Both heart breaking and yet uplifting, this book left me in tears but happy. The story is based on fact, so that makes it even more poignant. I loved how the author made you deeply understand the way the main character fought to save the children she loved. This book may leave you feeling wrecked emotionally, but it’s worth it.

A beautiful, heartbreaking written story about people at their best and worst and the strength of one women's hope!!

In 1943 Germany, Hitler's Nazis are not just rounding up Jewish people, but Gypsies as well. Helene Hannemann is a German, a perfect Aryan, but she is married to a gypsy and when the police show up at her door, they want to take her husband and their five children to a work camp. Helene does not have to go, but she won't leave her children. The entire family is deported to Auschwitz, with her husband being sent to the men's camp, Helene and her children remaining together in a barracks, first with Russians women who treat her badly, then moved to a barracks with Polish women and children. A few days later, Doctor Mengele visits her and offers her a position to head up a nursery/school. Barrack 29 and Barrack 31, one a nursery for newborn infants and the other for children over six years old are set up and equipped with school supplies, play things, heat and extra food. Helene, two Polish Jewish prisoners and four gypsy mothers, organize the buildings and staff them. For a few hours a day, the children escape the crowded, cold and unsafe conditions. For sixteen months, Helene lives with this reality, desperately trying to find a way to save her children. Auschwitz Lullaby is a story of perseverance, hope, and strength in one of the most horrific times in history.

I have read many books set during WWII, but this was one of the most heart-wrenching stories I read, made even worse by the fact that it is based on a true story. Helene was an amazing person. The love, bravery, strength, perseverance, hope and uplifting personality under such terrible situations was amazing. Above all else, she was a mother. She was determined to save as many children in the camp that she could. Mario Escobar did a lot of research to make this book as realistic as possible, which means it was not an easy read. The story was well written and paced and had me constantly reaching for tissues. Dr. Mengele was evil personified, yet tried to appear different. The ending has me a sobbing mess, so just a heads up. It is important that you read the author's notes as it shares his inspiration (Helene) as well as the innumerable gypsies that were killed. He challenges us: “It’s up to you, dear reader, and your love for truth and justice. Help me to tell the world the story of Helene Hannemann and her five children.” One thing I like about Historical Fiction is that I often learn about things that have happened that I did not know about before, in this book it was the plight of the Romany people as well as Helene's story. I have to mention the dedication in this book: “To the more than twenty thousand ethnic Gypsies who were imprisoned and exterminated in Auschwitz and to the quarter million murdered in the forests and ditches of Northern Europe and Russia.” Something to think about.

Absolutely amazing story, bringing light to a group that is often overlooked in popular narrative about the Holocaust. Heartrending and compelling, but absolutely an important book to include in your reading list this year.

It's 1943 Germany, Helene's gypsy husband and their five children are being taken away from her and their home. She is told she does not have to go with them, but she wants to be with her family so she goes along to Auschwitz. She is a nurse so Mengele has her run a school for Gypsy children. While I have read quite about bit on the Holocaust, this was new for me. I had not read anything related to the Gypsies who was put into concentration camps. I knew they were put into them, but this is my account of what things were like for that group of people. I typically read non-fiction and Plan to find a non-fiction book on the Gypsies in Auschwitz to know more. I gave this a solid 5 star review

5 stars!

The most powerful story I have ever read about a mother’s love. I am forever changed by this book.

Helene Hannemann is a loving wife, a nurse and mother of five young children. One morning in 1943, she leaves her apartment to take her four oldest children to school when she is stopped by the German police. She is told she can stay back since she is German, but they have orders from the SS to bring her husband and children into custody immediately, as they are considered “Gypsies”. Devastated, she refuses to leave her family and joins them on the harrowing journey to Auschwitz. There, she is separated from her husband and forced to live in deplorable conditions. While living in Auschwitz, Helene is given the opportunity to create and manage a children’s school. She feels this is an opportunity to give hope and comfort to the young minds living in such dreadful and appalling conditions.

The writing was exquisite. The characters were endearing and unforgettable. The story was heart-wrenching and life changing. I was entranced by every word. I read a lot of WWII novels and this is a definite standout novel in the genre.

This story is shockingly based on real events. When I read the Author’s Note and found out that Helene was a real person, my crying turned to uncontrollable sobbing. I have deep admiration and respect for how she endured her situation. She got to my heart. I fell in love with her and her family from page one. I will never forget her story. It was an honour and inspiration to read about her bravery and strength. I am grateful that the author, Mario Escobar, has written this novel so that Helene will be known and remembered by so many.

This was a Traveling Sisters read that we all felt deeply affected by.

What a beautiful story. It was beyond well-written and well researched. When reading this book you can tell how much time ad love this author poured into his work.

