List of Holocaust Literature

20 Essential Works of Holocaust Literature

January 12th, 2011

Genocide, tragically, has existed as one of humanity's most disgusting, selfish and absolutely wrenching acts ever since its inception. No matter how many scholars research and debate the horrific reality, massive kills by hate-filled, greedy powers will perpetuate the cycle. The Holocaust, initiated by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in the early half of the Twentieth Century, left such a bloody, agonizing mark on world history that it spawned its own literary genre. Survivors and witnesses alike took to writing about their experience with the hopes of educating the populace on the terrifying human toll such actions truly take. Later generations of authors continue to use this historical period for myriad reasons — some find themselves inspired by family or friends who bore witness to the events, while others read or hear eyewitness accounts from perfect strangers and feel compelled to explore their narratives. What all of them do, however, is remind the entire world of why it's absolutely necessary to stand up for social justice and protect innocents on the receiving end of harm. Powerful fiction and nonfiction alike imbue readers with the knowledge necessary to identify and actively work towards making the planet safer for all its peoples.

1. Mein Kampf (1925) by Adolf Hitler: At first, it probably (and understandably) seems crass, insane and insensitive to list such a controversial read here. However, many interested in Holocaust literature actually want to pick up the political ramblings of the madman behind the massacre. Though Adolf Hitler's actions are never to be commended or encouraged by any stretch of the imagination, Mein Kampf provides one of the only first-person glimpses at his psychology of unfounded hatred and helps place the atrocities into a broader historical context. Understanding the whats and whys behind intolerance and genocide allows readers to better recognize the signs and work towards hopefully squelching the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible.
2. The Pianist (1945) by Wladyslaw Szpilman: This evocative memoir takes readers to Warsaw before, during and after decimation by the Nazi Party. Musician Wladyslaw Szpilman details almost every harrowing moment of ghetto devastation, the mass exoduses to concentration camps and 1944's violent uprising by the Polish Resistance Home Army. He managed to avoid the ultimate fate of his family, who ended up murdered in Treblinka, and music became both his only solace and a lifesaver. The story of his encounter with a German soldier complicit with his plan to hide in an obscure loft has to be read to be believed.
3. Man's Search for Meaning (1946) by Viktor E. Frankl: Existentialist philosophy played an integral role in the lives of Holocaust perpetrators and victims alike — Friedrich Nietzsche's sister famously co-opted many of his writings to suit Nazi ideologies, for example. Dachau and Theresienstadt survivor Viktor E. Frankl used his horrific experiences to explore broad philosophical questions regarding the myriad interpretations of existence. Man's Search for Meaning starts out dissecting how Holocaust victims internally and externally reacted to their dehumanizing environment, determining what he observed as "normal" behavior patterns. Frankl ultimately discovers that the meaning of his own life is to help guide others towards finding happiness and stability, and he outlines the theory of logotherapy in the process. This is an absolutely essential read for philosophy and psychology fans as well as those looking for great examples of Holocaust literature.
4. Diary of a Young Girl (1947) by Anne Frank: One of the most tragic and memorable works to come out of the Nazi occupation, Anne Frank's diary chronicles two years of life crammed in an Amsterdam attic. The two families hiding from their potential captors — thanks to the cooperation of some sympathetic Dutch — were forced to remain quiet and obscured if they hoped to survive. In spite of the hardship, the young woman's diary frequently reveals an upbeat, positive attitude and ruminations on relatable adolescent experiences, such as crushes and puberty. Her father Otto was responsible for the book's publication following the family's horrific capture and subsequent stint in concentration camps. Anne Frank herself passed away from typhoid while at Bergen-Belsen.
5. If This Is a Man (1947) by Primo Levi: Through vivid poetry and prose, chemist, writer and Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi relates the harrowing eleven months spent within concentration camp walls. His scientific prowess and subsequent illness spared him from some of the tortures heaped upon his fellow captives, though he was not exempt from witnessing abject horror. If This Is a Man also serves as a philosophical inquiry into the mindset of captor and captive alike. He also frequently asks some heavy existential questions, particularly as they relate to the concepts of untermensch and ubermensch.
6. Night (1955) by Elie Wiesel: Auschwitz and Buchenwald survivor Elie Wiesel wrote Night as the first part of a trilogy, followed by the much lesser-known Dawnand Day. Most Holocaust literature classes and reading lists focus mainly on the original work of creative nonfiction, though the other two remain worthwhile reading. This visceral, intense book delves deeply into the horrific realities of life in a concentration camp as well as the atrocities committed even before Wiesel and his family are forced to leave their home. Amidst the horrors towards the end of World War II, his emotional state and faith in God and humanity begin deteriorating, offering up one insightful perspective on how the genocide impacted one of its survivors.
