The Stable Boy of Auschwitz: A heartbreaking true story of courage and survival

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Henry loses his father when the family is sent to the Lodz Ghetto and how he help his mother survive the first roundups of Jews sent to Auschwitz. We hear the story of daily survival and how thoughts had to center on family, then self. Common courtesies and decency are ignore when a slice of bread is all the food you have for the day or longer Before long, caring for the horses became a passion, and their comfort and strength gave Henry a glimmer of life and hope in an ocean of death. Although with every second that passed, Henry knew if he became too weak or made one mistake, he would be mercilessly replaced.... The Stable Boy of Auschwitz is a WW2 memoir, but it is different from the many others I have read. Heinz/Henry Oster and his family were Jews living in Cologne. The story begins in 1933, when he is only five years old and Hitler has just come to power. When his father dies from starvation, he is forced to take care of his mother and he proves to be a smart and resourceful young man. Henry and his mother were relocated to a Ghetto in Łódź, Poland, but they were still together. By 1943, the ghettos were being cleared out and they were moved Auschwitz. Separated upon arrival, Henry was alone and had to do whatever he could to survive. Henry, at 15, was able to get a job working in the stables with two mares who took their commands in German and of course, Henry was fluent. From the 2,011 Jewish people that had resided in Cologne before World War II only 23 survived, including Henry.

The horrors of Auschwitz haunt me every time I read about them but I feel it's the least I can endure considering what the real victims of this horrific time had to live through. Henry was one of the 2,011 Jews who were deported from Cologne, through it all, he found the strength to survive and was one of only 23 to emerge alive from the concentration camps after the war. 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.

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Crying out for her, his heart shuddered as he watched her disappear into a sea of other women. Henry knew that was the last time he would ever see her , and he felt like he had failed her. He was now completely alone in the world. This heart-wrenching memoir from a Holocaust survivor reveals the terrible realities of life in Auschwitz--and how a courageous young stable boy survived against all odds to tell his story.​ Henry grew up in Cologne, Germany as an only child. He was barely five years old when Hitler and the Nazis took control of Germany in 1933. As a Jewish boy, his life was about to change drastically. Henry and his family witnessed the unimaginable terrors of Kristallnact. Shortly afterwards, Henry and his parents were ousted from their comfortable apartment and forced to live in one room in a much less desirable location in Cologne. Food became harder and harder to find. Henry’s father started to experience severe depression. He felt hopeless in his role as provider and protector. It wasn’t long before he died from starvation. Although Henry was still young he tried to take care of his mother. It was just the two of them now. Even as a young boy, Henry proved to be brave and resourceful. Then the Nazis relocated Henry and his mother to a ghetto in Łódź, Poland. The conditions were far worse than the conditions in Cologne. At least Henry and his mother were still together and had not been selected for deportation.

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. Over the years, I have read many personal memoirs by survivors of the Holocaust but few have pulled at my heartstrings and inspired me as much as The Stable Boy of Auschwitz: A Heartbreaking True Story of Courage and Survival by Henry Oster and Dexter Ford. It was originally published under the title of The Kindness of the Hangman by Dexter Ford. I listened to the audiobook that was very well narrated by William Hope with a touching afterthought by Henry’s wife, Susan Oster. The Stable Boy of Auschwitz took place before World War II, during the war and then after the war.

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The remarkable life story of Mitka Kalinski, who survived seven years of enslavement—while still a child—to a Nazi officer during and after World War II This is onof the most recent books I've read about Auschvitz, and it was the best one I've read so far. 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.” This book was excellent and the audio was also excellent. I immediately found myself immersed in the story of Henry Oster, just a young boy of barely 5 years old when Hitler first took control of Germany in 1933. I have read my share of WWII historical fiction books, as well as memoirs from that time, but I don't think I've ever read such a well detailed account of one's personal hell during the Holocaust. This story needs to be told over and over again. I think every person that says they don't believe this happened should read this book.