Auschwitz Lullaby brings to life the story of Helene Hannemann—a woman who sacrificed everything for family and fought furiously for the children she hoped to save.

Helene Hannemann was a German woman married to a Gypsy husband who followed her husband and children to the concentration camp Auschwitz II. She was offered multiple chances to go free but chose to stand by her family no matter what happened to her.

After completing this book, I decided to read about this great woman. Her bravery and courage were astounding. Just a simple woman doing everything she could for her family.

The author creates a very intriguing story line that flows without effort. As an avid reader of holocaust era, I found this book as a great read that encompasses the time period.

I received a free copy from the publisher for my honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Helen Hanneman was a real person,a true,blonde,blue-eyed,German mother with 5 children by a gypsy father.
She was a hero to the many gypsies inside the internment camp.
There was only so much she was able to do to make life a little better for her family and the other gypsy,fatherless children,but she went above and beyond.
Life,they say is about choices and Helen Hanneman made hers.
I would recommend this book to anyone,that wants to read about the Holocaust and a true hero.
It is one story about the Holocaust that you won't soon forget.

This is one of those books that hooks you from the beginning and doesn’t let you go. It is heartbreaking to read this and know that these were actually conditions these people had to live in.

I was struck anew by the way the SS viewed anyone who was not German. But until reading this book I don’t think I realized to the extent of their disgust of anyone who was not German, not just the Jews.

I wouldn’t say the writing itself was spectacular it was the story that sold this book for me. It was very memoir like in the way it read.

If you enjoy books that give you an inside look into Auschwitz I am sure you will like this book.

A copy of this book was given to me by Netgalley.com. All opinions are my own.

Auschwitz Lullaby is a fabulous and at times heartbreaking read. I am giving it a well deserved five plus stars.

I have no words, really, to describe this book other than it is heartbreaking. It is difficult to fathom this kind of cruelty, although I know that it happens around the world, even today. It wears different faces and different names but the evil behind it is the same. This is a book people should read, if for no other reason than that it should never be forgotten.

Moving, well-written, fast read about another lesser-known part of the awfulness of Auschwitz. One tends to forget - or to have never been taught - that Jews were not the only ones in the concentration camps. I appreciated this well-written, thoughtful, true story about one woman and her gypsy family.

I will be purchasing this for my library and have suggested it to other schools.

Based on the true story of a pre-school set up in Auschwitz by a German woman that was taken because she refused to allow her children and husband to go without her. Because her husband was a gypsy, her children were also labeled and she would not allow them to go without her. Sometimes difficult to read but always demonstrates the love of a mother and the resiliency of a mother and those who were enslaved during the Holocaust. A must read!

Heart wrenching, but beautifully written story. There are several WWII books out there, however this was one of the first I had read regarding the Gypsies, as well as the disturbing experiments of Dr Mengele on children in Auschwitz. It was gripping and difficult to take in, but Escobar really captured the terror and inhumanity of the camps. The author also did a wonderful job portraying the courage and heroism of the main character, based on the real Helene Hanneman, who was put in charge of opening a nursery. Highly recommend.

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

After being very eager to read this book, I was disappointed. I felt like the writing was choppy, the story didn't flow well. To tackle the subject of Josef Mengele and the female prisoner he chose to start a kindergarten at Auschwitz, would be emotionally challenging, but the writing seemed to be begging for emotion where not much development had been done. This is such an important story that needed to be told before lost to history, but I feel that it wasn't handled as well as it could have been. And the author's note saying that he changed the fate of one of the sons to give the reader more hope?! What?! Don't insult us!

Removed from her home in Germany, it was 1943 and the police were taking all gypsies to rehouse them. Although Helene Hannemann was German, her husband and therefore her five children were gypsies. Helene would not leave them – as a mother, her determination to look after her children was paramount.

The long, arduous, filthy and traumatic train journey eventually stopped at Auschwitz, which was to be Helene’s home for the next sixteen months. The horrors would be revealed in an instant to the shocked family – the immediate separation of the men from the women and children meant Johann was taken from them, while Helene and the children were allocated a barracks in the Gypsy Camp.

