Books about Holocaust

  1. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

    by John Boyne
    A young boy's innocent friendship with a Jewish prisoner leads to a powerful moral awakening.

    Bruno is a 9-year-old boy growing up during World War II in Berlin . He lives with his parents, his 12-year-old sister Gretel, whom he describes as 'A Hopeless Case,' and maids, one of whom is named ... (Wikipedia)

  2. Everything Is Illuminated

    by Jonathan Safran Foer
    A young man's journey to trace his family's past, uncovering the secrets of the Holocaust.

    Jonathan Safran Foer (the author), a young American Jew, who is vegetarian and an avid collector of his family's heritage, journeys to Ukraine in search of Augustine, the woman who saved his ... (Wikipedia)

  3. Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History

    by Art Spiegelman
    A graphic novel depicting the traumatic experiences of a Holocaust survivor and his son.

    The first installment of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall Street Journal) and “the first ... (Goodreads)

  4. Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began

    by Art Spiegelman
    A graphic novel recounting a Holocaust survivor's harrowing experience and his son's attempt to reconcile with his father's past.

    Acclaimed as a quiet triumph and a brutally moving work of art, the first volume of Art Spieglman's Maus introduced readers to Vladek Spiegleman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a ... (Goodreads)

  5. Night

    by Elie Wiesel
    A harrowing chronicle of a Jewish family during the Holocaust and their struggle for survival.

    Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. Night is the ... (Goodreads)

  6. The Complete Maus

    by Art Spiegelman
    A graphic novel depicting a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust and his son's journey to understand the past.

    On the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of its first publication, here is the definitive edition of the book acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the ... (Goodreads)

  7. Lilac Girls

    by Martha Hall Kelly
    A story of three women's lives, intertwined by World War II, and their remarkable courage.

    Inspired by the life of a real World War II heroine, this powerful debut novel reveals an incredible story of love, redemption, and terrible secrets that were hidden for decades. On the eve of a ... (Goodreads)

  8. Schindler's List

    by Thomas Keneally
    Story of a German businessman who saved hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust.

    This novel tells the story of Oskar Schindler , self-made entrepreneur and, bon viveur, who almost by default found himself saving Polish Jews from the Nazi death machine. Based on numerous ... (Wikipedia)

  9. Survival in Auschwitz

    by Primo Levi
    True story of a man's struggle to survive in a Nazi concentration camp.

    The true and harrowing account of Primo Levi’s experience at the German concentration camp of Auschwitz and his miraculous survival; hailed by The Times Literary Supplement as a “true work of art, ... (Goodreads)

  10. The Diary of a Young Girl

    by Anne Frank
    A teenage girl's account of life in hiding during World War II.

    Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank’s remarkable diary has become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to ... (Goodreads)

  11. Time's Arrow

    by Martin Amis
    A story told in reverse as a Holocaust doctor confronts his past and his role in the atrocities.

    The novel recounts the life of a German Holocaust doctor in reverse chronology. The narrator, together with the reader, experiences time passing in reverse. The narrator is not exactly the ... (Wikipedia)

  12. We Were the Lucky Ones

    by Georgia Hunter
    A family's struggle to survive the Holocaust, showing the power of hope in the face of tragedy.

    It is the spring of 1939 and three generations of the Kurc family are doing their best to live normal lives, even as the shadow of war grows closer. The talk around the family Seder table is of new ... (Goodreads)

  13. Sophie's Choice

    by William Styron
    A survivor of the Holocaust is confronted with a devastating moral dilemma.

    Stingo, a novelist who is recalling the summer when he began his first novel, has been fired from his low-level reader's job at the publisher McGraw-Hill and has moved into a cheap boarding house in ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil

    by Hannah Arendt
    Exploration of the trial of Adolf Eichmann, examining the nature of evil and its implications.

    Originally appearing as a series of articles in The New Yorker , Hannah Arendt’s authoritative and stunning report on the trial of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann sparked a flurry of debate upon its ... (Goodreads)

  15. What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank

    by Nathan Englander
    A collection of short stories exploring Jewish identity, relationships, and morality in modern times.

    These eight new stories from the celebrated novelist and short-story writer Nathan Englander display a gifted young author grappling with the great questions of modern life, with a command of ... (Goodreads)

  16. The Man Who Broke Into Auschwitz: A True Story of World War II

    by Denis Avey
    A British soldier's account of his time as a prisoner of war in Auschwitz and his daring attempt to swap places with a Jewish inmate.

