The Stable Boy of Auschwitz tells the story of Henry Oster, one of 2,011 Jewish people from Cologne, Germany, who were taken from their homes by the German Government between 1935-1945. It's written so vividly that you can feel like you're experiencing Henry's journey. The book is disturbing in showing how cruel people can be, but, on the flip side, it highlights the resilience of the human spirit. Henry's journey is truly inspiring.

'The Stable Boy of Auschwitz' is a compelling memoir that reveals the horrors of the Holocaust through the eyes of a courageous young boy. This story of survival, amidst unimaginable adversity, is both heartbreaking and inspiring.

heartbreaking story but as always very sad to see how many children went through so many dangerous situations at such a young age.

The Stable Boy of Auschwitz is the story of a boy who survived the worst, I sometimes cannot understand how people can be so evil but after reading this book I just have less clue about why and what is their motive..

I admire Henri's strength, he is truly remarkable.

Thank you, NetGalley and Thread Books, for the advanced copy of The Stable Boy of Auschwitz in exchange for my honest review,

I have read many Memoirs of the Holocaust and as I started to read this book,I wondered if this book would tell me something about what I didn’t already know. The tone of the memoir is dispassionate but angry and I think that makes a difference in the other memoirs I’ve read. I also haven’t read many memoirs that deal with the life of the few survivors who are released from the camps. I don’t think the book otherwise taught me a great deal that I didn’t already know,but still is was very moving and I’m happy I read it.
One quibble-the title of the book is misleading as the work as a stable bot in the concentration camp is a brief portion of the book-i wouldn't say,although interesting,it was the central part of the memoirists experience.


Ps: System will not allow me to send my review to Goodreads. Tried several times with no luck.

This was a very well written, detailed account of surviving the Holocaust. I think we've heard similar stories so often in historical fiction, that I had to keep reminding myself that this was a complete nonfiction personal account of Henry. I do feel that the title was slightly deceiving, as the stables were only a very small part of the book and his story.

I love reading about holocaust survivors and WWII in general. This book was very well written and captivating.

This is the story of Henry Oster, only five years old when Hitler came into power, who lived his whole childhood under tyranny. Henry was eventually deported to Auschwitz/Berkenau as a prisoner and was “hired” as a stable boy. He was one of the few prisoners who were able to thrive (for lack of a better term) in a concentration camp.

Stories like this are so important, not only to keep history from repeating itself, but to give these survivors a voice. To tell their truths, the atrocities they witnessed, the unimaginable obstacles they overcame, and the beautiful lives they went on to lead afterwards.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gut-wrenching is generally the only way to explain the feelings of reading books surrounding the Holocaust appropriately. There are some stories that stick with you way after you read them and I think this is going to be one of those.

Reading Henry’s story was such an heartbreaking experience, this book was so gut wrenching but also so powerful. This is totally out of my comfort zone and not the type of thing I tend to read but I’m so glad that I did.

This is the true story of Henry Oster's experience living through the holocaust, from the Lodz Ghetto, to the death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. Unlike many of his age, he was a survivor, and has chosen to tell his story to the world.

I've ready many holocaust memoirs and accounts, all very heartbreaking. Like Night (Elie Wiesel), I know this one will stay with me for a lifetime. Henry Oster story is so well-written and moving, with no detail spared. Though the horrors he experienced were unimaginable, they were unfortunately his reality.

I believe this book is a must-read for everyone, not only to know and be aware of the history, but also so that history isn't repeated again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thread Books for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This true story of how a young boy survived the terror of a concentration is shocking, incredible, heartbreaking and heartwarming. To think this book arose out of one mans friendship with his optometrist is amazing. Full marks to Dexter Ford for putting it all together and Henry for opening the doors to his life.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of the book in return for an honest review.

This is a 4.5 star read. So well written and interesting. Every time I read a book about the Holocaust, I hear even more horrors, how did anyone actually survive to tell their tales. What incredible human beings to get through this impossible to comprehend time in the worlds history and be brave enough to share it with the world.

Phenomenal story of the horrors of the time that kept me hooked from the first chapter and well after I had finished, and left me feeling gut punched and heart broken. A lovely, harrowing book with deep historical significance.

Absolutely amazing read! Such a captivating read! Amazing cover art that was super eye catching would definitely recommend to all!

