This is a very powerful, emotional read about a boy who survived the Nazi death camps. It's a personal, must read memoir for human beings and lovers of historical books worldwide. I just managed to hold my tears back but I honestly recommend reading this book. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

Henry was a German Jew which later helped him with getting certain jobs during his time at Auschwitz. He was first taken to a ghetto at age 12. He watched his father pass away while there. He managed to save himself & his mother while hiding in an attic instead of being transported to Auschwitz. The soldiers had ways of tricking these starved Jews into thinking life is better if you get in this line only to find out is was a transportation line to Auschwitz. Once arrived there his mother went straight to the gas chambers. He manged to survive to tell his story so we can not repeat the awful events again.

I just could not stop reading this beautiful, heartbreaking book. I think it took me about 4 hours to finish it. I went in expecting something completely different from what it is. I actually went into it kind of blind because I love WW2 fiction, so I knew I wanted to read it based on the title and cover alone.

The things that Henry Oster had to go through in his lifetime were absolutely horrendous and unfair. And this is a memoir. SO MANY people went through these same things. Too many.

I feel such a close connection to the people mentioned and Henry himself, within these 4 hours I've been reading. Amazing way of setting this up for us to read about his life and the brutal, ugly truth of what Jews had to go through during the war.

Although this is not fiction, I would recommend it to anyone who does enjoy Jewish fiction/WW2 fiction based on the holocaust because it was a smooth, easy read with some interesting facts in it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this arc. ❤️

“I was alive. That was about it. I didn’t see very much to thank God about, frankly. If there was anyone to thank for my survival, after all those years of angst and starvation, it was me. Just this little old wise guy, all of sixteen years old, Heinz Adolf Oster.”

Absolutely everything about this book pulled me in: the eye-catching cover, the compelling origins of the story, and the beautiful prose which carried the heartbreaking reality. It made me see the reality 1000s of children faced under the cruel hand of the Nazis.

This story is about a boy, who against insurmountable odds, survived to tell his story and inspire others with his courage and faith.

B7648. He wasn’t always known by this number.

To those who loved him, he was a little Jewish boy from Cologne named Heinz Adolf Oster.

Right from his first day of school in 1934, Heinz learned that he was different and soon he began to see the world as a more dangerous place. He was certainly never the same again.

“It’s hard to frighten a boy after he’s faced starvation, disease, brutality and, in my case, a machine-gun firing squad. We were the strong ones, the ones who had survived.”

I held back the tears at the reason he gave for not sharing his Holocaust experience for 65 years, at how he treated his bullet wounds, at hearing about the most humane thing a German ever did for him, at understanding the fear he faced at shower time, at what it was like to hear the words ‘Ihr seit fray,’ to realize that nobody wanted him - “nobody on the entire planet really cared about you.” I can’t imagine.

I felt like I was in Henry’s optometrist’s office listening to his traumatic ordeal. He captured my attention and held it until the last sentence. I’ve read many, many Holocaust fiction books, but THIS ONE felt like someone who was actually there was sharing WITH me. It was as if I was witnessing Kristallnacht through my own eyes. It was so much more powerful. The photos added to my emotional response; many I’d seen before, but I’d never seen a SS file card or a medical identity card.

“Within a month of his taking power in 1933, Hitler had already established Dachau, the first concentration camp, on the outskirts of Munich, the home of the Nazi revolution, to imprison anybody who had the courage to oppose him.”

For some reason, this sentence above gave me pause. I’d NEVER realized how quickly Hitler’s plan came into being; how he wasted no time in turning Germany into a ‘Jew-hating police state.”

I will not complain about a poor night’s sleep ever again after hearing about his sleeping for ten years on bare wood. Furthermore, I can’t wait to get back to Cologne and see the Oster stumbling blocks. I have been aware of them in our travels but had no connection to them until now.

Historical fiction lovers, this personal memoir is a must-read.

I was gifted this copy by Thread Books and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

The Stable Boy of Auschwitz is a moving account of Henry Oster’s experience while a prisoner at a Nazi war camp. Though many WWII books have been written, his honest account of his experience brought forward new details I was not aware of. Though I did not prefer how political it got from the very beginning, it was still an overall good read.

Any time I see the word "Auschwitz" in a book title, I pause to see if I think I can visit that place again, but I am so glad I read this book. The voice of Henry Oster is compassionate and comforting, even while enduring unimaginable and barely survivable situations. Throughout this book I felt I was visiting with a friend or family member who was sharing their life with me, and educating me on world situations and attitudes that we have mostly forgotten. Dr. Oster's story should be required reading for everyone.

