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The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz
Jeremy Dronfield

The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz

Published in North America as The Stone Crusher.

In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholsterer in Vienna, was arrested by the Nazis. Along with his 16-year old son Fritz, he was sent to Buchenwald in Germany, where a new concentration camp was being built. It was the beginning of an odyssey through a hell of slave labor, torture, brushes with death, and constant terror. They helped build Buchenwald, young Fritz learning construction skills which would help preserve him from extermination in the coming years. But it was his bond with his father that would keep them both alive.


When the 50-year old Gustav was transferred to Auschwitz – a certain death sentence – Fritz was determined to go with him. His wiser friends tried to dissuade him – “If you want to keep living, you have to forget your father,” they said. But that was impossible, and Fritz pleaded for a place on the Auschwitz transport. “He is a true comrade,” Gustav wrote in his secret diary, “always at my side. The boy is my greatest joy. We are inseparable.”


Gustav kept his diary hidden throughout his six years in the death camps – even Fritz knew nothing of it. In it he recorded his story – a tale of survival and a father-son bond which proved stronger than the Nazi machine that sought to break them both.


A unique tale in the Holocaust genre: a story of tragedy and horror but also an adventure, an edge-of-seat read in the style of Dronfield’s previous bestselling WWII book, Beyond the Call, with a similar uplifting emotional heart – human love and dedication amid the horror of war.


A panorama of the Holocaust through one family’s experiences. In dramatic parallel storylines, the book narrates the fates of all six members of the Kleinmann family as they are torn apart by the Nazis: two taken and murdered; two escaping to freedom; and two sent to the camps and surviving.

Book Details:

  • Author: Jeremy Dronfield
  • Published Year: 2019
  • Rights Sold
    • UK: Michael Joseph
    • Brazil: Companhia das Letras
    • Italy: Harper Collins
    • Netherlands: Meulenhoff Boekerij
    • Portugal: Planeta
    • Czech Republic: Jota
    • Hungary: Publish&More
    • Spain: Planeta
    • Poland: Znak
    • Germany: Droemer Knaur
    • Romania: Litera
    • Sweden: Bokforlaget Nona
    • Slovakia: Slovensky Tatran
    • Russia: Eksmo
    • US: Harper Collins
    • Bulgaria: Ciela
    • China: Social Science Academy Press
    • Finland: Into Kustannus

Jeremy Dronfield

Jeremy Dronfield is a versatile, multi-faceted writer with four novels to his name. He came to writing via a circuitous route. His first serious stopover in life was as an archaeologist. After a few years in rescue excavation, he did his doctoral research at Cambridge University, on the subject of art and religion in prehistoric Ireland. His thesis was published as a series of papers in international journals including Antiquity and Current Anthropology. While trying to get an academic career in archaeology off the ground, he began dabbling in writing fiction – a pursuit he’d ...
More about Jeremy Dronfield

Book Reviews

  • "brilliantly researched and written with searing clarity by historian Jeremy Dronfield."
    Daily Mail
  • "All the more harrowing for being entirely true…this book could not be more timely and deserves the widest possibly readership."
    Express
  • "The story is both immersive and extraordinary. Deeply moving and brimming with humanity."
    The Guardian
  • "Brilliantly written, vivid, a powerful and often uncomfortable true story that deserves to be read and remembered. It beautifully captures the strength of the bond between a father and son."
    Heather Morris, author of #1 New York Times bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Book News

  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz optioned for film 22 Sep 2020

    Maze Pictures have optioned Jeremy Dronfield’s international bestseller The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz with Dronfield helping to write the script.

  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz spends 4 months in bestseller list 09 Sep 2020

    Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz has spent almost four months in the Canadian bestseller lists.

  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 2 24 Jul 2020

    Congratulations to Jeremy Dronfield whose The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 2 in Canada after eight weeks in the bestseller list.

  • Dronfield no 1 in Canada 19 Jun 2020

    Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 1 in the Canadian best seller lists this week.

  • Dronfield remains at no 2 11 Jun 2020

    Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is #2 spot for a second week in the Canadian best seller list.

  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 2 07 Jun 2020

    Congratulations to Jeremy Dronfield. The new North American release of The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz has gone straight into the Canadian bestseller list at number 2.

  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz 'Book of the Year' 06 Jan 2020

    Congratulations to Jeremy Dronfield who ended a successful year with ‘Book of the Year’ selections in the Express and Mail on Sunday for The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz.

  • US rights sold in The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz 15 Dec 2019

    Harper Collins have bought US rights in Jeremy Dronfield’s international bestseller The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz.