7. The Painted Bird (1965) by Jerzy Kosinski: After his parents flee Nazism, a young boy finds himself wandering ravaged European towns, where he witnesses some brutal and bizarre scenes of sex and violence. Author Jerzy Kosinski stirred up a tempest of controversy by trying to package The Painted Bird as a memoir or work of creative nonfiction. Intensive research eventually revealed the once compelling and disturbing book was a pure product of the writer's imagination, perhaps inspired by a couple of true events, but not stemming directly from any of the ones unearthed by historians and literary critics. Some even contest whether or not Kosinski himself wrote it. However, audiences continue to embrace the troubled publication because of its heavy emotional content — they just read it as fiction rather than something definitive and real — hence its inclusion on this list.
8. Pilgrim Among the Shadows (1967) by Boris Pahor: Literary critics frequently consider Boris Pahor one of the most influential Slovene writers of the Twentieth Century, if not all time. Part memoir, part novel, his Pilgrim Among the Shadowssees him revisiting the concentration camp in the Vosges Mountains that marked one of the most terrifying points in his life. The 1966 voyage back to France offered Pahor a chance to come to terms with the trauma, and he delves into painful detail about the architecture of the building and how the Nazis specifically tailored it to kill and torture its prisoners as efficiently as possible. Ultimately, he feels as if something inherently violent and hateful in humanity spawned the Holocaust and other genocidal injustices. Try as many governments, groups and individuals might, they will never be able to completely stop another one from happening again someday.
9. Jacob the Liar (1969) by Jurek Becker: Plenty of heavy questions regarding morality and hope crop up during the course of the novel, which actually possesses two different endings to further provoke readers. After surviving an encounter with a German officer shortly before curfew, the titular character overhears a radio announcement regarding the encroaching Soviet army. He excitedly hurries the news to the Lodz ghetto in Poland, and fibs about possessing his own radio, a technology legally forbidden to Jews. From there, he must keep up with the masquerade and subsequently imbues his friends and neighbors with a false sense of anticipation and security. This decision ultimately leads to some tragic consequences, no matter which ending one chooses to accept.
10. The Nazi and the Barber (1971) by Edgar Hilsenrath: Himself a Holocaust survivor, this decorated writer has spawned an impressive body of work devoted to fearless portrayals of genocide and marginalization during the Third Reich, in Armenia and elsewhere. The Nazi and the Barber mercilessly (and justifiably) satirizes the people perpetrating serious crimes against humanity through the tale of Max Schulz, an SS member. Following World War II, the mass murderer takes on a Jewish identity and even manages an Israeli immigration. German publishers originally rejected the work on the grounds that it featured a Nazi as the central character, but international readers embraced the grotesquery. The unsympathetic protagonist served as an apt, appropriate mockery that nonviolently dehumanized those who violently, brutally tormented (if not outright killed) Edgar Hilsenrath and his loved ones.
11. Fatelessness (1975) by Imre Kertesz: Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertesz filtered a few elements of his own concentration camp experience into this novel about a Hungarian-Jewish teenager trapped in Auschwitz, then later Buchenwald and a third in Zeitz. Lying about his real age prevents Gyorgy Koves' termination, and he passes a year performing intensive slave labor for the Nazi oppressors. Sadly, the story also highlights prejudices and abuses exacted by the prisoners themselves. While he gradually slips into near-debilitating sickness, the he must also contend with fellow Jews for his inability to speak Hebrew or Yiddish. Though Koves himself isn't entirely innocent — he ironically frowns upon others who "look" their ethnicity. It may only be semi-autobiographical, but Fatelessness certainly packs a provocative punch.
12. Maus (1977) by Art Spiegelman: Maus' central narrative pulls double duty. It's simultaneously the biography of graphic novelist Art Spiegelman's father Vladek, a Holocaust survivor, and an exploration of filial themes and generation gaps. This Pulitzer-winning comic famously uses animals as allegories to respective races, with cats standing in for Germans and Jews represented as mice, among others. Cutting between the past and the present, Spiegelman relates Vladek's bitter memories in his own words, juxtaposing his life, outlook and personality before, during and after the incarceration at Auschwitz. At the same time, the author and artist himself struggles to make sense of an experience he never witnessed, reflecting upon how it may have impacted the often painful relationship with his parents.
