Night by Elie Wiesel, 1960
Amongst the evil and horror, in the midst of unspeakable atrocities committed at Auschwitz, Night finds hope through the eyes of 15-year-old Elie in this incredible memoir, reminding us we are our brothers’ keepers. Not always easy to read, as gruesome scene follows gruesome scene, but read it must be. The words ‘never forget, never again’ honour Elie’s work.
The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington, 2021
The word survivors could have been created for those sent to camps during the Holocaust, but this real-life story, drawn from seamstresses who survived, tells us of 25 women and girls who sewed to survive, who were selected to design, cut, and create beautiful fashions for Nazi women whose husbands ran the most infamous of all camps – Auschwitz.
The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel, 2021
This novel is filled with sadness, love, misunderstanding and so much more. In 1942, Eva is forced to flee Paris, finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone of France. With others she forges identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. This involves erasing their true identity. In the book Epistles and Gospels, housed at the local Catholic Church, Eva preserves their names as coded entries. Decades later the book is uncovered, but only one woman knows its secrets.
Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally, 1982
Oskar Schindler was a real-life German industrialist and member of the Nazi Party who was credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jewish men, women and children by employing them in his factories in occupied Poland. As Keneally wrote in this Booker Prize-winning novel, which inspired the 1993 Steven Spielberg film Schindler’s List (and was later retitled thus): “He who saves the life of one man saves the entire world.” Despite being known as a womaniser, heavy drinker and supporter of the Nazi regime, Schindler became such a saviour.
The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku, 2020
Published as Eddie turned 100, this powerful, heartbreakingly beautiful and ultimately uplifting memoir revealed how happiness can be found even during the darkest of times. Uncomplicated, vivid, and written with the rich pure voice of Eddie who suffered through great tragedy, surviving with an unbreakable spirit, with kindness and hope of those he surrounded himself with. Eddie died aged 101 but his story lives on.
The Last train to London by Meg Waite Clayton, 2019
Meg has wonderfully captured the essence of the woman known as Tante Truss. A member of the Dutch resistance, she risked her life smuggling Jewish children out of Nazi Germany known as the Kindertransport Rescue. Based on the true story of Truus Wijsmuller, a real-life Dutch Second World War hero, this novel is simply unputdownable.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, 1950
Now a world classic, the Diary of a Young Girl remains a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and a testament of the human spirit revealed through the writing of a 13-year-old. Cut off from the outside world, hidden with her family and others in confined quarters, Anne writes a thoughtful commentary on human courage, fragility, and surprising humour in a sensitive, honest way. Her ability to express her thoughts and feelings about herself and others reveals maturity beyond her years.
Parting Words: 9 Lessons for a Remarkable Life by Benjamin Ferencz, 2020
Written by Benny at the age of 100, this humble, brilliant, loving, determined man, a prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, shares his remarkable life. The son of poor immigrant parents, Harvard Law School scholar, and soldier fighting in some of the most brutal battles of the Second World War, Benny found himself present at the liberation of the Buchenwald, Mauthausen and Flossenburg concentration camps. He subsequently became the prosecutor of 22 senior Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials. He was instrumental in creating the International Criminal Court to hold war criminals accountable the world over. Parting Words is written with love, hope and above all else, humour. His writing shows us how everything we need and want is already inside of us.
If This Is A Man by Primo Levi, 1947
No Holocaust book list should exist without mentioning at least one of Primo Levi’s truly outstanding accounts of that period of history. Primo’s account of surviving ten months in Auschwitz – published as Survival in Auschwitz in the US – is a testament to the strength of the human spirit, and the resilience and the depth of endurance so many endured. Once read, never forgotten.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, 2005
A love affair with books and words is forged by young Liesel at the graveside of her brother when she finds a book, The Gravedigger’s Handbook, and takes it. The first of many tomes she ‘steals’ – mostly books destined to be destroyed by the ruling Nazis during the Second World War. She becomes the sole survivor of her adopted family who are killed by a bomb which hits their home as she is in the basement writing her own manuscript. The novel is narrated by Death who presents Liesel with her unfinished manuscript upon their final meeting years later.
The Last Green Valley by Mark Sullivan, 2021
Inspired by the true story of German-heritage families in Ukraine at the end of the Second World War, this historical novel tells how the Martles are forced to flee the advancing Russians. Their journey takes them through war ravaged Hungary, Poland and Germany. Their quest, to reach a green valley in Montana, that they know (when they see it) will be their destiny and their home. Mark has written a story rich in history, told from memory – an epic journey of love and resilience.
- The Wish by Heather Morris (Zaffre, £20) is out now