The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz by Jeremy Dronfield

 

The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz

May 4th, 2024

The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz by Jeremy Dronfield, Nonfiction 2023, 301 pages

The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz details the true story of Jewish, Austrian family during the rise and reign of Adolf Hitler during the Holocaust. The novel mainly focuses on fourteen year old Fritz Kleinmann and his father, Gustav Kleinmann, as they are taken away to Buchenwald concentration camp, and later Auschwitz concentration camp, simply for being Jewish. Fritz and his Papa witness and endure the unimaginable in the camps, not knowing if they will ever see their families ever again. Leaning on each other for support, Fritz and Papa must work together to keep themselves, and hope, alive. Jeremy Dronfield's The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz provides young adults with thorough, accessible information about the Holocaust while recounting an incredible story of loss, love, and perseverance. 

I chose to read The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz because we teach a Holocaust unit with our seventh graders. This unit is comprised of tons of nonfiction texts to build a solid base of background knowledge about the Holocaust. Additionally, we read the fable The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne assess the accuracy of its representation of the Holocaust. This novel caught my eye because I am always looking for more nonfiction texts to add to our unit. I was excited about the possibility of switching our whole class novel to a memoir or narrative style nonfiction novel--I decided to explore this new Holocaust novel many readers online were raving about! 

Teaching and Content Considerations:

I would absolutely recommend this novel to students who are in 6th grade and above who are interested in learning more about World War 2, the escalation of Anti-Semitism and the Nazi party, and the dehumanization of Jewish (and other) victims in the Holocaust. While this book could be used in literature circles, in independent reading, or studied in excerpts, I believe this book would be best utilized as a whole class novel. This "young adult friendly" version of Dronfield's existing novel is written in at very accessible reading level; students in middle school or readers in high school who read below grade level will find this a highly engaging read. Lastly, any student who enjoys novels that are true stories or rooted in nonfiction will absolutely be hooked by this book. 

Instructional Ideas

Bridging Topics: The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz not only tells the the Kleinmann's survival story, but takes great care in explaining major events and aspects of the Holocaust to its readers. Hence teachers could pair specific chapters with nonfiction articles, videos, stations, interactive websites, interviews, etc to have students further explore highlighted events and topics in the book. Specifically, teachers could focus on: The Night of Broken Glass, Hitler and the Nazi Party, the rise of anti-Semitism, Hitler's Youth, ghettos, train cars to concentration camps, life and death in Buchenwald and Auschwitz, the significance of colored triangles, resistance groups, death marches, and life after liberation. 

One Day in Auschwitz: Many students will be fascinated to read Dronfield's novel because it tells a true story. Perhaps even more students would want to hear from a Holocaust survivor in real life. However, opportunities to hear a survivor speak are becoming increasingly more rare, especially for survivors who endured labor and concentration camps like the Kleinmanns. To expand their knowledge of other survivor's stories from Auschwitz, students could watch the documentary (available on Youtube) called One Day in Auschwitz and compare Fritz's experiences to Kitty's. 

Survivor or Hero Passion Project: One theme thread throughout The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz is perseverance and fighting back against injustice. After reading the novel, students could do a passion project focusing on a different survivor or hero/resistance group during the Holocaust. The purpose of this project would be to extend students' knowledge of other individuals who fought back against the Nazis through their own survival or actions to fight for other people's survival and dignity. 

Possible Read Aloud Passages

• Page 54-55: "They all recognized that voice. It was Ludwig, Papa's friend who lived downstairs. Had he come to save them?...Ludwig ignored him. Instead, he pointed at Papa and said to Mr. Bladhoudek, 'Him. He's a Jew.'"
• Anti-Semitism continues to grow in Fritz's town as Hitler and the Nazis have taken over Austria. Close friends soon becoming enemies, outing Papa and Fritz to German authorities. This would be a great time to discuss complicity in the Holocaust (Note: the United States Holocaust Museum website has a great resource called "Some Were Neighbors" to explore this).
• Page 85: "The prisoners were each given two badges, which they had to sew on their jackets. Fritz looked at his. One had his number, 7290..."
• Fritz and his father arrive to Buchenwald concentration camp. In this scene, Fritz explains their experience of entering the camp, giving up their clothes (and hair), and being assigned barracks. Teachers could use this passage as a launching point to discuss what arrival was like in labor camps versus concentration camps (this will prepare students for when they are later transferred to Auschwitz). 
• Pages 188-189: "And that was that. As far as the SS were concerned, Papa and the others weren't Jewish anymore."
• The highest SS officers were furious to discover that many kapos and skilling laborers of the building sites were Jewish, including Fritz's father. Papa's number is called with many others and readers assume they will be shot. Instead, their yellow triangle badges are removed and replaced with red ones for "political prisoners" to keep them at their posts. Students can discuss the irony of this passage as well as aspects of dehumanization. 
• Page 256: "Papa squeezed Fritz's hand. 'Fritz, you have to go. I can't make it. I'm old, my strength is gone. Leave now--please.' Fritz couldn't resist the desperate pleading in Papa's eyes. Finally, he gave way."
• When Allied forces being to liberate concentration camps, the SS leaders of Auschwitz place Fritz and his father, along with other prisoners, on a train for a different concentration camp. Fritz's father is begging Fritz to make a run, or jump, for it off the train when the guards aren't looking. This is an excellent passage to discuss internal conflict and to analyze how this moment is different compared to other instances Fritz had the opportunity to leave his father behind. 

Thoughts and Reflections

My mind is still haunted and inspired from hearing Fritz's incredible survival story during the Holocaust. What stood out to me about this book was how it is so young adult friendly. Dronfield does such a great job breaking down the most important events and concepts of the Holocaust that evens students with minimal prior knowledge will be able to follow along. I can't wait to use this book in my own classroom!

Now that I have read The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz,  I want to read Dronfield's original version written for adults. I am curious if there are more details about Fritz' experiences that Dronfield omitted from his young adult version. I am also going to order multiple copies of this book to share with my students; I might even start to teach it!