Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
Audiobook9 hours
The Day the Nazis Came: The True Story of a Childhood Journey to the Dark Heart of a German Prison Camp
Written by Stephen Matthews
Narrated by Barnaby Edwards
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
The Day the Nazis Came is an utterly unique memoir, depicting the world of prison camps through the eyes of a child. Stephen's parents did their best to protect his emotional well-being, downplaying the extent of dangers and presenting every new day as an adventure.
But there is only so much you can do to hide such a dark truth and, by the time he was six years old, Stephen Matthews had actually seen and experienced things of unspeakable horror: he had witnessed a bombardment by the Luftwaffe and had been deported from occupied Guernsey, along with his family, to a prison camp in the heart of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich; he had seen men die in front of him; he had walked alongside Jews coming straight off the cattle-trucks from Bergen-Belsen; he had nearly drowned, been menaced by an Alsatian guard dog, and had his hand broken by a German guard for attempting to feed Russian prisoners.
Against all odds, Stephen and his family endured over three years of imprisonment, held together by their will to survive, their love for each other, and the humor they had all been gifted with. But when the war ended and they were set free, the home they eventually returned to had been irremediably scarred and stricken by Nazi occupation and so, once again, they had to fight to pick up the pieces.
But there is only so much you can do to hide such a dark truth and, by the time he was six years old, Stephen Matthews had actually seen and experienced things of unspeakable horror: he had witnessed a bombardment by the Luftwaffe and had been deported from occupied Guernsey, along with his family, to a prison camp in the heart of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich; he had seen men die in front of him; he had walked alongside Jews coming straight off the cattle-trucks from Bergen-Belsen; he had nearly drowned, been menaced by an Alsatian guard dog, and had his hand broken by a German guard for attempting to feed Russian prisoners.
Against all odds, Stephen and his family endured over three years of imprisonment, held together by their will to survive, their love for each other, and the humor they had all been gifted with. But when the war ended and they were set free, the home they eventually returned to had been irremediably scarred and stricken by Nazi occupation and so, once again, they had to fight to pick up the pieces.
Related to The Day the Nazis Came
Related audiobooks
The Stone Crusher: The True Story of a Father and Son's Fight for Survival in Auschwitz Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Behind the Fireplace: Memoirs of a Girl Working in the Dutch Resistance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz: A True Story of World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond the Last Path: A Buchenwald Survivor's Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We Must Not Forget: Holocaust Stories of Survival and Resistance (Scholastic Focus) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In Broad Daylight: The Secret Procedures behind the Holocaust by Bullets Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Hitler's Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Dear Ones: One Family and the Final Solution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Story Keeper: Weaving the Threads of Time and Memory. A Memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFive Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Inseparable: The Hess Twins' Holocaust Journey through Bergen-Belsen to America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWe Had to Be Brave: Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport (Scholastic Focus) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bravest Voices: A Memoir of Two Sisters' Heroism During the Nazi Era Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Auschwitz Photographer: The Forgotten Story of the WWII Prisoner Who Documented Thousands of Lost Souls Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Children's Block: A Novel Based on the True Story of an Auschwitz Survivor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ravensbruck: Life and Death in Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Train: A Family History of the Final Solution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The House on Thrömerstrasse: A Story of Rebirth and Renewal in the Wake of the Holocaust Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ashes: A WW2 historical fiction inspired by true events. A story of friendship, war and courage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/550 Children: One Ordinary American Couple's Extraordinary Rescue Mission into the Heart of Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Girl Called Renee Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hitler's Pawn: The Boy Assassin and the Holocaust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Survivors Club: The True Story of a Very Young Prisoner of Auschwitz Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Delayed Life: The True Story of the Librarian of Auschwitz Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Maybe You Will Survive: A Holocaust Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wars & Military For You
The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shortest History of Israel and Palestine: From Zionism to Intifadas and the Struggle for Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kill Anything That Moves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Watchmaker's Daughter: The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrie ten Boom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America's Colony Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dirty Tricks Department: Stanley Lovell, the OSS, and the Masterminds of World War II Secret Warfare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Templars: The History and the Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Founding Mothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin - Book Summary: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead And Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related podcast episodes