This was a harrowing, historically interesting read which was absolutely necessary for the world to see. A completely different section of the horrifying events of the time period, this book shone light on aspects that myself and others who read this book had no idea about. Really well written and informative. A triumph.

The Stableboy of Auschwitz
Author: Henry Oster
Genre: Memoir
Rating: No rating

On kindle unlimited!

This one was heart wrenching. I truly did not fully understand what happened in the concentration camps in Europe during WWII. I remember scratching the surface of the topic in history class, but unfortunately that was my worst subject in school. This one follows the life of Henry Oster, a German Jew, from the time Hitler took power when he was 5, all the way until his death in 2019. I highly recommend if you are interested in learning more about this time in history. There are also pictures included in the story to help you visualize the full picture.

Side note: there are some political heavy chapters at the beginning of the book. If that’s not your cup of tea, please skip those and read the rest of the story.

Read if:
* You enjoy learning about history
* You want a deeper understand of how life was like for people like Henry

Thank you to the publisher and the author for an ARC of this story.

Henry's story tore my heart to pieces to see/feel the vivid details of everything he went through. How strong he was through it all and his story about after Liberation really told the story of healing.

I can't even imagine what it was like just trying to survive to see the next day, from not having food, on a death March, violence from a firing squad, losing all of your family, to just at the whim of evil people deciding who will die. What isn't talked about as much in other books is what happened after survival. Even when the danger was over, so many people were left with no homes, family, or money.

I teared up towards the end because of how important it is to continue to tell stories like Henry's so that future generations won't forget and it truly will be "never again."

The Liberation portion of this book really connected with me talking about the Jewish American soldiers calling out in Yiddish. My husband's grandfather verbally told his story at schools and events as a Dachau Liberator for several years up until his death. Like Henry, he thought it was important to tell what he experienced as a Jewish American soldier.

I hope that this book and countless others like it stand the test of time and help remind everyone to treat everyone with kindness and respect no matter their culture or background.

Thank you to Thread Books and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this ARC for my honest review.

The Stable Boy of Auschwitz by Henry Oster and Dexter Ford Narrated by William Hope, is a personal memoirs and a heartbreaking true story of Courage and Survival by Henry Oster and Dexter Ford.
Henry Oster was just five years old when Adolf Hitler took power in 1933. He was the last survivor of the 2,011 Jews who were rounded up by the Gestapo and deported from Cologne. Assigned to back-breaking labor in the Auschwitz horse-breeding stables.
Henry, clung to the belief that if he made himself hard to replace, he might stay alive, Henry, found the strength to survive and was one of only 23 to emerge alive from the concentration camps after the WW11.

The Stable Boy of Auschwitz is the heart-breaking, mesmerising, and unforgettable true story that will destroy your faith in humanity . . . and then build it back up again.....

I highly recommend this book Story's like this should never to be forgotten and always told, as it's all our history.

The narrator William Hope was excellent for this book.

This book was originally published under the title of The Kindness of the Hangman by Dexter Ford

Big Thank you to Netgalley, Bookouture Audio, and Bookouture for allowing me to listen to the audiobook/book of The Stable Boy of Auschwitz by Henry Oster and Dexter Ford.

Received this as a free ebook ARC from NetGalley.

I love biographies and books about the Holocaust. This was a quick easy read. Once I started I couldn't put it down. Although this is a very hard topic to remember and write and read about, the author does it well. The story line is well written and easily to follow. I loved the characters and invested in their survival. The pictures were a nice gesture and well placed. I liked that they described what was happening in each photo. I love the photo and how it ties in to the story.

This is a powerful story narrated by Jewish holocaust survivor Henry Ostler, who was imprisoned as a young teenager at various camps during the second world war.

As a child Henry grew up as the only child of relatively wealthy parents in Cologne. His world was turned upside down as the family were stripped of their possessions and careers and rehoused first of all in a repurposed ghetto, sharing a single room with multiple families before being transferred to the concentration camps.

Whilst at one of the camps Henry was sent to work in the stables because the horses were accustomed to commands in German (the majority of his fellow prisioners were from other European nations so spoke Polish, Hungarian or Russian instead).

Henry's account is accompanied by a wealth of historical detail and his journey is illustrated with poignant photographs, many of which include him as a boy. A fascinating, but heartbreaking book.

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'The Stable Boy Of Auschwitz' by Henry Oster and Dexter Ford.

Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Thread Books for Henry Oster, Dexter Ford, NetGalley and Thread Books.

Publication date: 4th April 2023

This is the first book I have read by this author..


I was originally drawn to this book by its eye catching unique cover and intriguing sounding synopsis and title. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Thread. I have yet to read a book published by Thread that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).

This novel consists of an introduction, 57 chapters and an epilogue. The chapters are short to medium in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!

This book is based in Cologne, Germany, Lodz, Poland, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland, Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, Normandy and Ecouis, France, New York and LA, USA .

This book is written in first person perspective and the main protagonist is Heinz Adolf Oster/Henry Ford. The benefits of books written in first person perspective are as long as they are well written it makes you feel that you are being spoken to by the protagonist and it can create more of a bond between yourselves and them. The fact there are multiple protagonists is even better as it increases the readers knowledge of what more characters are doing and feeling.

'The Stable Boy Of Auschwitz' discusses some topics that may upset some readers or may not be suitable for others. I like to point this out ahead of time in my reviews so you can judge if this book is for you or not. In this book Henry and Dexter discusses/includes violence, persecution of the Jews, the Holocaust, Persecution, murder and death.

Well, what can I say but wow!!! This story is definitely not going to leave my head anytime soon. Firstly I must congratulate Dexter Ford and Henry Oster for an extraordinary novel that seriously needs to be made into a movie which I assure would be best selling!!! I would also like to thank Henry for telling Dexter his life story to ensure what happened is never forgotten!

This book is very powerful and extremely well written. It is devastatingly heart-breaking and beautiful at the same time. The storyline of this book is based on a true story which is another thing that drew me to read it. It is absolutely rammed with emotions that will make you smile, cry, hate and laugh on the roller-coaster ride to hell that is World War 2 and the persecution and murder of the Jews and many others. Nothing is left out and the author has done an immense amount of research and brings Henry's story to life. Dexter Ford was Dr. Henry Oster's optometry patient and is told Henry's history after he spotted the tattoo on his arm of B7648. Dexter then writes Henry's history down and turns it into this beautiful memoir of his life. I had never heard of Henry before reading this but have read 'The Violinist Of Auschwitz', 'Celia' s Journey', 'The tattooist of Auschwitz', 'The Girl Who Escaped From Auschwitz,' The Girl Who Survived' and 'The librarian of Auschwitz', among many other memoir and stories about survivors and victims of the holocaust, all of which I enjoyed so when I seen this I was intrigued to discover the ongoing of the war through another person's eyes and from a different perspective.
This book did not disappoint. Some people believe that these stories should not be written but I am a strong believer that these victims and survivors earned the right for their stories to be told and to not be forgotten and this book does just that. I loved discovering not just Henry's stories but those who surrounded them also. What they went through , the suffering they went through themselves along with seeing those suffering and being murdered around them, the conditions they were forced to live in and the horrors they were forced to watch, wwords just cannot describe the anger I felt towards those who caused them this pain and suffering, loss and heartbreak and the pain and sympathy I felt for each and every person who died and lived during this hell. This book was very hard to read as a whole but there were certain parts that will stay with me for a very long time and that we're soul destroying. What the Nazi's did to these innocent people makes me absolutely sick to my soul. I enjoyed learning about the life of not only Henry but the life's of others in the camps and people he met on his journey. My heart absolutely broke for Henry who suffered from the age of just 5 years old. I have twin sons who are 5 years old and a 10 year old and I couldn't even begin to imagine them going through anything like what Henry seen and went through. It really resonated with me and when I was reading the pages I kept picturing Malaki, Hunter and Ryder's faces and had tears streaming down my eyes constantly. After being kicked (literally) down so many times and after so many losses and heartache most people would have just given up but Henry managed to keep on going and refusing to back down. I absolutely loved watching the relationships and friendships between Henry and Ivar Segalowitz grow and develop throughout this story. There were several characters, along with Henry, that will stick in my mind for a very long time after what they did or went through. Hans Isidor Oster was Henry's father and was the first one the change in laws impacted. He was no longer allowed to work and later own a home. This broke his heart as you can see that he felt that he was letting his family down and was struggling to support them and protect them. Elizabeth Haas Oster was Henry's mother and she was forced to watch her husband suffer through these changes while struggling to do anything about it herself while also seeing their child Henry suffer. Being a parent myself what happened to these poor innocent people would be my absolute worse nightmare, especially being separated from my children not knowing, or even worse actually knowing what could happen to them next. There were two Polish brothers who I will remember for their kindness to Henry. they would give him some food even though by just doing that they could get punished or even killed themselves. We later find out why they were doing it and it is heart-breaking as they are also victims being forced to do something they want no part in. The majority of Germans were either a part of what went on or turned a blind eye. However, not all of them were as bad as others and several characters stood out in this book for me by showing kindess when they didn't have to and when it could have let to more problems and even death themselves. There was an SS soldier at the beginning of the book who stormed into Henry's family home to force his father to leave. However, when the SS man recognised Hans Isidor Oster and remembered the way that he had treated him in the past he told the other soldiers there was a mistake, giving the family some respite for a time. There was an SS soldier who ran the bakery who caught Henry stealing some bread. This soldier did shout and beat henry but later showed some kindness after speaking to him and gave him bread and a tomato. Another one of the SS officers who worked in the Admin building walked with Henry during one of the transport collections to ensure that he got back to his building "safely", well as safe as you can be in a camp!! Along with the many characters that I will remember for a long time there was also so much I learned that I never heard of before and many of which I will be doing more research into myself. Some of these events include Kristallnacht, what happened on the train to Ecouis, Henry's residence with the Rothschild and what the Germans called their Saturday night theatre. I wont go into more details about them as I don't want to give too much away about the book. I was absolutely disgusted by how Henry was treated when he finally got out of the camps and went on to try to get an education at the USC School of dentistry where the disgraceful Dr Rutherford would not even give him a chance!! One of the other things that I liked about this fantastic books and that I wanted to mention is that each chapter is named in a way that it summarises what that chapter is about. I always prefer chapters being titled rather than just numbered as it gives more characterisation tio the book. I can't say more than that though as I don't want to give anything away so you will just have to pick up a copy and see what I mean. This is just one of those books that should be read by absolutely everybody and there should be a copy in every school and educational building as Henry along with so many others should never be forgotten!!!


