It’s my spot on the Thread Books On Tour for The Stable Boy of Auschwitz by Henry Oster and Dexter Ford. It’s also publication day for the book! So thanks to Thread Books for the gifted ebook in exchange for my honest review today.

“I found myself in the Auschwitz stables, and I felt an ember of hope. If I could make myself useful, helping these horses, maybe I could stay alive.”

In the darkest moment of history, one child found the courage and strength to survive the unimaginable. This is Henry’s true story.

One hot, humid day in July, 1943, the Gestapo abducted fifteen-year-old Henry and his mother, forcing them onto cramped cattle cars in the Łódź Polish Ghetto. Like so many Jews before them, they had been selected to disappear – they were being sent to Auschwitz.

Exhausted after hours of traveling, they finally emerged from the stifling, filth-ridden cattle car. Already devastated at having lost his father to starvation, Henry clutched his mother’s frail hand, knowing she was all he had left in the world, and that he was the only one left to protect her. In a flash, he felt them being brutally torn apart.

Crying out for her, his heart shuddered as he watched her disappear into a sea of other women. Henry knew that was the last time he would ever see her, and he felt like he had failed her. He was now completely alone in the world.

Starving and close to giving up all hope, Henry volunteered to work in the stables, responsible for breeding horses for the war effort. As he watched other prisoners leave and never return, Henry quickly realised these horses were his only lifeline – because every morning he was sent to the stables, was one more morning he escaped the gas chambers.

Before long, caring for the horses became a passion, and their comfort and strength gave Henry a glimmer of life and hope in an ocean of death. Although with every second that passed, Henry knew if he became too weak or made one mistake, he would be mercilessly replaced…

This is the heart-wrenching and inspirational true account of a courageous little German boy who, against all odds, after losing almost everything a human being can lose, survived to tell his story.

A true memoir of Henry Oster, a young German Jew who witnessed first hand the rise of Hitler and all that followed. I have an interest in history, to the point that I studied A Level History and we learned all about both World Wars. So I am very aware of Hitler and everything associated with him.

Henry Oster’s story actually felt like it had torn my heart out of my body and stamped on it. It was written so well that I felt like I was personally feeling everything that. Henry experienced. I have to say that I don’t know own if I could have survived all that he did and make a life for himself after all this.

What sets The Stable Boy Of Auschwitz apart from other books I have read, is that we learn of Henry’s life before the family is sent to the camps. How their life in Cologne was. Each member of his family become a whole lot more than just characters in a book. This leads to such a personal journey, for the reader too.

Even through the brutality and horrors of Henry’s time in Auschwitz, he did find glimpses of kindness shown by some of the SS officers. The fact that he brings this to his memoir, just shows how much of an example of a strong and resilient human being he is. I can’t say whether I would have been able to highlight any kindness shown to me by the Nazi’s after what they did to Henry and his family. He is a better human being than I, that’s for sure.

This book should be read by every child in secondary schools across the U.K. it’s harrowing and emotional, but it’s also awe-inspiring and quite the reality check. I am just so glad I read this book. Henry’s story shines a light on the survivors of these atrocities and how they survived the aftermath, too.