  • Another week for The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz 25 Nov 2019

    Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz remains in the paperback bestseller list at no 7.

  • Dronfield is no 8 14 Nov 2019

    Jeremy Dronfield is no 8 in the paperback non-fiction list for The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz

  • Dronfield remains in bestseller list 11 Nov 2019

    Congratulations to Jeremy Dronfield whose The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz remains in the Sunday Times paperback bestseller list at no 6.

  • Two agency books in top ten 30 Oct 2019

    Congratulations to Jeremy Dronfield who is no 6 for The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz and Cathy Glass who is no 10 for Innocent in the paperback non-fiction list.

  • Jeremy Dronfield remains in bestseller list 23 Oct 2019

    Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz remains in the paperback non-fiction list moving down one place to sixth.

  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 5 09 Oct 2019

    Congratulations to Jeremy Dronfield whose The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 5 in the paperback non-fiction list.

  • Jeremy Dronfield is no 4 03 Oct 2019

    Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz remains in the paperback non-fiction list at no 4.

  • Two agency books in top ten 30 Sep 2019

    The agency continues to have two books in the top ten paperback non-fiction list – Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz at no 4 and Cathy Glass’s Innocent at no 6.

  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 2 in bestseller list 22 Sep 2019

    Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz remains in the Sunday Times paperback non-fiction list at no 2 meaning agency titles take two of the top three slots with Cathy Glass’s Innocent at no 3.

  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 1 04 Sep 2019

    Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz has taken the top spot in the paperback non-fiction list.

  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 2 27 Aug 2019

    Congratulations to Jeremy Dronfield whose paperback The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz has gone straight in to be number 2 on the paperback charts after three days.

  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is a #1 in Hungary. 11 Apr 2019

    Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is a #1 in Hungary.

    Kurt Kleinmann , whose brother Fritz is the subject of the book, was awarded a medal of honour at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s annual National Tribute Dinner last night.

  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 3 05 Mar 2019

    Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 3, down from 2nd place, in the Times bestseller list

  • Sixth week in Top Ten for The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz 27 Feb 2019

    Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is spending a sixth week in the Sunday Times top ten - this week at no nine.

  • Fifth week for Dronfield in Sunday Times list 24 Feb 2019

    Congratulations to Jeremy Dronfield whose The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is number 4 - a fifth week in the Sunday Times list .

  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 4 19 Feb 2019

    Congratulations to Jeremy Dronfield whose The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is number 4 this week in the Sunday Times .

  • Jeremy Dronfield is no 5 16 Feb 2019

    Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 5 in the Sunday Times bestseller list this week - its third week in the chart.

  • The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz remains no 4 11 Feb 2019

    Congratulations to Jeremy Dronfield whose The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz remains at no 4 in the Sunday Times best seller list.

  • The Boy who Followed his Father into Auschwitz is Portuguese bestseller 09 Feb 2019

    The Portuguese edition of The Boy who followed his father into Auschwitz has gone straight into the top ten bestseller list for Portugal’s two leading retailers, Bertrand and Fnac.

  • Jeremy Dronfield is Sunday Times bestseller 29 Jan 2019

    Congratulations to Jeremy Dronfield whose The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz is no 4 in the Sunday Times bestseller list this week.

  • Dronfield is Amazon No 1 26 Jan 2019

    Congratulations to Jeremy Dronfield whose The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz has gone straight to no 1 on Amazon.

  • Recent Foreign Rights sales 27 Nov 2018

    French rights in Julia Boyd’s Travellers in the Third Reich.

    Polish and German rights in Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz..

    Czech rights in Hitler’s Last Plot : The 139 Men, Women, and Children Saved from Imminent Execution in the Final Days of the Third Reich by Ian Sayer and Jeremy Dronfield.

  • Recent Foreign Rights sales 04 Jul 2018

    Portuguese rights in Jeremy Dronfield’s The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz.

    Greek rights in Sir Steven Runciman’s Sicilian Vespers, A History of the Crusades and The Great Church in Captivity.

    Korean rights in Desmond Seward’s A Brief History of The Hundred Years War: the English in France 1337-1453

  • dronfield-is-amazon-no-1 26 Jan 2019

    Congratulations to Jeremy Dronfield whose The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz has gone straight to no 1 on Amazon.

  • the-boy-who-followed-his-father-into-auschwitz-is-portugues 09 Feb 2019

    The Portuguese edition of The Boy who followed his father into Auschwitz has gone straight into the top ten bestseller list for Portugal’s two leading retailers, Bertrand and Fnac.