This is one of the most well written and most moving pieces of Holocaust testimony that I have read. I wasn't aware of the stable situation at Auschwitz so learning about that other side of Nazi history and their treatment of animals along with the treatment of people who they considered to be "other" was fascinating. Henry really dove deep into his memory which I commend him for digging up those traumatic horrific events time and and time again in order to educate today's society with what not to do to one another. His bravery and youthful maturity is awe-inspiring. Thank you so much for this advance copy so that I could read Henry's story and now go share it with others while I point them towards this memoir for his beautiful words of hope in a time of horror.

Despite the grimness associated with any writings about concentration camps, WWII, Nazism, etc., this book by Henry Oster was almost upbeat in his written depiction of life in Germany before 1933, then fear and deprivation in Cologne between Hitler coming into power and removing Jewish rights as citizens, before forcibly being deported to the Polish ghetto of Lodz, and finally in his being in four different concentration camps, all before he was 16 years of age! He fully acknowledged the depravity of his Nazi captors and his many close encounters with death while being in camps or being taken from one camp to another, sometimes by train, sometimes via Death March. He was one of the earliest confined group of Jewish children taken to Auschwitz and one of the very few survivors come 1945.

Despite everything he had been through in Europe during WWII, some of the saddest reminiscences came here in the US, where he emigrated to live with an aunt and uncle. Since he had little formal education, he worked hard to not only get his high school graduation, but also to help his aunt and uncle, who were poor. He made it through USC and wanted to be admitted to dental school at USC, but then-current anti-Semitic attitudes made it impossible for him to be admitted despite great grades. However, he persevered, went to a different school in a different field, and ended up teaching at that college for years! It is hard to imagine people being treated like that now, but it still happens, only not as out in the open as back in the 50's, sadly. Discrimination due to race, religion, color, sex, etc., remains with us, despite people like Henry Oster showing how ridiculous it is. The world would be a much better place with more Henry's.

My thanks to NetGalley for sending me a digital ARC of this book; all opinions are my own. But I do wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone.

This book was excellent reading. I have read many stories about Auschwitz but never one so descriptive, you could really feel the terror and no one should ever forget the despicable things that happened there.
Henry was so lucky to survive and build a new life in America.

Heartbreaking and poignant, this book was a must read. Focusing on the terrible savagery of the Nazis and the concentration camps as well as the healing while of horses.

It is easy to label WW2 as horrible, Hitler as evil, and the Nazis as depraved but it's still just that: a label; a classifying phrase. What is easily forgotten are the people behind the labels; their stories, their hardships, and their heartaches. Never is this more true than for any Jew who survived atrocities to tell their tale. 'The Stable Boy of Auschwitz' is one such tale.

Heinz Oster first experienced hate against Jews when he came home from his first day of school in 1934. A crowd of newly anointed Hitler youth decided to flex their status by taunting young children, 'I had gone to school that morning full of excitement...when I finally made it home that afternoon, the world was a much darker, more dangerous place.' Shortly thereafter, his family is forced from their comfortable, well-off surroundings into a one-bedroom hovel. That is the beginning of the tale of torment and heartache. And it's only the beginning of the war. Their plight only became worse and the war only became longer.

Heinz's story, although poignant and harrowing isn't necessarily (sadly) unique to other concentration camp survivors' tales. What I felt enriched this book was all the context set around it. The book provides information on why Hitler was so eagerly elected, as well as why, in all probability, many Jews chose to stay in Germany before the borders closed, 'if you didn't believe your leaders, you were suspect. Disloyal. A traitor. Not a true German.' It is conjectured that this was also this ethos that convinced so many Germans to follow Hitler so wholeheartedly.

Once liberation comes, the story doesn't stop. We are also given an account of the hardship of assimilation - especially for a teenage boy who'd essentially grown up as a despised Jewish prisoner and saw his immediate family members murdered, 'Imagine knowing that nobody on the entire planet really cared about you.' In spite of all the atrocities that the now-named Henry experienced, he not only survived, but he also thrived. Further, he played his part in ensuring that this piece of history is never forgotten, 'the only way for humanity to prevent a horror like the Holocaust from ever happening again is to force ourselves to look, with unblinking eyes...'

This book is a great, personal account of not only the depravity of some but also the power of resilience in others. It is also a relatively short book so you're not overwhelmed by the harrowing nature of the topic. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in WW2 non-fiction, biographies, and concentration camp survivors. Really, it is a must, so we never forget.