With the arrival of a new doctor, Dr Mengele, Helene’s life became worse and, in some ways, better as well. Helene was a nurse, and he needed her to assist. The guarded hope which came with the new nursery school that Helene would run meant the camp children would have a little more food and care, for a few hours during the day. But they were surrounded by monsters; Nazis who were unfeeling, uncaring, hard and evil. Helene did her best under the circumstances, while missing Johann desperately.

Could she save her innocent children in a place that knew no compassion? Would she ever see Johann again?

Auschwitz Lullaby by Mario Escobar is based on the true story of Helene Hannemann and her five children who were sent to Auschwitz in May 1943 to the Gypsy Camp at Birkenau. Dr Josef Mengele and many of the other characters were real people. It’s important that readers don’t read the “Historical Clarifications” at the end until after the story is over, as there are spoilers there. It’s also extremely interesting – albeit horrifying – reading. Auschwitz Lullaby is an uplifting story of a mother’s strength and determination; of hope and desperation; and of the horrors one human being can inflict on another. Highly recommended.

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

I never tire of these World War II stories involving the Holocaust. I must sound like a broken record at this point, but I have to say, because of the insurmountable number of people affected, there will always be new perspectives and stories to tell, and I am here to read them and listen.

It is 1942 in Germany when Helene’s family home is broken into by the police. They are there to take away her husband, deemed a “gypsy,” and their five children. The police say that Helene can stay because she is German, but she chooses to leave with her family. They are all taken to Auschwitz.

After her family is set-up in the crowded barracks, Dr. Mengele arrives to see Helene because she is known to be a nurse. From there, he directs her to run the concentration camp’s nurseries, set across two barracks; one for newborns and one for children older than six.

In these incredibly harsh and dire conditions, Mengele provides child-friendly items like movies and toys, while people are dying in gas chambers close by. Helene works tirelessly to save the children, her own and all those under her care. What will happen to her family?

Auschwitz Lullaby is based on a true story of one woman and her family. It sheds an important light on the prejudice against, and extermination of, the Romani people by the Nazis during WWII. I found the writing to be straight, and with that, my own emotions could fill in the full picture of this living, breathing story.

My favorite aspect of this book was the characterization. It made the story real. Helene was a hero and a risk-taker, and most of all, she was a mother.

Thank you to Thomas Nelson for the complimentary ARC. All opinions are my own.

The author does a beautiful job of depicting all of the characters in this historical fiction novel focused on the German gypsies who were sent to auschwitz. I was especially impressed with his ability to develop multi-dimensional characters without making the Nazis too good nor making the gypsies too bad. It is painful to read about the suffering and torture but the bad is not the focus of this book. Rather, it focuses on how people manage to go through days and months in a terrible environment and still maintain dignity and a sense of humor.

This will not be a typical book review. The only way I can review this book is from an emotional point of view.

It’s rare that I write a review with tears in my eyes, but this book based on a true account of a courageous, loving woman is one of the most moving books I’ve read in a long time.

It’s a horrifying and completely heart-breaking story to read. There is no happy ending. Instead, the very worse that could happen did happen. But Helen’s light burned brightly in a pit of darkness and even her death could not extinguish that light. Her light stills shines for us all these many years later as a testimony to the power of faith, hope, and love. There is true evil in this world. Evil may have taken the lives of Helen and her family, but evil did not win. Her memory was not snuffed out by the darkness. As we face evil in our own time today, may we be comforted that God will dry all tears from our eyes. God, our Righteous Judge, will ultimately gain the final victory.

Please take the time to read this book, if for no other reason than to honor Helen’s brave sacrifice for her children.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

It's sad, OK, because Auschwitz was reprehensible. But Escobar heard about a true story that rose out of that hellish place, and he wanted the world to know about it. A German woman, Helene Hannemann, is taken away with her husband and children one morning. Her husband is Romani (a traditionally  itinerant ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas and originating from northern India, regions of modern-day India and Pakistan). Now you won't have to look it up like I did. Although she would never have been taken to a concentration camp as a German woman, she couldn't leave her family. While there, they lived through horrors unimaginable. She emerged as a leader and was asked to start a school for the children. A marketing ploy of sorts, but she took on the task. In the midst of this terrible place, she offered what hope she could. Hauntingly beautiful.

