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(1499)

Dresden. 75 years on.

Dresden. 75 years on.

75 years ago this week Dresden, in Saxony, known as the ‘jewel box’ because of its stunning architecture was obliterated by British and American bombers. The flames reached almost a mile high. Around ...

9 Helmi 202035min

The British Republic

The British Republic

Paul Lay, editor of History Today, has written a great book about the rise and fall of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate (1653–1659), England's sole experiment in republican government – and one of the m...

6 Helmi 20201h 1min

Flu pandemics. Then and Now.

Flu pandemics. Then and Now.

'We are very very vulnerable' says the brilliant science author and journalist Laura Spinney. Her fantastic book 'Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World' is a shocking accoun...

5 Helmi 202029min

Confronting a Nazi past

Confronting a Nazi past

Derek Niemman and Noemie Lopian work together. Two people from very different backgrounds, they tour the world telling people about their family stories.Author and writer Derek Niemann discovered only...

4 Helmi 202032min

Night of the Bayonets

Night of the Bayonets

75 years ago this spring a fascinating but forgotten battle was fought in the dying days of the Second World War. A group of Georgians rose up against their German overlords on the Dutch island of Tex...

29 Tammi 202024min

Max Eisen: Surviving Auschwitz

Max Eisen: Surviving Auschwitz

Max Eisen was only 15 when he and his family were taken from their Hungarian home to the infamous Auschwitz Concentration Camp during the Second World War. All of his relatives were killed; only Max s...

27 Tammi 20201h 17min

UnRoman Britain

UnRoman Britain

How far did Roman culture and politics penetrate into Britain during the Roman occupation of Britannia?Miles Russell, archaeologist and writer, argues that Britain wasn't as Romanised as has often bee...

26 Tammi 202027min

The Anglo-Zulu War

The Anglo-Zulu War

Saul David - historian, broadcaster and author of several critically-acclaimed works of fiction and non-fiction - comes on the show to discuss the most brutal and controversial British imperial confli...

22 Tammi 202023min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
mystista
rss-ikiuni
totuus-vai-salaliitto
konginkangas
tsunami
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rouva-diktaattori
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
rss-peter-peter
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
apinan-vuosi
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
maailmanpuu
historian-nurkkapoyta
rss-kalmakabinetti