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Book: "Lullaby in Auschwitz"

Author.

Rating (1 to 6): 5

There are books that are hard to talk about. The horror between these pages, sings a sad song. A tune that chills the heart and isn't like those tunes from scary monster and ghost movies. A heavy book that shows you the truth, fate and history, sadly really as it was. I don't know if reading it will teach you to be a better person, but it will certainly teach you to find less excuses for your own mistakes and weaknesses. Definitely not a read for everyone. For me, it is beautiful in its own way. Real, honest. Not wrapped in a pink bubble wrap. When I reached out to buy the book, I didn't know what I was in for at all. From the title I suspected the story would revolve around the death camp, but nothing more. I was even sure that the stories inside would either be ones I'd already heard or at least come close to what I already knew. Well, that wasn't the case at all.

"Human beings are a brief breeze in the hurricane of our surrounding reality"

"Lullaby at Auschwitz" is about love and devotion. A story we need to know. The power of hope in one of the darkest places on the planet - the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. The most chilling background lies behind the pages of this book, but also the faith in humanity, the struggle for life. A true story, fates. Until now I had only read about the Jewish prisoners in the concentration camps, but I had never heard of the other non-Iranian victims of Hitler's evils, so this book taught me so much about another layer of the Holocaust that I didn't actually know existed . I was extremely curious to find out more about another layer of history that has remained shrouded from each other. Everything in the book is somewhat fictional, it is a novel after all, but that doesn't mean it's a hoax, it's based on a real person and some of the events are real and believe me rather lightly presented. I think this is a great book for WWII history fans so I recommend you pick it up.

About the plot:

The book is based on the true story of a courageous nurse in Germany, assigned to care for the youngest prisoners at Auschwitz. Helena Hahnemann, a woman who sacrificed everything for her family. It all began on a seemingly ordinary morning in 1943. Helena was preparing her five children when German police officers burst into her home with an order to arrest her husband and children because they were of Roma origin. She is German and they have no arrest warrant against her, but who would want to leave their family behind to watch them being taken away. She leaves with them. After a long and terrifying trek across the continent, Helen and her family arrive in Auschwitz. Her husband Johan is separated from them, but that doesn't bring down the brave woman who defends her children. When they find out she is not only German, but a trained nurse, they force her to work in the camp, under the watchful eye of Dr. Mengele. Helene is under no illusions as to Dr. Mengele's intentions, she is fully aware of his way of "working", but agrees to cooperate when he asks her to organize day care and school for the Roma children in the camp. Despite the atrocities she sees in the camp, Helena Hahnemann works hard with one goal in mind - to protect all the children. Through sheer force of will, Helena provides a safe haven for the children of Auschwitz - an act of kindness and selflessness so great that it illuminates the darkest night in human history. Whether she succeeds, however, you can read the novel - Mario Escobar's Lullaby at Auschwitz.

I can't imagine the horrific sights behind the whole story, but reading it, one can feel the pain and anguish the people there have gone through, but also the hope that the world can be a better place, that faith and retribution are somewhere and good is just waiting for its moment. This is a book about the power of human dignity, about family. Even when all hope is lost, even when you are in Auschwitz there is a ray of light.