Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Children's Block

  • By: Otto B Kraus
  • Narrated by: Lewys Taylor
  • Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
  • 3.6 out of 5 stars (29 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Children's Block

By: Otto B Kraus
Narrated by: Lewys Taylor
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

'We lived on a bunk built for four but in times of overcrowding, it slept seven and at times even eight. There was so little space on the berth that when one of us wanted to ease his hip, we all had to turn in a tangle of legs and chests and hollow bellies as if we were one many-limbed creature, a Hindu god or a centipede. We grow intimate not only in body but also in mind because we knew that though we were not born of one womb, we would certainly die together.'

Alex Ehren is a poet, a prisoner and a teacher in block 31 in Auschwitz-Birkenau, the children’s block. He spends his days trying to survive while illegally giving lessons to his young charges while shielding them as best he can from the impossible horrors of the camp. But trying to teach the children is not the only illicit activity that Alex is involved in. Alex is keeping a diary…

Originally published as THE PAINTED WALL, Otto Kraus’s autobiographical novel, tells the true story of 500 Jewish children who lived in the Czech Family Camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau between September 1943 and June 1944.

©2019 Otto B Kraus (P)2019 Penguin Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Girl Who Escaped From Auschwitz: cover art
The Revolution of Marina M. cover art
The Midwife of Auschwitz cover art
Inside the Gas Chambers cover art
The Brothers of Auschwitz cover art
Red Sorrow cover art
The Tin Ring cover art
The Convent cover art
The Violinist of Auschwitz cover art
Here There Is No Why cover art
Five Chimneys cover art
The Long Night cover art
Souvenirs from Kyiv cover art
The Children's House of Belsen cover art
The Stable Boy of Auschwitz cover art
Mengele cover art

What listeners say about The Children's Block

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    9
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

My follow on from The Children’s block

A very moving listen. Excellent. Very good and I found it an amazing enjoyable book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

The children’s block

No story line. No deep insight. More of a full novel as opposed to half novel half true I can’t make anything out sadly

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Quite confusing

The story was alright but it was very confusing and skipped from different times without warning .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful