Reading about World War II and the Holocaust is one of those topics that is hard to avoid. It's a horrible stain on our worlds history but one that we should never forget. Looking at the inhumane occurrences that happened to thousands of people makes one realize just how truly blessed we are to live the lives we live. I hesitated picking up Auschwitz Lullaby by Mario Escobar but I am so thankful that I did.

Auschwitz Lullaby is the harrowing story of Helene Hannemann, an Aryan German woman who married a Gypsy violinist, Johann, and had five beautiful children. The family is living in Germany in the early 1940's and despite the hatred that was spewed on Johann and Helene by racist Germans and Nazis the Hannemann's had lived a fairly normal life up until World War II. At the time that the war breaks out Helene is the sole provider for the family and works as a nurse while her husband Johann looks for a job.

One fateful day, while on the way to taking her children to school, Helene is confronted by SS guards and told that they have come to take her husband and children away. She has heard rumors of the concentration camps but had hoped up until this point that her family could somehow survive the war undetected. Now her worst fears are materializing right in front of her. Helene, being of pure Aryan blood, spares her but she chooses to stay by her husband and children and the family is immediately taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Auschwitz Lullaby goes into great detail of the horrors that the Hannemann family endures while traveling to Auschwitz and their stay there. Johann is immediately taken away to a separate work camp and Helene is forced to protect her five young children and do everything she can to survive. Her being Aryan, and being a nurse, she gets a job at the medical barracks and a particular doctor, Herr Doctor Mengele, takes a liking to her and puts her in charge of a kindergarten that he is wanting to create inside the camp. This bides her and her family time but as you get closer and closer to the end of the book you wonder if Helene and her children will survive Auschwitz and the war.

This the first story I've read by Mario Escobar and I have to say that I am incredibly impressed. He puts you in that concentration camp with Helene and her children. You feel the anguish that Helene feels when she watches her friend choose to clutch the electrified fence and commit suicide and the torment of watching children waste away or being taken away to their deaths. You can see the meanger bits of food that was provided to sustain the Gypsies, visualize their bones protruding from their fragile frames, feel the hatred that was spewed on the inmates by the SS guards, and can almost smell the sickening smell of burning flesh.

Helene Hannemann's story is a true story and almost every event in the story did in fact happen to her and her children. Helene is the narrator of this heartbreaking tale but the journal that she supposedly wrote, of which this book is based off of, is false. This is the author's interpretation of what he believes Helene might have written based on several reliable sources and I believe he's done a wonderful job. As a mother myself, I hope I would've done what Helene did to protect her children from this deplorable place and even though she is long gone I commend her for her bravery in the face of utter darkness.

To say that I highly recommend this book is an understatement. Auschwitz Lullaby is a pained history that everyone should know, a true tale about a woman who did everything she could to protect her children in one of the evilest places ever to have been created.

*I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson and NetGalley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. All opinions are my own. ( )

Entre los papeles encontrados del doctor nazi Joseph Mengele hay un diario escrito en cuadernos infantiles de una mujer llamada Helene Hanneman. Se trata de una enfermera alemana casada con un hombre gitano, deportada en la primavera de 1943 al Campo Gitano de Bikernau Auschwitz II. En el diario, Helene describe los dieciséis meses de su estancia en el Campo de Exterminio. Helena está a punto de despertar a sus hijos para que vayan al colegio cuando un grupo de policías irrumpe en su casa. Los policías quieren llevarse a su esposo y a sus cinco hijos gitanos. Según la orden del 16 de diciembre de 1942, firmada por el líder de las SS Heinrich Himmler, todos los gitanos pertenecientes a los territorios conquistados por los nazis deben ser encerrados en campos de concentración. La policía le dice a Helene que ella, como alemana, no tiene que acompañarles, pero decide compartir el destino de su familia. Tras convencer a sus hijos de que van a un lugar de vacaciones, para que estén tranquilos, toda la familia es deportada a Auschwitz.

3.5 Stars

CW: Horrific experiments done on children. Many deaths in the concentration camp. Suicide

This emotional story is a testament to the strength of a mother’s unwavering love for her children.

This novel is based on the real story of Helene Hannermann, a German nurse and mother of five. Her husband was Johann Hanstein, a Romani violinist for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1943 her family were taken to Birkenau-Auschwitz concentration camp. As a German pure-blood she could have avoided internment, however, rather than be separated from her children she chose to travel with them to the concentration camp. This novel captures her harrowing story.

It’s hard to describe the experience of reading holocaust fiction based on real people. There is just a heavy sadness as you journey closer to the inexorable conclusion. It’s like it is happening too fast and too slow at the same time. The journey is so uncomfortable that you want it to be over quickly but at the same time you know the end will be devastating and your instinct is to avoid this kind of trauma.

I honestly don’t know if it is better to go in knowing her story, or to have it gradually unfold for you in this beautifully written novel. You’ll probably cry either way but I would seriously consider which is the best approach for you. This would especially apply if you are at all sensitive to the horrors of holocaust crimes/violence and the inevitable heartbreaking losses suffered by families during these dark times. ( )

134-5

3.5 stars. Had issues with the writing or at least the translation, not the story. ( )