The Child of Auschwitz by Lily Graham
Genre: Historical fiction
Read: 5th December 2019
Purchase: Amazon
(publication date: 8th November 2019)
★★★★★ 5 stars
"I was born into a world that had forbidden my existence.
The simple fact of me, had any of the authorities known, would have been enough to end my life before it had even begun. Still, I came. Small, and half-starved, yet determined to be alive, on one of the coldest nights in one of the darkest places in human history."
Could a baby been born in Auschwitz and survive? It seems impossible and yet it is true. Generally babies were routinely killed in the camps for they could do no work...in fact they kept their mothers from working. So to both be born and to survive is an incredible tale worth telling. Though fictionalised, THE CHILD OF AUSCHWITZ is a heartbreaking yet brave story based on that of Vera Bein, who gave birth to her daughter Angela on the top bunk in her barracks at Auschwtiz in December 1944.
"I barely made a sound, my underdeveloped lungs unable to allow me to cry. It would make my life hard, a price I would pay for all my years, but it is why I survived.
You see, there were children born in Auschwitz.
And I was one of them."
The story begins in the present day in Prague. An elderly woman is sifting through letters written in another time, another place. Letters her mother had written, telling the story of a story that began long before she was born. It was time. She had put it off for far too long waiting for the right moment to tell this story - her mother's story.
"She put her glasses back on her nose, and turned over a fresh sheet of paper. Then she touched the photograph in its gilt frame that was always on her desk, of a young, thin woman with very short dark hair and a baby in her arms.
She had one last story to tell.
Theirs.
And it began in hell on earth."
Prague, 1938. Eva was a young aspiring artist when she met Michal. She would listen to him play his violin each day and leave him a little something in return. He was a violinist in a symphony orchestra and one day he reciprocated the gift with two tickets to see him play. Michal affectionately called her "peach girl" because of the first gift she had left him was a peach.
It wasn't long before Eva knew she was in love and that they would be married. But there was unrest in Czechoslovakia in light of the Nazi occupation in Austria with Jews being stripped of their basic human rights. But Eva's uncle declared them to be safe and should it come to that they could make their escape.
Amidst all the unrest, Eva and Michal married, taking residence in his little flat, while he played in his symphony and she studied art. But then the Nazis came...and Jews were forbidden to attend school, to own a business, a house - anything.
Prague, 1942. Eva Adami had only been married for twelve months when the Nazis took Michal away. He was sent to Jewish ghetto Terezin, a concentration camp just north of Prague. A few short months later, Eva and her parents followed and she was delighted to be reunited with Michal, and although still separated they were able to see one another frequently. But it wasn't long before Michal was sent to Auschwitz...and Eva was devastated. So when the opportunity arose Eva volunteered to be sent there also...in order to find her husband.
For two days, Eva endured the long train journey with her new friend Sofie Weis, whom she met in Terezin, being treated like nothing short of an animal. She is tired, hungry, thirsty and in shock. For Eva, Sofie and thousands of Jews, nothing could prepare them for the horrors that await them at Auschwitz. They are sorted into groups - right to work, left to the gas chambers - then are told to remove their clothes, standing naked before the guards, their heads are shaved and numbers are tattooed on their arms. Like starving animals they then scramble through a pile of dirty clothing to cover themselves. The nightmare has begun.
Eva and Sofie find comfort in their friendship as life in Auschwitz begins. They have both been separated from loved ones with plans to find them...and they both came to Auschwitz for that purpose. Eva to find her beloved Michal, and Sofie to find her cousin Lotte who betrayed her when she informed the Germans that she and her family were feeling the country, therefore separating Sofie from her baby son Tomas. Lotte had placed Tomas somewhere safe while she was sent here to Auschwitz. And Sofie was determined to find her.
In Auschwitz, Eva and Sofie meet Helga and Vanda, sharing a bunk together in their awful accommodation, with their days spent being lined up and counted twice daily, standing in the freezing cold rain and snow. The guards are cruel, taking great pleasure in humiliating them, making them stand in the cold for hours. But like any prison, there are favours to be had and currency in the form of anything to gain them that favour. Even for the smallest request. Eva and Sofie soon learn the system and how to best take advantage of it to survive. Sofie has caught the eye of one of the guards, Meier, and she uses that to her advantage. So when Eva discovers Michal is in the camp hospital, after months of searching for him, Sofie makes a choice to succumb to Meier's demands so that Eva can spend half an hour with her husband.
Soon the target of an especially nasty guard, Hinterschloss, who takes enormous pleasure in humiliating her, Eva is forced to into doing hard labour on a railway which is a 3km walk away. She is being worked to death, is thin with starvation and malnutrition, and barely has the strength to remain standing. She is then told the distressing news that Michal has been moved to a factory camp where they build airplanes for the Nazis. While Eva would prefer him to be here with her, she knows he is much safer there. And then, not thinking that it was remotely possible, Eva soon discovers that she is pregnant. Eva knows she must hide her pregnancy from the guards, as killing pregnant women had been known to occur.
Then one night, in January 1945, after receiving the most devastating news, Eva goes into labour...and her baby daughter is born on the top bunk of their barracks, her existence hidden from the guards. But she is small, her lungs are under developed and they are sure she will not survive.
Eva and Sofie know that they cannot last much longer in Auschwitz. The conditions are appalling, the food inedible (what there is of it), and if the war doesn't end soon, the are sure they will die there if they cannot get out alive. The two women make a promise to each other that they WILL survive this together, and in the event that they don't that they look after each other's children - to find baby Tomas and to keep Eva's baby safe.
When I started THE CHILD OF AUSCHWITZ, I thought it was going to be primarily about a child growing up in Auschwitz but it was more about the friendships of the women there. Together, they helped each other survive the harsh conditions, offering comfort and words of encouragement. The friendship between Eva and Sofie is one of loyalty as they continually put their lives on the line for each other again and again. It is a story of love, of friendship, of selflessness, extending beyond the confines of the camp and its horrifying conditions.
Told in varying timelines, THE CHILD OF AUSCHWITZ is a novel, not a memoir. Beginning in the present day, the story then unfolds in the dual time of 1938 and 1942 with heartbreaking realism. The flow between the timelines is seamless and is woven together magnificently with such precise detail.
THE CHILD OF AUCSHWITZ is a beautifully written, harrowing tale of unimaginable horrors and abuse that is both heartwrenching and touching. In the midst of the abhorrent conditions this is also a story of hope.
When I began THE CHILD OF AUSCHWITZ I really wasn't sure what to expect, but it left me in tears as I read the final chapters.
A compelling read that is so beautifully written of a harrowing time, THE CHILD OF AUSCHWITZ is both heartbreaking and uplifting...and unforgettable. The best story of Auschwitz I have read and my first by Lily Graham.
I would like to thank #LilyGraham, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheChildOfAuschwitz in exchange for an honest review.
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