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A Delayed Life

The True Story of the Librarian of Auschwitz

ebook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

The real Librarian of Auschwitz tell her own story, from surviving the holocaust to life in Israel, in this "inspiring [and] unforgettable" memoir (The Times, UK). 

Dita Kraus grew up in Prague in an intellectual, middle-class Jewish family. She went to school, played with her friends, and never thought of herself as being different—until the advent of the Holocaust. Torn from her home, Dita was sent to Auschwitz with her family.

In bracingly candid prose, Dita recounts the conditions she endured and the dangers she faced in the camp. She also recounts how she maintained a small collection of books—strictly forbidden by Nazi guards—as part of a secret school for captive children.
From her time in the children's block of Auschwitz to her liberation from the camps and on into her adulthood, Dita's powerful memoir sheds light on an incredible life—one that is delayed no longer.

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    • Library Journal

      March 1, 2020

      Kraus tells her story of growing up in the Czechoslovakia during World War II. At 14, Kraus and her family were first sent to the ghetto of Terezín, followed by Auschwitz and, later, manual labor at Neuengamme. She movingly describes experiencing crushing hunger and thirst when locked in Bergen-Belsen for three days with no food or water save a dripping bathroom pipe after the camp was abandoned. Recounting life after the war, Kraus relays how she and her husband were targeted owing to her husband's successful business in Prague. The couple fled to Israel in the 1950s, a country still in its infancy as far as infrastructure. The subtitle is an allusion to Antonio Iturbe and Lilit Thwaite's novel The Library of Auschwitz, based on the true story of Kraus's experience of smuggling books into Auschwitz. A Delayed Life makes passing reference to Kraus's role as librarian in Auschwitz, and those interested in learning more about Kraus can continue their reading with Iturbe and Thwaite's work. VERDICT A story of survival that is rare in its coverage of life before and after the Holocaust, addressing the difficult question of what comes after such tragedy.--Stacy Shaw, Denver

      Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Library Journal

      March 1, 2020

      Kraus tells her story of growing up in the Czechoslovakia during World War II. At 14, Kraus and her family were first sent to the ghetto of Terez�n, followed by Auschwitz and, later, manual labor at Neuengamme. She movingly describes experiencing crushing hunger and thirst when locked in Bergen-Belsen for three days with no food or water save a dripping bathroom pipe after the camp was abandoned. Recounting life after the war, Kraus relays how she and her husband were targeted owing to her husband's successful business in Prague. The couple fled to Israel in the 1950s, a country still in its infancy as far as infrastructure. The subtitle is an allusion to Antonio Iturbe and Lilit Thwaite's novel The Library of Auschwitz, based on the true story of Kraus's experience of smuggling books into Auschwitz. A Delayed Life makes passing reference to Kraus's role as librarian in Auschwitz, and those interested in learning more about Kraus can continue their reading with Iturbe and Thwaite's work. VERDICT A story of survival that is rare in its coverage of life before and after the Holocaust, addressing the difficult question of what comes after such tragedy.--Stacy Shaw, Denver

      Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
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  • EPUB ebook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:960
  • Text Difficulty:5-6

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