Author Stories Podcast Episode 904 | Jeremy Dronfield Interview


Today’s author interview guest is Jeremy Dronfield, author of The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz: A True Story of Family and Survival.

“Brilliantly written, vivid, a powerful and often uncomfortable true story that deserves to be read and remembered. It beautifully captures the strength of the bond between a father and son.”–Heather Morris, author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz

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.

Where there is family, there is hope

In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholster from Vienna, and his sixteen-year-old son Fritz are arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Germany. Imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp, they miraculously survive the Nazis’ murderous brutality.

Then Gustav learns he is being sent to Auschwitz—and certain death.

For Fritz, letting his father go is unthinkable. Desperate to remain together, Fritz makes an incredible choice: he insists he must go too. To the Nazis, one death camp is the same as another, and so the boy is allowed to follow.

Throughout the six years of horror they witness and immeasurable suffering they endure as victims of the camps, one constant keeps them alive: their love and hope for the future.

Based on the secret diary that Gustav kept as well as meticulous archival research and interviews with members of the Kleinmann family, including Fritz’s younger brother Kurt, sent to the United States at age eleven to escape the war, The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is Gustav and Fritz’s story—an extraordinary account of courage, loyalty, survival, and love that is unforgettable.

Jeremy Dronfield was born in Wales. After completing a doctorate in archaeology at Cambridge, he began writing fiction. His first novel, The Locust Farm, was shortlisted for the John Creasey Memorial award for debut crime fiction. His subsequent novels include the critically acclaimed The Alchemist’s Apprentice. He also has a parallel career as a ghostwriter and non-fiction author.

You can find information and news about Jeremy and his books at www.jeremydronfield.com.

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