13. Sophie's Choice (1979) by William Styron: The term "Sophie's Choice," which posits two equally horrible options, stems directly from the influential National Book Award winner of the same name. Here, the social and political injustices committed in the American South juxtapose with those of the Nazi Party. A Southerner, a Jewish-American and a Polish-Catholic concentration camp survivor find their lives (and loves) slowly intertwining. The eponymous character, saddled with both a schizophrenic, self-medicating boyfriend Nathan and crippling guilt over an absolutely terrifying secret from her past. Though forging a new life in the United States, she succumbs to alcoholism and begins mirroring her lover's propensity for self-destruction, irrevocably traumatized by the emotions and memories she can never escape.
14. At the Mind's Limits (1980) by Jean Amery: As the title so adroitly summarizes, Jean Amery's time spent interred in various concentration camps and fearlessly slinking in the shadows as a freedom fighter afforded him myriad opportunities to contemplate the nuances of the human mind. Mercilessly tortured and witnessing some of humanity's most disgusting, degrading acts of senseless violence, he succumbs to anger, bitterness, a loss of curiosity and faith and helplessness. Even then, though, some kernel of inner strength he never knew he had propelled him to almost miraculously survive Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and Buchenwald. The intense experiences led Amery to also try and dissect the Third Reich mindset as well. He considered sadism and an id-driven lust for power and torture the most compelling force in the minds of his captors.
15. The Devil's Arithmetic (1988) by Jane Yolen: 12-year-old Hannah Stern absolutely dreads the upcoming Seder. A time-travel mishap launches her to 1942 Poland, where she finds herself amongst a family who thinks her a cholera-stricken orphan. A Nazi raid subsequently lands her in a concentration camp, where the tragedies escalate and ultimately end inside a gas chamber. Jane Yolen's provocative young adult novel revolves around the theme of understanding history and its myriad forms. Throughout Stern's narrative, she explores personal, family, national and international happenstances that mold and shape humanity for good and for ill. Regardless of whether or not an individual notices, someone else's past may very well determine his or her present and future.
16. Number the Stars (1989) by Lois Lowry: Since 1989, many young adults nurtured an interest in history and Holocaust literature thanks to this novel. An apt introduction to the genre, Number the Stars takes readers to Copenhagen, where the Johansen family risks their very lives for the sake of social justice. As the Nazis storm through Denmark in search of Jewish victims, they take in young Annemarie's best friend Ellen Rosen and bravely pretend she is a member of the family. The death of eldest daughter Lise, murdered for her role in the Dutch Resistance Movement, provides them with a relatively easy cover — though life-threatening cracks begin to form in the Johansen's valiant, altruistic plan.
17. Time's Arrow (1991) by Martin Amis: Time's Arrow boasts one of the most adroit uses of backwards chronology, relating the narrative of a Holocaust doctor working as a torturer and killer at Auschwitz starts growing younger and younger. No longer content to putter around in America as an anonymous senior citizen, the new, completely rewound existence grants him an opportunity to heal and restore the victims he so callously dehumanized. They can get back up, go home and continue on a happier, healthier path. Amis fascinatingly (and characteristically) deconstructs familiar Holocaust literature tropes in order to illustrate the illogic and ignorance that characterized the Nazi's decision to carry out the genocide.
18. Everything is Illuminated (2002) by Jonathan Safran Foer: Much like Maus, Jonathan Safran Foer's debut novel merges past and present as a young man explores his family's history. Alternating between his travels and a magic realism story-within-a-story, the protagonist (who shares a name with the author) hopes to track down the woman responsible for smuggling his grandfather out of Trochenbrod as the Nazis rampaged through Ukraine. While journeying through the old schetl, Foer meets up with some friendly and interesting individuals who drive home the overarching themes of love and family.
19. The Book Thief (2005) by Markus Zusak: Death itself narrates intersecting lives, including a girl whose communist parents give her up to save her life, her new foster parents, a Jewish fighter, their neighbor, the mayor's wife and more — though the first comprises the novel's core. Liesel Meminger copes with Germany's volatile political climate by stealing or borrowing books and learning more about the world around her. She forges some incredible friendships with the people in her adopted neighborhood, but Gestapo raids, bombings and run-ins with the Hitler Youth throw it into a tragic, tumultuous state. Yet the young woman's reading and interpersonal connections inspire her to press on and survive in the face of total devastation.
20. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2006) by John Boyne: This absolutely heart-and-gut-wrenching tale looks at the Holocaust from the perspective of a young German boy entirely oblivious to the travesties his own people are inflicting upon others. He befriends another child, Shmuel, who lives behind an inescapable fence and wears a mysterious pair of the eponymous garment — which has been, of course, forced upon him by the Auschwitz guards. The two eventually develop an indomitable friendship that leads them both to tragic consequences. Like most historical fiction, the author does take some liberties with reality. However, the unusual perspective makes the popular, acclaimed novel a curious addition to any Holocaust literature reading list.