10 Must-Read Books about the Holocaust

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The Holocaust is one of the greatest tragedies to ever happen in human history. It’s easy to think of it as something of the past, but many still experience its effects here in the present.

Even today, anti-semitism, denial, and whitewashing are obscuring the truth about this horrific event. This increases the danger of forgetfulness, which may lead to history repeating itself in the future.

Holocaust Books

Here are some important books to read about the holocaust and related events to help you learn, reflect, and remember.

1. The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku

Eddie Jaku was only a teenager when the world came crashing down on him. Beaten by the SS and sent to a concentration camp, he spent the next seven years suffering atrocities in Buchenwald, Auschwitz. 

Against the odds, Eddie survived and made a promise to smile every day, not only to remember the gift of life but also to honor the millions of Jews who lost their lives in the genocide. And today, at 100 years old, he talks about how he learned about the beauty of life despite the horrors he’s experienced.

2. If This Is a Man by Primo Levi

Arrested as a member of the anti-fascist resistance, Italian chemist Primo Levi survived a year inside the Auschwitz concentration camp. This is his account of his experiences within one of Nazi’s most notorious death centers, written in logical, scientific, and unpretentious prose.

3. Night by Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel was only 14 when his tiny city, Sighet, was overrun by the Nazis. They came and conquered, taking him and his family into the death camps.

Subjected to daily perversions and sadism, Wiesel miraculously survived, though severely reduced as a human being. This is his account of those days of terror, and one of the best-known memoirs about the Holocaust.

4. Denying the Holocaust by Deborah Lipstadt

There are those who believe that the death of six million Jews is but a fictional conspiracy by Zionists. They also argue that Germany was the true victim of the war.

And as time goes on, their revisionist views are taking hold, despite the thousands of eyewitnesses and documented evidence of the Holocaust. Lipstadt shows how revisionism affects not only the Jews but also objective scholarship and the passing of history from one generation to the other.

5. Promise Me You’ll Shoot Yourself by Florian Huber

It is April of 1945 and the Third Reich is at an end. The Red Army advances and ahead of it spreads a wave of horror stories about its treatment of Germans. For many Germans, all that seems to be left is to choose death—for them and their children. 

Using letters, memoirs, and diaries, Huber investigates the massive amount of suicides during the war’s closing. From Hitler’s rise, subsequent atrocities, and eventual downfall, he talks about the Nazi regime’s effects on its own people.

6. Five Chimneys by Olga Lengyel

Olga Lengyel is a surgical assistant in Transylvania who was deported to Auschwitz. There, she was able to secure work in the infirmary, a position that made her more likely to survive. 

This is an unflinching account of her time there—about the prevalence of disease, the treatment of women, and other evils. Most chilling of all are her interactions with Josef Mengele and her observations of the experiments he inflicted on the prisoners.

7. Underground in Berlin by Marie Jalowicz-Simon

When war came to Berlin, Marie Jalowicz, a Jewish Berliner was given two choices: submit to the Gestapo or run away. She chose the latter, discarding her yellow star and assuming a fake identity.

In the following years, she evaded capture through a combination of forgeries, borrowed identities, luck, and help from other people. This book is a glimpse of day-to-day life in wartime Berlin, seen from the perspective of someone hiding in the midst of her hunters.

8. The Light of Days by Judy Batalion

Having witnessed the brutalities inflicted on their family, friends, and communities, a group of Jewish women began setting up resistance cells to undermine the Nazis. They bribed guards, smuggled weapons, and established safe houses.

They served as couriers, saboteurs, fighters, spies, healers, and protectors—all done under the Nazi’s noses. This is a book about women who went above and beyond to protect and secure a future for what was left of their people.

9. Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl is sent to labor in different concentration camps. Here, he describes the many attempts he makes to hold on to his humanity and find hope despite the many horrific moments he experiences. 

In this book, he concludes that suffering is inevitable but you can choose how to deal with it, find meaning in it, and live life better from it. 

10. Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto by Emmanuel Ringelblum

Emmanuel Ringelblum watched the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto build up, with him and his fellows trapped inside it. And from inside the Ghetto, he begins writing down the daily life of a Jew up until the uprising of April 1943.

Within this book is a record of life in the ghetto, not only of the constant danger and depravities from the Nazis but also the acts of heroism and kindness from people with everything to lose.

Reading Books about the Holocaust

Humans are capable of both kindness and cruelty. When the latter wins over, you get horrific events that forever mar human history such as the slave trade, 9/11, and of course, the Holocaust.

To some, the holocaust is already a thing of the past. But to others, it is a constant reminder of hardships and danger stemming from prejudice and political gain. 

Reading these kinds of books is not only for information. It is a way to reach back through time and have a glimpse of those dark days and understand why future generations shouldn’t make the same mistakes.

What book about the holocaust do you recommend? Share it in the comments below!

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