    The almost unbelievable story of Denis Avey, now 92, began in 1944 when he was captured and sent to a POW work camp. He was put to work every day in a German factory, where he labored alongside ... (Goodreads)

  17. Number the Stars

    by Lois Lowry
    A young girl's courage and loyalty help her family and friends escape the Nazis.

    Ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen and her best friend Ellen Rosen often think of life before the war. It's now 1943 and their life in Copenhagen is filled with school, food shortages, and the Nazi ... (Goodreads)

  18. The Boy on the Wooden Box

    by Leon Leyson
    A Holocaust survivor's account of his childhood, living in fear and struggling for survival.

    Even in the darkest of times— especially in the darkest of times—there is room for strength and bravery. A remarkable memoir from Leon Leyson, one of the youngest children to survive the Holocaust on ... (Goodreads)

  19. The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust

    by Edith Hahn Beer
    An incredible true story of a Jewish woman's courage and determination to survive the Holocaust.

    Edith Hahn was an outspoken young woman studying law in Vienna when the Gestapo forced Edith and her mother into a ghetto, issuing them papers branded with a "J." Soon, Edith was taken away to a ... (Goodreads)

  20. Yellow Star

    by Jennifer Roy
    A young Jewish girl's harrowing experience during the Holocaust, told through free-verse poetry.

    In 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland and forced that nation's second-largest community of Jews, 270,000 strong, into one section of the city of Łódź , which they later walled off to form a ghetto. ... (Wikipedia)

  21. Those Who Save Us

    by Jenna Blum
    A woman's journey of self-discovery, uncovering the secrets of her mother's past.

    For fifty years, Anna Schlemmer has refused to talk about her life in Germany during World War II. Her daughter, Trudy, was only three when she and her mother were liberated by an American soldier ... (Barnes & Noble)

  22. I Have Lived a Thousand Years

    by Livia Bitton-Jackson
    The Holocaust memoir of a teenage girl who survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

    What is death all about? What is life all about? So wonders thirteen-year-old- Elli Friedmann, just one of the many innocent Holocaust victims, as she fights for her life in a concentration camp. It ... (Goodreads)

  23. War and Remembrance

    by Herman Wouk
    Epic saga of a Jewish family's journey through WWII, facing the struggles of a war-torn world.

    War and Remembrance completes the cycle that began with, The Winds of War, . The story includes historical occurrences at Midway , Yalta , Guadalcanal , and El Alamein as well as the Allied invasions ... (Wikipedia)

  24. Rose Under Fire

    by Elizabeth Wein
    A young woman's experience in a World War II concentration camp, and her quest to survive.

    While flying an Allied fighter plane from Paris to England, American ATA pilot and amateur poet, Rose Justice, is captured by the Nazis and sent to Ravensbrück, the notorious women's concentration ... (Goodreads)

  25. The Kindly Ones

    by Jonathan Littell
    A former Nazi officer's reminiscences of World War II and his role in the Holocaust.

    The book is a fictional autobiography, describing the life of Maximilien Aue, a former officer in the SS who, decades later, tells the story of a crucial part of his life when he was an active member ... (Wikipedia)

  26. Dawn

    by Elie Wiesel
    A Holocaust survivor reflects on the events of his past and the importance of hope for the future.

    "The author . . . has built knowledge into artistic fiction." —,The New York Times Book Review, Elisha is a young Jewish man, a Holocaust survivor, and an Israeli freedom fighter in ... (Barnes & Noble)

  27. Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account

    by Miklós Nyiszli
    An account of the horrors of Auschwitz, as experienced by a Jewish prisoner-doctor.

    When the Nazis invaded Hungary in 1944, they sent virtually the entire Jewish population to Auschwitz. A Jew and a medical doctor, the prisoner Dr. Miklos Nyiszli was spared death for a grimmer fate: ... (Goodreads)

  28. All But My Life: A Memoir

    by Gerda Weissmann Klein
    A gripping account of one woman's survival of the Holocaust and her struggle to reclaim her life.

    All But My Life is the unforgettable story of Gerda Weissmann Klein's six-year ordeal as a victim of Nazi cruelty. From her comfortable home in Bielitz (present-day Bielsko) in Poland to her ... (Barnes & Noble)

  29. The Librarian of Auschwitz

    by Antonio Iturbe
    Based on a true story, a young girl in Auschwitz risks her life to protect and share books with fellow prisoners.

    Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this is the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust. Fourteen-year-old ... (Barnes & Noble)

  30. Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers

    by Filip Müller
    A harrowing first-hand account of life and death in Auschwitz, detailing the horrors of the gas chambers and the resilience of the human spirit.

