A Delayed Life: The True Story of the Librarian of Auschwitz

This is a beautiful story of hope, love, pain, and most of all endurance. My favorite part was when Dita Kraus explains her job in the Auschwitz concentration camp working as the librarian there. Because she kept literature alive in such a foul place, Dita Kraus is my hero.

Kraus grew up in a fair, middle-class area, but that all changed. Jews weren’t allowed to do things like go to school and wear non-branded clothing. Dita was sent to the Terezín ghetto, where there was a lack of food. After Terezín, she was deported to Auschwitz, where her father died. Luckily, Dita was able to get a job working in the children’s school as the librarian. She kept watch over the books and gave them to the teachers. After six months, she left her job to be taken to do hard labor like filling holes made from bombs and making bricks. Her final destination was Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp where food was almost non-existent. After liberation, Dita’s mother died. She later married Otto Kraus, who was a teacher in Auschwitz, and left the communist-ruled Czech Republic for Israel. Both worked hard to earn money for their growing family. All this work paid off in the end, and they were able to live happy lives together.

Everyone should read this book, and its sister novel, The Librarian of Auschwitz . It is absolutely astounding what some people can go through and come out all the stronger for it.