The Dressmakers of Auschwitz

Resumen del libro

At the height of the Holocaust twenty-five young inmates of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp mainly Jewish women and girls were selected to design, cut, and sew beautiful fashions for elite Nazi women in a dedicated salon. It was work that they hoped would spare them from the gas chambers.

This fashion workshop called the Upper Tailoring Studio was established by Hedwig Höss, the camp commandant's wife, and patronized by the wives of SS guards and officers. Here, the dressmakers produced high-quality garments for SS social functions in Auschwitz, and for ladies from Nazi Berlin's upper crust.

Drawing on diverse sources including interviews with the last surviving seamstress The Dressmakers of Auschwitz follows the fates of these brave women. Their bonds of family and friendship not only helped them endure persecution, but also to play their part in camp resistance. Weaving the dressmakers' remarkable experiences within the context of Nazi policies for plunder and exploitation, historian Lucy Adlington exposes the greed, cruelty, and hypocrisy of the Third Reich and offers a fresh look at a little-known chapter of World War II and the Holocaust.

Biografía del autor

Lucy Adlington es una historiadora y novelista británica con más de veinte años de experiencia en investigación histórica. Es autora de siete novelas para adolescentes que han sido nominadas y preseleccionadas para la Medalla Carnegie de CILIP, el Premio del Libro de Manchester, el Premio del Libro de Leeds y el Premio del Libro de Rotherham. Su novela La cinta roja se ha convertido en un best seller mundial. También dirige History Wardrobe, una empresa que organiza charlas sobre historia con vestuario de distintas épocas.