He told me all about their family life in Vienna in the days ‘before Hitler came’ and about his special childhood bond with Fritz. A free educational Guide for Parents, Guardians and Teachers has been produced to go with Fritz and Kurt.

Fritz and Kurt (Audio Download): Jeremy Dronfield, David Fritz and Kurt (Audio Download): Jeremy Dronfield, David

I haven't read Dronfield's book about the Jewish family split by the second world war, but I was fascinated to hear that the author has retold it for a young audience. They are grateful to be together: to have each other to lean on for support and their strength, hope and courage is a theme throughout the story. Fritz’s experiences at the hands of the Vienna Gestapo; the Nazi race scientists who studied the Jewish prisoners, the whole truth about the friends and neighbours who betrayed Fritz and Kurt’s family to the Nazis, Kurt’s struggle to adapt to life in wartime America without his brother and family – these and other details are new in this telling of the story.It was published in 2019 as The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz and became an international bestseller, translated into twenty languages. But only “based on known events, circumstances and knowledge of the personalities, feelings and beliefs of individuals at the time. It’s hard to comprehend that this was only barely 78 years ago, the average lifespan of a modern day European man or woman. Here, swiftly identifying their skills in bricklaying and stitching, the Kleinmanns stayed alive while up to 150 of their less useful comrades went off each day to be gassed at Birkenau ( Primo Levi was another survivor).

Julia’s review of Fritz and Kurt - Goodreads

There are lots of first person accounts of the Holocaust but this is an important addition, with lessons to apply to the world today. But, Jeremy explained, that “even though it’s an incredibly important historical document, it’s really difficult to read. It also tied in well with the point that the author was telling a true story and that this was something that had happened and had a specific ending.

In the words of Dronfield - “ it is vitally important to remember what happened in those terrible years, and to do whatever we can to make sure nothing like it never occurs again […] we have to begin with memories and knowledge of what happened in the past, with understanding, and with compassion for our fellow human beings – all of them, not just the ones who look like us to share our beliefs.

Fritz and Kurt : Dronfield, Jeremy, Greene, David Ziggy Fritz and Kurt : Dronfield, Jeremy, Greene, David Ziggy

The illustrations were excellent, and reminded me of Michael Foreman's regular WWII work with Michael Morpurgo. Dronfield rightly states that "It is vitally important to remember what happened in those terrible years, and to do whatever we can to make sure nothing like it ever occurs again. A year later, Gustav, after failing to rescue his boy from a second arrest and instant deportation – the Kleinmanns’ crime, on both occasions, was to be Jewish – was snatched at night from the family home he had courageously refused to abandon. The greater part of the book however describes what happened to Fritz and his papa, who managed to stay together, Fritz choosing to go with his father to Auschwitz even when he could have stayed in the relatively safer Buchenwald.At the end of last year, I was invited by the Holocaust Education Trust to a series of seminars about the Holocaust, which included a trip to Auschwitz and Auschwitz- Birkenau.