nada volverá a ser igual. Aunque no entienden muy bien el motivo, Dita y su madre acaban en un barracón en el que las condiciones son ligeramente menos deplorables que en los demás. Y es ahí donde su amor por los libros la ayudará a convertirse en la bibliotecaria de Auschwitz... For many who survived incarceration and torture, Appelfeld’s silence became a way of being, without consolation or salve. The idea of cure, let alone transfiguration, belongs to a later generation of Holocaust excavators, those who had not experienced for themselves but wanted to speak as though they had, either to berate those they felt hadn’t learned its lessons or simply to profit from it in some way – peddling kitsch being the most profitable.

La real historia de Dita Dorachova una niña de 14 años que durante su encierro en el campo de concentración de Aushwitz, arriesgo su vida para convertirse en la guardiana de 8 libros que eran utilizados en el pabellón 31 para enseñar, entretener o distraer a los niños durante el infierno nazi.

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Dita’s father Hans died of starvation at the camp aged 44. In July 1944, Dita and her mother were among 1000 women sent by Mengele to a work camp in Hamburg. From there she was sent to Bergen-Belsen. “Even without gas chambers, the camp was a horrific killing machine, where the starving prisoners died by the thousands.” Who knew that a family unit existed at Birkeneau? For what purpose would such a unit exist??? In an environment in which people are being killed daily and survival rate is low, unit 31 provided at least a small portion of the prisoners with a moment to disconnect with their reality. Books - a contraband punishable by death - are used to teach the children in unit 31, to escape the harsh reality and feel a sense of normalcy. Dita, a 14-year-old girl, arrives at the family compound and is given the risky yet prestigious job as librarian at the secret school. The SS are unaware of the library's existence so everyday brings the risk of discovery; yet Dita would have it no other way. To her, books are a saviour and a reason to keep fighting and living. La lectura te mantiene en vilo en todo momento y, a pesar de que Dita es prácticamente una niña, su relato no es infantil. Tiene cierta inocencia que es acorde a su edad y a sus circunstancias, pero se va viendo cómo se ve obligada a madurar a la fuerza y a hacer frente a la tragedia, a la muerte, a la búsqueda de la esperanza cuando todo parece perdido, al miedo a confiar en la persona inadecuada, etc. Lo de su papel como bibliotecaria en medio de tanta desolación es un pequeño detalle dentro de la trama, algo que le da un toque de ternura a un lugar lleno de oscuridad. Not all the Characters are likeable, for sooo many reasons, they are based on real characters, and some of them are horrific but harshly real, the Soldiers for example, how they treated people was unimaginable but it happened. But then you had characters like Dita and Fredy Hirsh who melted my heart.

Illustrations are realistic, with lots of blues and browns. Some images are disturbing, but they are necessary and honest for this topic. The Librarian of Auschwitz is a sobering account of one girl's survival at Auschwitz. I've read a number of books detailing the Nazi's most infamous death camp Auschwitz so was expecting the devastating descriptions of the appalling living conditions and inhumane treatment of the prisoners. What I wasn't expecting was the glimpse of hope and humanity the prisoners of building 31 managed to preserve. 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. Inspections are another matter altogether. Lines must be formed, and searches are carried out. Sometimes the youngest children are interrogated, the guards hoping to take advantage of their innocence to pry information out of them. They are unsuccessful. Even the youngest children understand more than their snot-covered little faces might suggest. The Librarian of Auschwitz is a heartbreaking and ultimately inspiring work of art." — Shelf Awareness, starred review, on The Librarian of Auschwitz

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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...' On her own now, Dita heads to find Margit, who left her directions on how to find her. When Dita arrives at Margit's door, they embrace with the feeling of true freedom. Dita Polachova was raised in a loving home in Prague, the only child of book-loving parents, who filled their shelves with German, Czech and French books. Little did she know that by the age of 14 her life would be saved by a dozen tattered books which comprised possibly the smallest library in the world, in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Farcical Fuhrer …Hitler as an imaginary friend in Jojo Rabbit. Photograph: Fox Searchlight Pictures/Allstar

Holocaust, Nazis, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Auschwitz, books, book banning, censorship, oppression, fear, death of both parents, librarians To sum it up it reads like a text book trying to be a fictional account of a real thing. The translation is poorly done if that is the issue with it. The narrative closely follows Dita Kraus, a 14 year old girl in the Auschwitz family camp and her experiences as the keeper and protector of eight forbidden books. I was interested that one of them was a history text by H.G. Wells, as I have been cataloguing a large collection of Wells’ writing during my work hours. I was also glad to see that they had several people that they designated as “living books” because they could tell certain stories (one woman could recount The Count of Monte Cristo). The concept of living books has recently been used at our city’s public library, so I was thrilled to see an example of the history of the practice.But there is all the difference in the world between pornographic exploitation of the Holocaust and a dramatisation of how reading about it can be deranging. The forms in which we receive and process images of the camps are integral now to what the Holocaust means to us. There is nothing titillating about their study. But Dita's passion for learning and books shone through and despite the immediate danger she accepts the position. In November 1942, thirteen-year-old Dita and her parents were sent to the Terezin ghetto, and from there to Auschwitz-Birkenau in December 1943. Dita Strauss was a mere fourteen years old when she and her parents arrived at Auschwitz. They were assigned to the family camp and as all were assigned to work, Dita went to work in the school. There she meets Freddy Hirsch, the Jewish leader in charge of the children of Auschwitz. He gives her an assignment. She is to be the protector of books that have been hidden. Dita is only fourteen and yet she strives to do her job as the books are a link to a world of sanity. She secrets the books away as she carries them to others.

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