The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz

The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz

This is the most remarkable father and son story I have ever come across.

We are still marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz here at History Hit and this time I am talking to historian Jeremy Dronfield about an astonishing true story of horror, love and impossible survival. In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholsterer in Vienna, was arrested by the Nazis. Along with his sixteen-year-old son Fritz, he was sent to Buchenwald in Germany, where a new concentration camp was being built.

They helped build Buchenwald, young Fritz learning construction skills which would help preserve him from extermination in the coming years. But it was his bond with his father that would ultimately keep them both alive. When the fifty-year-old Gustav was transferred to Auschwitz--a certain death sentence--Fritz was determined to go with him. His wiser friends tried to dissuade him--"If you want to keep living, you have to forget your father," one said. Instead Fritz pleaded for a place on the Auschwitz transport. "He is a true comrade," Gustav wrote in his secret diary, "always at my side. The boy is my greatest joy. We are inseparable."

Gustav kept his diary hidden throughout his six years in the death camps--even Fritz knew nothing of it.

We talked about this very rare diary, Fritz's own accounts, and other eyewitness testimony, and built a picture of this extraordinary father and son team.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jaksot(1484)

The Great Famine

The Great Famine

In the late 19th century, Ireland suffered a potato blight that became a mass catastrophe. Today, we explore the conditions that left millions vulnerable, and assess the role of the British government...

9 Helmi 39min

How Did Three Samurai Warlords Unite Japan?

How Did Three Samurai Warlords Unite Japan?

Today, we dive into the chaotic final act of Japan’s Warring States period, and hear about the three warlords who brought it to an end. Oda Nobunaga, the ruthless innovator who shattered the status qu...

5 Helmi 54min

Whaling

Whaling

The history of whaling is complicated. At its height in the 18th and 19th centuries, whaling was a global enterprise built on perilous voyages, long seasons at sea, and a fierce chase for oil and bale...

2 Helmi 52min

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc

Teenage peasant, visionary commander, convicted heretic, national saint - Joan of Arc's life reads like a legend. Today, Dan digs past that legend to understand who Joan really was, and why her story ...

29 Tammi 1h 1min

 The Dambusters Raid Explained

The Dambusters Raid Explained

In May 1943, the RAF launched one of the Second World War’s most audacious missions: the Dambusters Raid. Today, we follow the raid as it unfolded, hearing about the remarkable people involved and exa...

26 Tammi 44min

The Battle of Bosworth

The Battle of Bosworth

In August 1485, the would-be king Henry Tudor went head-to-head with King Richard III - the final, decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses. Only one of these men would leave the battlefield alive, an...

22 Tammi 44min

The Top Assassination Attempts on Hitler

The Top Assassination Attempts on Hitler

What does it take to kill a dictator? In this episode, we explore the most dramatic assassination attempts on Adolf Hitler. From Georg Elser, the lone-wolf carpenter who built a bomb by hand, to the P...

19 Tammi 41min

A History of Iran

A History of Iran

How does Iran's history underpin today's unrest? Dan traces more than 2,500 years of Iran's story — from the first Persian empires through conquest, dynasties, and revolution — to understand how power...

15 Tammi 1h 10min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
totuus-vai-salaliitto
mystista
tsunami
konginkangas
rss-ikiuni
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
rouva-diktaattori
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
rss-peter-peter
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
historian-nurkkapoyta
tiedetta-ja-sirkushuveja-vanhojen-aikojen-podcast
hippokrateen-vastaanotolla
rss-outoja-uutisia-pohjois-suomesta