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    The Stone Crusher: The True Story of a Father and Son's Fight for Survival in Auschwitz
    The Stone Crusher: The True Story of a Father and Son's Fight for Survival in Auschwitz
    The Stone Crusher: The True Story of a Father and Son's Fight for Survival in Auschwitz
    Audiobook13 hours

    The Stone Crusher: The True Story of a Father and Son's Fight for Survival in Auschwitz

    Written by Jeremy Dronfield

    Narrated by Christopher Lane

    5/5

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    About this audiobook

    In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholsterer in Vienna, was arrested by the Nazis. Along with his 16-year old son Fritz, he was sent to Buchenwald in Germany, where a new concentration camp was being built. It was the beginning of a five-year odyssey almost without parallel. They helped build Buchenwald, young Fritz learning construction skills which would help preserve him from extermination in the coming years. But it was his bond with his father that would ultimately keep them both alive. When the 50-year old Gustav was transferred to Auschwitz—a certain death sentence—Fritz was determined to go with him. His wiser friends tried to dissuade him—“If you want to keep living, you have to forget your father,” they said. But that was impossible, and Fritz pleaded for a place on the Auschwitz transport. “He is a true comrade,” Gustav wrote in his secret diary, “always at my side. The boy is my greatest joy. We are inseparable.” Gustav kept his diary hidden throughout his six years in the death camps—even Fritz knew nothing of it. In it he recorded his story, a tale of survival and a father-son bond which proved stronger than the machine that sought to break them both.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJul 1, 2018
    ISBN9781543677812
    The Stone Crusher: The True Story of a Father and Son's Fight for Survival in Auschwitz
    Author

    Jeremy Dronfield

    Jeremy Dronfield is a biographer, historian, novelist and former archaeologist. He is the author of the forthcoming middle-grade narrative nonfiction book The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz: A Story Retold, and his recent adult nonfiction titles include Dr. James Barry: A Woman Ahead of Her Time, a Sunday Times Book of the Year. He lives in England. 

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    Reviews for The Stone Crusher

    5/5

    86 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Great historical timeline,I wanted so badly to put it down but the truth kept me listening.
    • 5/5
      It is simply amazing that father and son survived all the Nazis threw at them. Tremendous love and devotion to each other throughout their ordeal. The writing is excellent and the reader superb.
    • 5/5
      Such a wonderful book of a horrible time. A testament to the human spirit of those who survived and helped others survive.
    • 5/5
      excellent narration and reading. Written in a matter-of-fact way which is more akin to a historical record or wikipedia page than an an autobiography with emotional prose.
    • 5/5
      Great book listen to beneath a scarlet sky to get another view of what it was like to be a Jew great book as well
    • 4/5
      My favorite part was the relationship and strong bond between father and son. In addition the resilience and will to survive. The torment and brutal treatment of Jewish prisoners is detailed and makes the reader feel that they are living to horror of the Nazi rein.
    • 4/5
      The Stone crusher : the true story of a father and son fight for survival in auschwitz by jeremy Dronfield (Scribd audiobook)

      In 1939, Gustav Kleinman and his son Fritz were sent to still in construction Buchenwald concentration Camp from the home in Vienna. Gustav and 17 year old Fritz would be part of the forced labor that build the concentration Camp. Fritz learning the construction Trade as they went abd Gustav being able to use his upholdester training to quickly learn other skills.

      They would spend the next six years in concentration camps, they relied on their love for one another to get Them through the awlful existence. This book was also written using the journal Gustav managed to conceal and add to through out the six years.

      A true testament to the love of a parent to his child and Vice versa.