Thank you NetGalley and Thread books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was almost a DNF for me due to the first quarter of the book focusing on politics. That is not why I wanted to read this book. But once the story got into Mr. Oster's life and experiences, this book got much more interesting. This is written from the point of view of a German speaking Jew, which is rare.

"The Stable Boy of Auschwitz" is a touching story of a Jewish survivor of several concentration camps, Henry Oster, or rather Heinz Adolf Oster. His difficult life began with his fifth birthday and with the rise to power of Adolf Hitler. A very poignant read. The boy's father, Hans Isidor Oster, was a war veteran. He fought for Germany in the First World War. He was even decorated. He deserved praise, and meanwhile he was muddy and broken by stupid Hitler and his kin. To this day, I cannot understand how this could have happened. Did Henry's parents survive the war? Together with the main character, we will go through various camps, including Auschwitz. We can observe how young Jews fared in concentration camps during the Second World War. You will experience a heroic fight for survival. You will find out how it happened that our hero became a horseman. Was it light and pleasant work? Tears streamed down my cheeks while reading this book. I couldn't stop crying. Thanks to people like our hero, we will never forget this terrible time. Did we need the Second World War? Of course not. This book is about Jewish children and their families. Did any of our hero's family survive? The photos are a plus in this book. Some of them are very drastic. The author shows us in a drastic way how it really was. This book is not easy, but it is very necessary for the younger generations. If you like books based on facts and about the Second World War, be sure to read this one. You will find out how Henry Oster's fate unfolded while reading "The Stable Boy of Auschwitz".

This was a very readable memoir about something horrific. There are no Holocaust stories that don't have challenging moments to read, and this was no exception, but Oster's story and Ford's treatment of that story is done with a full awareness that humanity can be brutal. There are no punches pulled, but it is interesting that Oster does sometimes speak to the fact that some of the people who were hurting him and his fellows may not, in fact, have been horrible people necessarily. I'm still not sure I understand how someone could justify treating others badly even if they are themselves in a hard situation, but I have also had the luxury of never having a choice between my own life or that of a loved one and that of someone else, so who am I to judge?

There is nothing negative that I can really say about this book. It was something that I burned through quickly when I sat down to read it, and while I did have to set it aside over the holidays, it was not for a lack of desire to get back to reading the story and finding out what happened to Oster. The Holocaust Museum in DC is one that I have yet to visit, and it is on my list for the next time we travel there. After having read this and seen some of the photos that are included in the exhibit there, I would very much like to make it a priority for sure.

What I did value most here is that it was such a well crafted memoir that it read like historical fiction. So, I was able to immerse myself fully in the characters and their story in such a way that it was actually a mini surprise every time there was a photo included that reminded me this was a memoir and not fiction.

I will say that I was sad to learn that Oster had passed away, but as the book points out, fewer and fewer survivors remain alive to tell their story and remind people of the horrors of this type of elitist belief.

I received a copy of "The Stable Boy of Auschwitz" from Net Galley. Henry Oster was a Jewish child when Hitler started to take over countries in Europe during the Holocaust. His family was well to do and his dad was successful in his business. That was taken away by the time Henry was 11. He family was taken to the ghetto. He soon saw his father taken away. In a couple years his mother and Henry were taken to Auschwitz. Separated from his mother he spent the next few years trying to survive. For awhile he was a stableboy taking care of a few mares who were pregnant. He did what he had to do to survive. He was starved like all the other victims at Auschwitz. He was forced to be on a march to another place like Auschwitz. He managed to survive and eventually go to California to relatives. This is his story of the horrors of the Holocaust. I found this to be a interesting and heartbreaking book of a survivor of the horrors he endured.

The Stable Boy of Auschwitz is a remarkable true story of a childhood stolen and the will to survive against all odds. I am thankful that Henry chose to tell his story so that these atrocities may never happen again.
I have read many holocaust stories and still learned new things from this book. It can be graphic and difficult to read, heartbreaking even more perhaps because he was just a child, but it is the truth that we all need to hear. I highly recommend this book, as well as From the Holocaust to Hogan’s Heroes by Robert Clary. These were both young men that thankfully survived everything the Nazis could do to destroy them, and then went on to influence the world and us as individuals for the better.
*I received a free copy of this book from Thread Books and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

An amazing but heartbreaking read about the true story of Henry Oster, who survived Auschwitz as a young boy. Henry’s harrowing story will stay with me for a long time.

this was a beautifully done memoir on someone that was in the Holocaust and to really think about the people that were in the camps. It does what it set out to do when destroy your faith in humanity. And then build it back up again. I could tell that the authors cared about telling this story and did it respectfully but not pull any punches.