10 Best Historical Fiction Books About the Holocaust

Books about the Holocaust are, in my opinion, some of the most important books to read. This part of our collective history needs and deserves to be understood and remembered. This list of the 10 best historical fiction books about the Holocaust are wonderful yet heartbreaking reads. Usually based on true events, places and people, these accounts of the Holocaust are presented through storytelling, unlike nonfiction. All of the books on this WWII booklist are moving, powerful and truly great reads.

Other Book Lists You’ll Love: 30 Best Historical Fiction About WWII, 15 Must Read Nonfiction Books About the Holocaust, 12 Best Books About Poland During WWII

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

Lilac Girls is inspired by a real-life female war hero and follows the stories of three women: Herta, an ambitious German doctor, Caroline, an American employee at the French consulate, and Kasia, a young Polish woman working for the underground resistance movement. Their lives become intertwined as Kasia is deported to Ravensbrück, the Nazi’s notorious concentration camp for women and children where many of the horrific medical experiments were carried out on prisoners. Their stories meld into one as it crosses continents and Caroline and Kasia work to bring those responsible to justice.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Based on the real interviews conducted with Late Sokolov, this is his true story of love and survival in the most horrific place history has ever seen. In 1942, Lale, a Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz finds himself as the man responsible for tattooing the arms of thousands of other prisoners, something that has become the most recognized symbol of the Holocaust. This is also his story of meeting a young woman in line to have her number tattooed by him, and the lengths he goes to make it out of the camp with her.

The Edelweiss Sisters: An epic, heartbreaking and gripping World War 2 novel by Kate Hewitt

This story follows three sisters through 5 years of their lives starting in their home of Austria. They come of age as Austria goes through Anschluss, the “unification” of Austria with Germany which places them under German rule, and Kristallnacht. The events the women go through send them on different paths into the resistance, and ultimately lead to Ravensbruck and Mauthausen concentration camps. It’s a heartbreaking story of love, survival and how many of this era risked everything to do what was right.

The Watchmaker of Dachau: An absolutely heartbreaking World War 2 historical novel by Carly Schabowski

Based on the incredible true story, a Jewish watchmaker named Isaac Schüller is sent to Dachau concentration camp and soon a Nazi officer plucks him from the other prisoners because Isaac’s unique skill can be of use to him. It’s a beautiful yet heartbreaking story told from a few different narratives that all tie together in a tale of compassion, human-kindness and love in the darkest of places.

Not Without My Sister by Marion Kummerow

After several years of hiding from the vicious Nazi regime that was waging war on everyone they thought inferior, these two sisters are captured and sent to the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. Immediately at their arrival, they’re separated. Rachel is deemed an adult, and sent to work in a brutal factory, and knows that finding someone to take care of her little sister may be the most important, and last, thing she does. This story is one of sisterhood, survival, and two sisters fight to overcome absolutely impossible odds for each other.

They Went Left by Monica Hesse

This is a heartbreaking yet heartwarming story of one woman’s survival, loss and renewal. Sofia now finds herself in a displaced persons camp among millions, after spending three years in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival, her and her brother Abek were the only two members of their family to be sent right- away from the gas chambers. Her last words to her brother before they were separated were a promise to find him again. This story takes us across Poland and Germany as one young woman grabbles what the shattered remains of her life, and desperately tries to keep her promise.

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris

Based on a true story, Cilka is just 16 when she’s sent to Auschwitz. A guard notices how beautiful she is, and decides to separate her from the other women prisoners to keep her for himself. However, once the camp is liberated by Russia, the Soviets charge her with being a collaborator for what she was forced to do by the guard. She’s then sentenced to a Siberian Gulag to sere out her prison sentence. Throughout Cilka’s imprisonments under both German and Russian captors, she faces many hardships, but in the Gulag she discovers a strength she didn’t know she had and forms bonds with several women she never expected.

A Letter From Munich by Meg Lelvis

This is a novel that switches between two intertwined storylines, has dynamic and strained family relationships, all set in the backdrop of WWII which connects them all. In Germany in the 1930’s, Ariana, in her quiet village of Dachau, is coming of age as the Nazi Party is rising in intensity and power. And in Munich in 2012, an ex-cop is searching for Ariana to find out what happened to her after finding out his father received a wartime letter from her decades ago.

Auschwitz Lullaby by Mario Escobar

This novel is based on a true story of a brace German nurse who is given the task of caring for children imprisoned in Auschwitz. Helene Hannemann’s worst fears come true when the SS show up at her door with orders to deport her children and her husband, because they are Romani. Because she’s German, she’s spared, but unwilling to let her family be taken without her. This is a remarkable story of a real woman who sacrificed everything for those she loved most, her children, and ended up fighting to save all children who were put into her care.

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe

As a young girl, Dita is imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken from her home in Prague in 1939, Dita does her best to adjust to the constant terror of her new reality. But even amidst horror, human strength and ingenuity persevere. When Jewish leader Fredy Hirsch entrusts Dita with eight precious volumes the prisoners have managed to sneak into the camp, She embraces the responsibility―and so becomes the librarian of Auschwitz.

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