Reads for International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Hello, librarian friends. 

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the end of the Holocaust and marking the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. 

Below are some current and upcoming titles to help remember, learn, and heal.

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The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku: In this uplifting memoir in the vein of The Last Lecture and Man’s Search for Meaning, a Holocaust survivor pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story, sharing his wisdom, and living his best possible life.
On sale May 4th
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The Light of Days by Judy Batalion: One of the most important stories of World War II, already optioned by Steven Spielberg for a major motion picture: a spectacular, searing history that brings to light the extraordinary accomplishments of brave Jewish women who became resistance fighters—a group of unknown heroes whose exploits have never been chronicled in full, until now.
On sale April 6th
Request the egalley and audiobook egalley on Edelweiss+
Request the egalley on NetGalley
Request the audiobook egalley on NetGalley

The Note Through the Wire by Doug Gold: Praised as an "unforgettable love story" by Heather Morris, New York Times bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, this is the real-life, unlikely romance between a resistance fighter and prisoner of war set in World War II Europe.
On sale March 16th
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The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris: This beautiful, illuminating tale of hope and courage is based on interviews that were conducted with Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz-Birkenau tattooist Ludwig (Lale) Sokolov—an unforgettable love story in the midst of atrocity.
Available now

 

Our Darkest Night by Jennifer Robson:
To survive the Holocaust, a young Jewish woman must pose as a Christian farmer's wife in this unforgettable novel from USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Robson—a story of terror, hope, love, and sacrifice, inspired by true events, that vividly evokes the most perilous days of World War II.
Available now

 

The Children's Train by Viola Ardone: Based on true events, a heartbreaking story of love, family, hope, and survival set in post-World War II Italy—written with the heart of Orphan Train and Before We Were Yours—about poor children from the south sent to live with families in the north to survive deprivation and the harsh winters.
Available now

 

The Brothers of Auschwitz by Malka Adler: An extraordinary novel of hope and heartbreak, this is a story about a family separated by the Holocaust and their harrowing journey back to each other.
Available now

 

 

 

The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton: The New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Exiles conjures her best novel yet, a pre-World War II-era story with the emotional resonance of Orphan Train and All the Light We Cannot See, centering on the Kindertransports that carried thousands of children out of Nazi-occupied Europe—and one brave woman who helped them escape to safety.
Available now

 

The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz by Jeremy Dronfield: The #1 Sunday Times bestseller—a remarkable story of the heroic and unbreakable bond between a father and son that is as inspirational as The Tattooist of Auschwitz and as mesmerizing as The Choice.
Available now

The Most Precious of Cargoes by Jean-Claude Grumberg: Set during the height of World War II, a powerful and unsettling tale about a woodcutter and his wife, who finds a mysterious parcel thrown from a passing train.
Available now

 

The Survivors by Adam Frankel: A memoir of family, the Holocaust, trauma, and identity, in which Adam Frankel, a former Obama speechwriter, must come to terms with the legacy of his family’s painful past and discover who he is in the wake of a life-changing revelation about his own origins.
Available now

 

The Art of Resistance by Justus Rosenberg: 100-year-old literature professor Justus Rosenberg escaped the Holocaust and spent four daring years in the French Underground during World War II. Now he finally writes his own unforgettable epic. 
Available now

 

50 Children by Steven Pressman: Based on the acclaimed HBO documentary, the astonishing true story of how one American couple transported fifty Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Austria to America in 1939—the single largest group of unaccompanied refugee children allowed into the United States—for readers of In the Garden of Beasts and A Train in Winter.
Available now

 

And After the Fire by Lauren Belfer: The New York Times bestselling author of A Fierce Radiance and City of Light returns with a new powerful and passionate novel—inspired by historical events—about two women, one European and one American, and the mysterious choral masterpiece by Johann Sebastian Bach that changes both their lives.
Available now

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Please click here for additional titles.
Find additional Holocaust Literature.
Find additional Holocaust Nonfiction.

-LLF