Aside from this being a book about the Holocaust and, more specifically, a book based on the true story of one woman’s experience – subject matters that I always find fascinating to read – this book also tells the story of the Gypsy experience during the Holocaust, a topic on which not much is written. Although I’ve read numerous books about WWII, and particularly about the Holocaust and the extermination of millions of Jews, this is the first story I’ve read about what happened to Gypsy families captured by the Nazi’s and sent to the concentration camp, Auschwitz. That alone makes it a worthy read.

Briefly, Auschwitz Lullaby is the story of Helene Hannemann, a German woman, married to a Romani man, who chooses to stay with him and their five children when the Nazi’s send them to Auschwitz. As I've read in other books, the guards were sadistic brutes, who enjoyed inflicting pain and suffering. Helene sets up a nursery for the Romani children (which sadly, was Mengele's source for his heinous experiments) where they receive more food and enjoy some sense of normalcy (VERY limited but for a few hours every day, they can play and learn and forget about their miserable circumstances).

I was excited to read this book but my sense is that something was lost in the translation. You get the feeling that Helene, who is the story-teller, is telling someone else's story because I don't sense any emotion from her. She may say she's "horrified" or "disgusted" by some experience but I don't feel her horror, She narrates as if her story was a list of experiences to read off, "this happened and then this happened and so on" without connecting to her pain or fear or anger. There are a lot of sappy sentiments throughout making those moments hard to swallow. It's unfortunate because this could be a great story (and it may very well be in Portuguese) but I had a difficult time connecting with Helene and her plight.

I would like thank Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Extremely moving and thought provoking book. One that shows the true depths of a mother's love. This books gives you a look at a group of people hunted by the Nazi's that we don't see mention as often, the Romani. I learned a great deal from this book and highly recommend it for historical fiction fans.

Don't get me wrong-- It's so great to see a book about other victims of the holocaust, steering away from the narrative of the perfect Jewish victim. However it felt like erasure.

This is an incredibly hard review to write because of the emotion invested in reading this. I just finished reading an incredibly heart-wrenching book that is based upon the life and story of Helene Hannemann and her 5 children. She was a German woman married to a Gypsy man. Her husband and her 5 children being gypsies are sent to Auschwitz and held in the Gypsy camp at Birkenau. Now she was German and not required to go with them but being a mother you don't just let you children go off on their own unprotected so she went with them voluntarily. Immediately separated from her husband and the children their father she sees him once while there and it took quite a lot for that few minutes meeting to happen. Fearing for their lives the whole time they are at Auschwitz,cold,neglected,starved...... The lucky ones are the ones who have thrown themselves against the electrical fence. As a nurse Helene and her children do get slightly better treatment and privileges than the commoners and she is asked to run a school of sorts for the other children. Such a dark,sad and disgraceful time in history my heart just clenched,it brought out such emotion in me. Seeing the other children around dying from neglect it gives you a sense of hope that Helene's children somehow manage to survive despite the horrendous circumstances. Towards the end the bottom falls out though as true to the historical events the end comes for them as well. Why,why,why I keep asking myself as I was so invested in this family. I wanted to scream,cry,bang my head and change what happens. How could this happen? How,why? Where is human decency, there is not a shred of it here! But like a mama tiger even though she wasn't required to go with her children to their death and it meant her own death as well she went. That is a protective mama for you. On the way she sang a Auschwitz lullaby and calmed them all down. I have read other books about Auschwitz but none have gripped my heart the way this one has. Excellent book! I look forward to reading more books by this author!
Pub Date 07 Aug 2018
I was given a complimentary copy of this book by Thomas Nelson--FICTION through Netgalley. Thank you. All opinions expressed are my own.

This very gripping novel captures the dark and the light in Auschwitz very well. As reader you're lingered between hope and despair, just as Helene and so many other people in the camps. It also gives a different idea of the life in Auschwitz as many other novels and of the person of Dr. Mengele. The story gripped my attention from the first pages and held it to the last one. And I've gain lots of respect for Helene Hannemann. She was a very impressive and couragious woman and great mother. This novel is a great homage to a great woman and a remarkable read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.

I found this book heartbreakingly beautiful and sobering at the same time .
I read these type books so that I never forget the atrocities of war.