Helene Hannemann was a real German who loved and married a Gypsy man. Her marriage was looked down and judged by society. The author does these real people justice in his work.

This book was truly amazing. Reading this book was a true experience. I enjoy WWII novels and it especially moves my heart to read books set around the camps. I cried every time.

I understand the hype about this one because it is very interesting to learn more about the Gypsy experience during the Holocaust and Dr. Mengele. However, I couldn't get myself as into the story as i wanted to. Sometimes the pacing felt a bit off and Helene could have used stronger characterization. However, I still liked the story!

I love me some history and reading about the Holocaust is something that intrigues me so when I was approved to read this, I was super excited to start. It has been an extremely long time since I have read a book that I have cried so much in, from beginning to end. My heart was so heavy after reading the final pages. To know that, while fictionalized from a true story, this is what happened to so many families. This was how their lives took a turn for the worse and how they ended. Definitely recommend!


I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are of my own basis.

I haven't read much historical fiction in the 1940s that focused on the persecution of the Romani people during WWII, so I was definitely intrigued to learn more. (I was hoping for a little overlap with "The Tattooist of Auschwitz" since the MC in that story had interactions in Birkenau with the Romani, but no luck.)

It was alright. The first person voice felt a little forced at times and even contradictory, and I was a bit disappointed to find out that the "journal" Helene kept wasn't factual. I was really hoping for some actual snippets in her voice, which would have been incredibly special. (Although I understand that would have also been extremely rare.) I do appreciate what this story is trying to do and highly respect the efforts to preserve and represent those who suffered during that awful time. I will certainly be on the lookout for more historical fiction along this same thread

Based on true events and people from the tragedy of the Holocaust, this book was one I couldn’t put down. The book starts with Mengele on a plane to South America, post war, picking up a journal scooped up from Auschwitz with his papers. The rest of the book tells the life of Helene, an Aryan, (and her five children) held in the Auschwitz gypsy camp for having been married to a gypsy, from that journal. The fact that it’s based on a true story makes it even more heart-wrenching, particularly how her story concludes. That she should have faced imprisonment as a result of who she loved, and the humanitarian acts she performed through the cruelty of the camp, is hard to comprehend and impossible to ignore. I highly recommend anyone with an interest in this period of history picks this book to read. Even if the reader doesn’t know about Auschwitz, or Mengele, this wouldn’t be a disadvantage as enough detail is given throughout to form an impression of the terrible events typical of the time and place. Many thanks to Netgalley and publisher for the opportunity to review a digital copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

Helene Hannemann was a real life German woman who fell in love with and married a Gypsy man even though her society looked down on intermarriage. Then, because she did not want to be separated from her husband and five children, she made a decision to go with her family to the camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When Dr. Josef Mengele came to the camp under the pretense of furthering research for the safety of the German, Jewish and Gypsy peoples Helene was sought out and asked to direct a children's nursery school. For two years she worked tirelessly to protect her children and the children of the camp from the Nazi hatred.

Guys, I just finished this book... and all I can think of are the facts. If you are looking for a book with a joyous ending, this is not it. There is joy within it but only because of love that existed within Helene and the women that worked with her to create a safe place for the children of Auschowitz. Even then, though, the reality of the suffering still rings through. People died at the hand of Dr. Mengele and his tests. People died from starvation and disease. They died because of the hatred of a movement. And even though I read books like this frequently and with the understanding that these are real events this book touched on something that many of the other books that I have read recently about the Holocaust have not. So many people found freedom but many did not--Escobar does an excellent job bringing to life Helene Hannemann and the Gypsy families stories.

This is an excellent and sobering book.

I finished reading Auschwitz Lullaby and it broke me. I sobbed at the end which is really to be expected from a WWII book about children but it was so powerful. I had been looking around through lists of books that will make you cry but I found that I had read most of them already but I stumbled on Auschwitz Lullaby on Amazon and knew it would bring out all the feels. It didn’t let me down. If you can handle those deep emotional reads it’s absolutely a book you should be picking up immediately.

I received a complimentary copy of this book last year from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Going into reading Auschwitz Lullaby, I had no idea what kind of story would be told here, I just knew the title really intrigued me when I saw it on NetGalley. From the title alone, I could tell it would be a story about the most ruthless Nazi death camp, but the angle Escobar took on this type of story was truly fascinating. This is a spoiler-free review, and I encourage historical fiction readers to pick up this quick, but highly effective novel.

