Bau: Artist at War

By: Joseph Bau

Narrated by: Assaf Cohen

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING EMILE HIRSCH, IN THEATERS JANUARY 2025

A classic memoir that is both an inspiring true love story and a historical espionage thriller, Bau: Artist at War comes at a critical moment when the last survivors of the German concentration camps are dying and the Holocaust is slipping from memory. Includes a foreword by Clila Bau-Cohen and Hadasa Bau and an introduction by Sean McNamara, director of the major motion picture of the same name.

In a memorable scene from Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List, viewers the world over witnessed the clandestine marriage of two Jews in the Płaszów concentration camp: Joseph and Rebecca Bau. At once a tale of horror and beauty, Bau: Artist at War is one man’s memoir of a miracle: the bloom of love in the depths of a Nazi concentration camp.

In his painstaking prose, Joseph Bau also shares his experience of other wartime traumas—the bombing of Kraków, the brutality of the ghetto, the harsh last days at Oskar Schindler’s factory—with surprising wit and irony, a tone enhanced by his brilliant black-and-white drawings. Above all, Bau’s story is a celebration of his wife, Rebecca. Married in secret, they had a mutual devotion that fueled their humor, resiliency, and ultimate triumph in the face of unspeakable evil.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2025 Clila Bau-Cohen and Hadasa Bau. Based on Joseph Bau’s 1998 memoir, Dear God, Have You Ever Gone Hungry? (P)2025 Blackstone Publishing

surprised to find less interesting

didn't find it so coherent or compelling, although it's an inherently interesting story from history.

Challenging to follow organization and pacing keep this fascinating story from taking off

Complicated by an obnoxiously optimistic narrator, the audiobook version of this story almost comes across as disrespectful. Meanwhile, the book itself struggles to maintain a coherent and linear plot line, often moving back and forth through time and skipping some of the most important details. For example, the romance of Bau and his wife is summarized in a total of a page, there is no description of how Bau came to know Schindler or how he was placed on his list. The gaping holes in the narrative turn what begins as a compelling story into a series of memories without any linear progression to tie them together.