    Filip Muller came to Auschwitz with one of the earliest transports from Slovakia in April 1942 and began working in the gassing installations and crematoria in May. He was still alive when the ... (Goodreads)

  31. Born Survivors

    by Wendy Holden
    The true story of three women who gave birth in concentration camps during WWII and their fight for survival and motherhood.

    The Nazis murdered their husbands but concentration camp prisoners Priska, Rachel, and Anka would not let evil take their unborn children too—a remarkable true story that will appeal to readers of ... (Goodreads)

  32. The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million

    by Daniel Mendelsohn
    A memoir of a man's search for the fate of his relatives who perished in the Holocaust, exploring themes of memory, identity, and family.

    In this rich and riveting narrative, a writer's search for the truth behind his family's tragic past in World War II becomes a remarkably original epic—part memoir, part reportage, part mystery, and ... (Goodreads)

  33. A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy

    by Thomas Buergenthal
    A memoir of a young boy's survival in Auschwitz and his journey to become a human rights lawyer.

    Thomas Buergenthal, now a Judge in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, tells his astonishing experiences as a young boy in his memoir A Lucky Child . He arrived at Auschwitz at age 10 ... (Goodreads)

  34. Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust

    by Loïc Dauvillier
    A grandmother shares her story of surviving the Holocaust with her granddaughter, teaching her about the importance of hope and resilience.

    In this gentle, poetic young graphic novel, Dounia, a grandmother, tells her granddaughter the story even her son has never heard: how, as a young Jewish girl in Paris, she was hidden away from the ... (Barnes & Noble)

  35. Fatelessness

    by Imre Kertész
    A young Hungarian boy is sent to a concentration camp during WWII, where he struggles to understand the meaning of his fate.

    The novel is about a young Hungarian boy, György "Gyuri" Köves, living in Budapest . The book opens as György's father is being sent to a labor camp. Soon afterwards, György receives working papers ... (Wikipedia)

  36. Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family

    by Miep Gies
    The brave and moving story of the woman who helped to save Anne Frank's family during the Holocaust.

    The reminiscences of Miep Gies, the woman who hid the Frank family in Amsterdam during the Second World War, presents a vivid story of life under Nazi occupation. ... (Goodreads)

  37. The Pianist

    by Władysław Szpilman
    A man's harrowing survival in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, and the resilience of the human spirit.

    The last live broadcast on Polish Radio, on September 23, 1939, was Chopin's Nocturne in C# Minor, played by a young pianist named Wladyslaw Szpilman, until his playing was interrupted by German ... (Goodreads)

  38. The Zookeeper's Wife

    by Diane Ackerman
    A true story of courage and resilience during the Holocaust, as a zookeeper and his wife risk their lives to save hundreds of Jews.

    In the 1930s, Jan Żabiński is the director of a thriving zoo in Warsaw, Poland. His wife, Antonina, has a remarkable empathy with animals, and their villa in the zoo acts as a nursery and residence ... (Wikipedia)

  39. The Drowned and the Saved

    by Primo Levi
    A Holocaust survivor reflects on his experiences in Auschwitz and the nature of humanity.

    The author tries to understand the rationale behind Auschwitz, Treblinka, Bergen-Belsen. Dismissing stereotyped images of brutal Nazi torturers and helpless victims, Levi draws extensively on his own ... (Goodreads)

  40. Hana's Suitcase: A True Story

    by Karen Levine
    A suitcase from Auschwitz leads a Japanese teacher and her students on a journey to uncover the story of Hana Brady, a young girl who perished in the Holocaust.

    In March 2000, a suitcase arrived at a children’s Holocaust education center in Tokyo, Japan. On the outside, in white paint, were these words: Hana Brady, May 16, 1931, and Waisenkind – the German ... (Barnes & Noble)

  41. The Girl in the Green Sweater: A Life in Holocaust's Shadow

    by Krystyna Chiger
    A young girl's account of surviving the Holocaust by hiding in the sewers of Lvov, Poland.

    The Girl in the Green Sweater is a memoir co-written by Krystyna Chiger and Daniel Paisner following Chiger's early life as she escapes Nazi concentration camps with her family. Living in Lvov, ... (Wikipedia)

  42. Alicia

    by Alicia Appleman-Jurman
    A memoir of a young Jewish girl's survival during the Holocaust, and her journey to rebuild her life after the war.

    After losing her entire family to the Nazis at age 13, Alicia Appleman-Jurman went on to save the lives of thousands of Jews, offering them her own courage and hope in a time of upheaval and tragedy. ... (Goodreads)

  43. In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer

    by Irene Gut Opdyke
    A young Polish woman's harrowing experiences during WWII, including hiding Jews and working for the German army, and her journey to America.

