and powerful new novel. Drawn from archives and survivor testimonies,
historian and biographer Wendy Holden tells the inspirational
and uplifting true story of Fredy Hirsch: The Teacher of Auschwitz.
Title: The Teacher Of Auschwitz
Author: Wendy Holden
Publisher: Bonnier Books, Zaffre
Genre: General Fiction, Historical Fiction, History
Release Date: 16th January 2025
BLURB
Fredy built a wall against suffering in their hearts...
At the dark heart of the Holocaust, there was a wooden hut whose walls were painted with cartoons; a place where children sang, staged plays and wrote poetry. Safely inside, but still in the shadow of the chimneys, they were given better food, kept free of vermin, and were even taught meditation to imagine full stomachs and a day without fear. The man who became their guiding light was a young Jewish prisoner named Fredy Hirsch.
But being a teacher in such a brutal concentration camp was no mean feat. Whether it was begging the SS for better provisions, or hiding his homosexuality from his persecutors, he risked his life every day for one thing: to protect the children from the mortal danger they all faced.
Time is running out for Fredy and the hundreds of children in his care. Can he find a way to teach them the one lesson they really need to know: how to survive?
'Haunting and beautiful. Excruciatingly vivid,
The Teacher of Auschwitz is rigorously researched and true to the
history, powerfully conveying what a smart, loving and energetic man
Fredy was.' Dr Elizabeth Baer, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
'The
closest possible narrative a person who did not experience those times
herself, could have written... which will do justice to Fredy and all
those victims.' Dita Kraus, the real-life inspiration for The Librarian
of Auschwitz and one of the last known survivors of the children's block.
REVIEW
I really like the book cover with the bright yellow butterfly representing freedom, that the Jewish people had in their hand until the Nazis snatched it away. The butterfly would also represent the hope that Fredy tried to give all the children that were ever in his care. The cover image would also fit a scene in the book very well too.
The bright yellow amongst the other more drab colours certainly catches your eye, so I would think the book would stand out on a bookshelf well.
The book’s prologue reveals Fredy’s arrival at Auschwitz and explains the conditions those prisoners had to endure on what was a long journey. All crammed into the carriage with just one bucket of drinking water for the whole carriage. Many died on journeys like this one and Fredy’s carriage was no exception to deaths, hysteria and a mixture of denial and fear. Denial that they could be going any where worse than where they had just been and fear that the rumours they had heard about the mass extermination of Jews was true and that when they got to where ever they were going they would either be immediately murdered or would be worked to death and suffer every day until they died. Those “looking on the bright side” as many valiantly tried to do would be telling those around them that this place could be better, that they wouldn’t be here long as the allies were winning the war etc. Even Fredy had tried to “look for the good” as he always did hoping they were not going to Auschwitz, even though those around Fredy told him what SB6 meant on the transportation paperwork, Fredy had hoped so much they were going to be wrong.
The book then flips back to Fredy’s early life with his family. Fredy didn't have the best or easiest childhood, never feeling he fit in at home or at school, perhaps that's what taught him to always search for the good in what he had and what was around him.
Fredy moves around in an attempt to stay ahead of the Nazis as many Jewish people did at that time. Fredy also realises he is “different” he doesn’t have a girlfriend, nor does he want one. This is something that causes him many problems in the jobs he does with people jumping to the conclusion he is homosexual which at the time was still a controversial topic and of course the Nazis party hated it and threw homosexual people or anyone they suspected of being homosexual into camps. Fredy does date a few women in an attempt to satisfy what was expected of him by those employing him. Fredy has an excellent work ethic and always strives to be as fit and healthy as he can be. He eventually meets and embark on a relationship with Jenda whose family also welcome him. Jenda is somewhat protected by his family and their wealthy status and has yet to really experience racism, anti-homosexuality & the Nazis regime.
Eventually, as with most people the Nazis caught up with Fredy and he ended up in the Thereseinstadt Ghetto. Fredy immediately offered himself forward to Jakob Edelstein, the leader of the Jewish Council there to work with the children and help care for the other people forced to live in the ghetto.
At Auschwitz Fredy helped those around him clamber from the carriages, those Auschwitz prisoners in the striped uniforms try to offer advice and answer questions without drawing the ire of the Nazis who basically want everyone moved and sorted as quickly as possible. When people notice the black smoke coming from two tall chimneys, one comments of the smell wondering what it is, one says it smells rancid, one of the people in the striped uniforms answers 'rotten flesh usually is'.
Fredy tries to help those around him quickly adapt and comply with the harsh orders that are being barked at them by the Nazis. When their heads are shaven, and they are directed to the showers, Fredy hopes its water that comes out of the shower heads not gas. Then clothes thrown at them by those in the striped uniforms, no chance to find sizes just put on what you’re given and be quick about it. Next there’s the line to be tattooed. When a nearby guard hears Fredy speaking, trying to reassure the younger people around him he realises that Fredy is German he instructs Fredy he is exempt from the tattooing. If these Jewish prisoners thought conditions and life were hard in Thereseinstadt they are soon wishing them selves back there. Auschwitz is a concentration camp with one purpose, to exterminate the Jewish people as Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party have decreed.
Fredy helped a lot of children 'escape' the horrors of Thereseinstadt, then Auschwitz in creating as safe a haven as was possible. Then, via the concerts, he & the children performed, he provided some 'relief' from the terrors of the daily life of existing in Auschwitz. Fredy and those he asked to help him taught the children so they did not totally miss out on an education, though doing this was strictly forbidden by the Nazis. Fredy created 'games' that meant the children had some outlet & and escapism, yet by playing the games, there were serious lessons behind them, such as obeying the Nazis. He taught them morals and values, not to steal from each other, to help each other and to respect the older prisoners too. Fredy managed to get as many children as he could way from the harsher conditions and routines of Auschwitz. He is constantly worrying about these young people especially when Dr Mengele shows an interest. Fredy isn’t a push over for the youngsters though and when one breaks Fredys groups rules, he kicks him out of the group.
The book is well written and describes things so well that you can both visualise and almost “feel” the surroundings, such as when Fredy describes the train carriages as 'a coffin on wheels' you can imagine how claustrophobic those inside the carriages must have felt with no option but to stand pressed up against each other. Though the book is fiction it is based on real people and events. If you’ve read Heather Morris books then this book is written in a similar way and is well worth reading. Though these books may be fictionalised they need to be read so the real people and their stories are never forgotten.
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