It is set over/includes multiple time lines. When books show what has happened in the past and what is happening in the present I find it really helps the reader (if it is well done) understand why things are happening and what has lead to the present activities and decisions. It also shows the bigger picture. I loved the modern day chapters as well as the historical ones and felt like I was being told the story over a cup of tea.

I read approximately half of this book on kindle and listened to approximately half on audio book. I must also give a huge congratulations to the narrators William Hope, Susan Oster, Dexter Ford and Henry Oster who not only brought the storyline to life by really portraying the emotions through their voices so a HUGE congratulations all!! I cannot imagine that this was anywhere near an easy feat!!! I am looking forward to discovering more books read by William Hope (main narrator) as you definitely have a perfect "book" voice!! I sometimes struggle to absorb the storyline through an audio book but if you are the same as me I can promise you will not have that problem with this amazing narrator!!

Clear your schedules and grab your tissues as you will not be able to put this book down or stop the tears from streaming!!!

Congratulations Henry and Dexter on an absolutely stunning emotional rollercoaster ride of a book!! I would say this book is is even more emotional and memorable than the likes of 'The' diary of Anne Frank'. I would like to welcome you to my favourite 3 historical author list!!!

Make sure you read to the very end of the book to read the letter from Dexter Ford and Susan Oster

Overall a heart wrenching, devastating must read memoir filled with courage, survival, love, friendship, loss, hope and so, so much more!!!


Genres covered in this novel include History, World History, Historical Fiction, Historical European Fiction, History Of The Holocaust, History Of Central Europe, History Of Poland, History Of Eastern Europe, Holocaust Biographies, Holocaust History For Young Adults, Holocaust, Biographies, Jewish Studies, Jewish Biographies & Memories, Jewish Holocaust History, Jewish History, German History, World War ll History, Historical Germany Biographies Jewish Biographies and Memoirs amongst others.


I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of 'The Tattooist of Auschwitz', 'The Lucky Ones', 'The Midwife Of Auschwitz', 'Orphan Train', Shari Ryan, Ellie Midwood, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, The Librarian of Auschwitz and anyone interested in the Holocaust and its history.


285 pages/ 6 hours and 59 minutes

This book is just 99p to purchase on kindle, free with Kindle Unlimited, £8.27 in paperback and £16 on Audiobook via Amazon, at time of review, which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!

Rated 5 /5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
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