    "You must understand that I did not become a resistance fighter, a smuggler of Jews, a defier of the SS and the Nazis all at once. One's first steps are always small: I had begun by hiding food under ... (Goodreads)

  44. Prisoner B-3087

    by Alan Gratz
    A young boy's harrowing journey through ten concentration camps during the Holocaust.

    Survive. At any cost. 10 concentration camps. 10 different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly. It's something no one could imagine surviving. But it is what Yanek Gruener ... (Barnes & Noble)

  45. The Upstairs Room

    by Johanna Reiss
    A young Jewish girl and her sister hide from the Nazis in a small upstairs room during World War II.

    In the part of the marketplace where flowers had been sold twice a week - tulips in the spring, roses in the summer - stood German tanks and German soldiers. Annie de Leeuw was eight years old in ... (Goodreads)

  46. I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree: A Memoir of a Schindler's List Survivor

    by Laura Hillman
    A young girl's journey through the Holocaust, saved by Oskar Schindler and her unwavering hope for a better future.

    "HANNELORE, YOUR PAPA IS DEAD." In the spring of 1942 Hannelore received a letter from Mama at her school in Berlin, Germany–Papa had been arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Six weeks later ... (Goodreads)

  47. Memories Of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Girlhood Friend

    by Alison Leslie Gold
    A memoir of a childhood friendship with Anne Frank, offering a unique perspective on her life and legacy.

    Hannah Goslar lived next door to Anne Frank in Amsterdam. In this touching memoir, as told to Alison Leslie Gold, Hannah recalls the funny, bright girl who suddenly disappeared from her life – until ... (Goodreads)

  48. Milkweed

    by Jerry Spinelli
    A story of a Jewish orphan’s survival in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation.

    He’s a boy called Jew. Gypsy. Stopthief. Runt. Happy. Fast. Filthy son of Abraham. He’s a boy who lives in the streets of Warsaw. He’s a boy who steals food for himself and the other orphans. He’s a ... (Goodreads)

  49. The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank

    by Willy Lindwer
    Documentary film of the last seven months of Anne Frank's life in the Secret Annex.

    The "unwritten" final chapter of "Anne Frank: Diary Of A Young Girl" tells the story of the time between Anne Frank's arrest and her death through the testimony of six Jewish women who survived the ... (Goodreads)

  50. Beatrice and Virgil

    by Yann Martel
    An exploration of the Holocaust through allegory, with a taxidermist and a howler monkey.

    This is the story of a donkey named Beatrice and a monkey named Virgil. It is also the story of an extraordinary journey undertaken by a man named Henry. It begins with a mysterious parcel, and it ... (Goodreads)

  51. The Auschwitz Escape

    by Joel C. Rosenberg
    A thrilling story of courage, faith, and heroism as a group of prisoners attempt to escape the horrors of Auschwitz.

    ECPA 2015 Christian Book Award Finalist! 2014 finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards! Evil, unchecked, is the prelude to genocide. As the Nazi war machine rolls across Europe, young Jacob Weisz is ... (Barnes & Noble)

  52. Auschwitz

    by Laurence Rees
    An in-depth look into the horrors of the Auschwitz concentration camps during World War II.

    This vivid and harrowing narrative history of the most notorious concentration camp of the Holocaust preserves the authentic voices of survivors and perpetrators The largest mass murder in human ... (Barnes & Noble)

  53. The Diary of Anne Frank: And Related Readings

    by Frances Goodrich
    The diary of a young Jewish girl, Anne Frank, who hid with her family during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. Related readings provide context and insight.

    There are 10 reading parts. ... (Goodreads)

  54. Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz

    by Olga Lengyel
    A harrowing first-hand account of life and death in Auschwitz, detailing the horrors of the concentration camp and the resilience of the human spirit.

    Olga Lengyel tells, frankly and without compromise, one of the most horrifying stories of all time. This true, documented chronicle is the intimate, day-to-day record of a beautiful woman who ... (Goodreads)

  55. Anne Frank's Tales from the Secret Annex: A Collection of Her Short Stories, Fables, and Lesser-Known Writings

    by Anne Frank
    A collection of Anne Frank's lesser-known writings, including short stories and fables, showcasing her talent as a writer beyond her famous diary.

    Hiding from the Nazis in the "Secret Annexe" of an old office building in Amsterdam, a thirteen-year-old girl named Anne Frank became a writer. The now famous diary of her private life and thoughts ... (Goodreads)

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