"On Auschwitz" (14): Starvation and slave labour of Auschwitz prisoners 0% found this document useful"On Auschwitz" (10): Living and sanitary conditions as well as camp clothing at Auschwitz 100% found this document useful"On Auschwitz" (4): Transformation of Auschwitz concentration camp into an extermination center 0% found this document usefulEpisode 345-Interview with Joe Lee about his book Forgiveness 0% found this document useful"On Auschwitz" (1): The beginnings of Auschwitz 0% found this document usefulThe Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: Jewish fighters in the Polish capital rose up against the German army in 1943 0% found this document usefulGenealogy Gems Podcast Episode 230: The Story of Roy Thran, and Telling Your Stories 100% found this document useful"On Auschwitz" (16): The research on the number of victims of the camp 0% found this document usefulPreserving Stories Of Holocaust Survivors 0% found this document usefulThe Cold War - Hearts and Minds | 2 100% found this document usefulHiding Anne Frank: The remarkable true story of Miep Gies, who hid Anne Frank and her family. 0% found this document usefulEpisode 264-Black Christmas: The Fall of Hong Kong 100% found this document useful
Related articles
The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz Country LifeArticle
The Boy Who Drew Auschwitz
Jan 27, 2021
4 min readA Discovery Of Holocaust-era Photos Helps A Jewish Family Connect With Its Past NPRArticle
A Discovery Of Holocaust-era Photos Helps A Jewish Family Connect With Its Past
Jan 27, 2022
3 min readSins Of My Grandfather You South AfricaArticle
Sins Of My Grandfather
Feb 21, 2020
10 min readThe Forgotten Haven: Kent Camp That Saved 4,000 German Jews The GuardianArticle
The Forgotten Haven: Kent Camp That Saved 4,000 German Jews
Aug 24, 2019
4 min readMichael Hiltzik: The US Holocaust Museum Is Wrong To Deny How Trump's Racism Resembles Nazism Los Angeles TimesArticle
Michael Hiltzik: The US Holocaust Museum Is Wrong To Deny How Trump's Racism Resembles Nazism
Jul 16, 2019
6 min readSecret Sacrifice: The Agents Who Risked All Behind Nazi Lines The GuardianArticle
Secret Sacrifice: The Agents Who Risked All Behind Nazi Lines
May 31, 2020
4 min readHolocaust Survivor Lily Ebert Uses TikTok To Make Sure We Never Forget The Big IssueArticle
Holocaust Survivor Lily Ebert Uses TikTok To Make Sure We Never Forget
Aug 30, 2021
5 min readAs Nazi Horrors Fade Into History, Some Youths Are Seduced By Hate, Others Will Never Forget Los Angeles TimesArticle
As Nazi Horrors Fade Into History, Some Youths Are Seduced By Hate, Others Will Never Forget
Mar 7, 2019
4 min readApple Tv+ To Produce Masters Of The Air, The Second Band Of Brothers Sequel TechLife NewsArticle
Apple Tv+ To Produce Masters Of The Air, The Second Band Of Brothers Sequel
Mar 13, 2021
3 min read‘The Horrors I Saw Still Wake Me At Night’: The Liberation Of Belsen, 75 Years On The GuardianArticle
‘The Horrors I Saw Still Wake Me At Night’: The Liberation Of Belsen, 75 Years On
Apr 12, 2020
3 min readUntold Stories Of Jewish Resistance Revealed In London Holocaust Exhibition The GuardianArticle
Untold Stories Of Jewish Resistance Revealed In London Holocaust Exhibition
Aug 2, 2020
3 min readFinding Facts In Fiction Family Tree UKArticle
Finding Facts In Fiction
Mar 12, 2021
10 min readBooks & co Family Tree UKArticle
Books & co
Nov 11, 2022
by Rachael English This novel, inspired by true events, tells the story of a mother’s sacrifice to save her child from starvation in the Irish Famine. Young mother Bridget Moloney had faced the heartwrenching experience of leaving her baby daughter
5 min readBOOKS & co Family Tree UKArticle
BOOKS & co
Jun 12, 2020
By Mike Wood Dunkirk and D-Day are both iconic dates in history. And they’re also the bookend dates in Mike Wood’s new book – A Soldier’s Story – about his father’s war years. One of the last men to be evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk, and a wit
6 min readLetters BBC History MagazineArticle
Letters
Apr 16, 2020
If the interview with Simon Jenkins in your March issue (A Welsh Tragedy?) is anything to go by, I suspect his recent Radio 4 documentary – controversially entitled Wales: A Twentieth-Century Tragedy? – was largely based on flimsy anecdotal evidence.
3 min read‘Mother Dear... Remember Me In Your Prayer’ Country LifeArticle
‘Mother Dear... Remember Me In Your Prayer’
Aug 4, 2021
5 min readBooks & gifts Family Tree UKArticle
Books & gifts
Dec 10, 2021
8 min readA Tale Of Two Statues History ScotlandArticle
A Tale Of Two Statues
Aug 14, 2021
11 min readReviews Who Do You Think You Are?Article
Reviews
May 31, 2022
3 min readOnwards, Unknown Soldier Country LifeArticle
Onwards, Unknown Soldier
Nov 4, 2020
THERE was no doubt in the mind of The Times’s leader writer about the significance of the event. The ceremony, he wrote, had been ‘the most beautiful, the most touching, and the most impressive that in all its long, eventful story this island has eve
5 min readWartime Diarist MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military HistoryArticle
Wartime Diarist
May 8, 2018
7 min readReadersʼ Letters The OldieArticle
Readersʼ Letters
Jul 27, 2022
6 min readNew Zealand Books North & SouthArticle
New Zealand Books
Jun 9, 2019
Vincent O’Malley follows his magisterial survey of the war in the Waikato – The Great War for New Zealand – with a concise account of all those conflicts that come under this title. It aims to be, as the blurb elaborates, an “accessible introduction
4 min readMessages Stitched In Time Australian Women’s Weekly NZArticle
Messages Stitched In Time
Jun 15, 2022
4 min readLamsdorf History of WarArticle
Lamsdorf
Dec 27, 2018
5 min readMessages Stitched In Time The Australian Women's WeeklyArticle
Messages Stitched In Time
Jun 15, 2022
4 min readHurrah For The Wavy Navy Country LifeArticle
Hurrah For The Wavy Navy
Mar 9, 2022
5 min readQ&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER History RevealedArticle
Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER
May 12, 2022
8 min readThe Modest Man Shooting GazetteArticle
The Modest Man
Oct 17, 2019
5 min read‘The Village That Died For D-Day’ The FieldArticle
‘The Village That Died For D-Day’
Oct 12, 2023
5 min read
Reviews for The Day the Nazis Came
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
1 rating0 reviews