Escobar's take on the Holocaust story is truly fascinating because this novel follows not a Jewish lead character but an Aryan German Christian woman who goes to Auschwitz with her husband and children. In school, I only ever learned about Jewish prisoners in concentration and death camps, never about any of the other non-Ayran victims of Hitler's evils, so this book taught me so much about another layer of the Holocaust I didn't really know existed. It's important to note that this is a fictional work, but Helene was actually a real person and most of the events are as accurate as Escobar could make them based off of journal entries and witness resources. Helene's husband is a Gypsy, which makes their children Gypsies as well, so when the Nazi's try to separate them, Helene refuses to leave her family's side in an act of profound bravery and strength. She didn't know they'd be sent to the deadliest concentration camp in Germany, but the important thing was that she stayed with her children. The light in the dark comes from Helene's school for the children in Auschwitz. We see a slightly humane side of the Nazi doctor running the infirmary of the Gypsy camp when he offers this position to Helene and promises to keep the children well fed. The children have an escape from the devastation of disease and death of the camp, though that doesn't really make them forget where they are. Escobar somehow created a heartbreaking and heartwarming story in this novel about Auschwitz and I was impressed by the blend of both feelings I was left with at the end.

I have read many fictionalized and historical accounts of the Holocaust and the concentration camps. Helene Hannemann and her family were real people. This story, fictionalized, examines the plight of the Roma or Gypsies under Nazi brutality. So well written one can visualize the settings.

Thank you to the publisher, the author, and to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my candid review of this book.

I would rate this book a solid 3.5 stars. It was a meaningful story in that it is a true story of a German woman who accompanied her Gypsy family to Auchwitz to be with her family. The story of Helen is a star story. She was an Aryan German woman who had married a Gypsy man and who had 5 children in Germany. She, like others, was caught up in the Nazi Aryan machine and decided to stay with her Gypsy husband and children when they were sent to stay in the Gypsy camp at Auchwitz. It is an amazing story.

The telling is somewhat amateurish and overdone. Her story deserved a better rendering. I just found the writing to be overly simplistic and morally monochromatic.

This moving true story, gave a me new prospective on Auschwitz. A beautiful family, of mostly gypsy descend, forced into the concentration camps. The mom, of Arian descend, whom will not be separated from her family, receives a bit of a special treatment. From interactions with the horrible Dr. Mendele, to developing a nursery school in the ashes, this book was completely captivating!
Thank you NetGalley for the e-copy. All opinions are my own.

Excerpt from Review: "...The emotions brought about by reading Auschwitz Lullaby is a testimony to the excellent writing by Mario Escobar, bringing Helene Hannemann to life and making us feel the pain and anguish she felt while imprisoned in Auschwitz. An excellent piece of historical fiction based on fact that everyone should read."

Life for Helene and her family in Berlin in 1943 is a not an easy one. Helene herself is of German Aryan blood, but she is married to a gypsy making their five children half gypsy. They live their life day by day, going to work and listening for the sound of heavy work boots on their steps, the sound of the Nazi police. They can only hope that living a quiet life will leave them unnoticed.
One day when Helene is walking the older children out the door and down the steps to school they hear the dreaded boots on the stairs. The Nazi police greet them on the stairs and accompany them back into their apartment. They have orders to collect the gypsies in the home, Helene’s husband and children. “But don’t worry,” they tell Helene, “you are of Aryan blood, you may stay.” Of course, Helene will not allow her family to be drug off without her, so she packs up her family’s clothes, tells the children they are going on vacation, and they comply with the officers.
After a long and miserable ride in the now infamous cattle cars, they are finally in Auschwitz and Helene and the children are placed in the gypsy section of the camp. Shortly after their arrival Mengele arrives and asks her to be director of the new nursery and kindergarten in the camp where the children will have better food, games, films, etc.
For the short time these facilities were open in the camp, Helene and her assistants did the best they could to make the lives of the children just a little better.

Historical fiction surrounding WWII is one of my favorite genres to read. I have read many books from this genre and have many more on my TBR just waiting to get read. I feel awkward saying that I enjoy these books, that they are ‘good’, because the subject matter is just so horrific and sad to read. I find them to be fascinating, pulling me in and making me want to learn more the more I read.
Auschwitz Lullaby is a heart-breaking story about the love a mother had for her family regardless of the consequences to herself. Helene continued to show extreme courage and bravery throughout her stay in the camp not only for her own family but for all the imprisoned children.
Additionally, this story shows the brutal reality of the day to day life in the camp for the prisoners. The barracks were in inhospitable on the best of days, not to mention in the harsh winter months. The food rations were a joke, watery soup and a piece of stale bread. The nursey and kindergarten set up my Mengele was comparably nice, but it really was just a holding center for the children heading into his horrific experiments.
It is hard to even imagine what it was like in these camps, but Escobar did a great job bringing Helene’s story to life. I think it is important that these stories are brought to life for others to experience and learn from and to help these brave people to continue to live on.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.