999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune Macadam

999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz Reviews

• 
  Heather Macadam

  I have to give it 5 stars. I wrote it!
• 
  Dovilė Filmanavičiūtė

  Mokslininkai įrodė, kad gimus vaikui, motinos smegenyse lieka jo DNR. Kam nėra pasitaikę, kad patekus į pavojų, nusiminus ar ką nors iškrėtus, mama žinojo, kas atsitiko? Bloga naujiena, nelaimingas atsitikimas, įskaudinta širdis - kad ir kas nutiktų, lyg tyčia paskambins ar parašys mama. Ėmiau ir pagalvojau apie tave. Ar viskas gerai?
  Bambukai žydi retai, sykį per 60-100 metų, bet vos pražysta tėvinis augalas, jo atžala - kad ir kur ji pasaulyje būtų - būtinai pražysta drauge.
  Galbūt motiniška intuicija kiek primena bambuką.
  Nesvarbu, kur tuo metu esi - tave ir mamą vis tiek sieja ryšys.
  Tačiau kaip nutiko taip, kad visos Slovakijos motinos, nieko neįtardamos ir nenujausdamos, išleido savo dukras “keletą mėnesių padirbėti valstybės labui avalynės fabrike”?
  Šabo metu, 999, tiksliau 997, nes naciai patys susipainiojo skaičiuose, slovakės paauglės buvo išvežtos į Aušvicą. Tai buvo pirmasis oficialus žydų išvežimas miriop. Ir pirmos išvežtos buvo moterys, kad ir kaip kažkam tai užtušuoti norėtųsi.
  Nežinau kodėl tiek daug skaitau apie Holokaustą.
  Gal vis dar niekaip neįsisąmoninu, kad tai, kas nutiko, buvo realybė, o ne distopinis filmas.
  Patys naciai sakė, kad Dantės pragaro ratai buvo komiški, jei lyginai juos su Aušvicu...
  Tačiau ši knyga sukrečia ne vien dėl detaliai aprašomų žiaurumų, kuriuos periodiškai visiems mums reikia pasikartoti, kad istorija niekada negrįžtų.
  Ši knyga į Aušvicą žvelgia iš moters perspektyvos.
  Tos 997 mirti išvežtos mergaitės buvo apskritu nieku ne tik dėl savo žydiško kraujo, bet ir dėl lyties.
  Nieko žemiau už žydų moterį būti nebegali - taip į vis dar vaikus spjaudė naciai.
  Keletui dienų galvą ištaško suvokimas, kas galėjo dėtis religingos paauglės sąmonėje, nuogai stovint prieš būrį gyvulių, kraujui tenkant kojomis. Didžiajai daugumai pirmos mėnesinės prasidėjo būtent mirties stovykloje, nuo patirto šoko. Toms, kurios išgyveno, kitos mėnesinės prasidėjo tik po karo.
  Ką mergina jaučia, bado dėka sverdama 30 kilogramų, nuskusta plikai, išdraskytais lyties organais, nes neva slėpė brangenybes, po to apskustais tėvo ar brolio?
  Neatpažįstama net geriausių draugių, seserų, pusseserių, nes skendėdama išmatose primena golemą...
  Rankomis griaudama pastatus, valydama sniegą nuo kelio, valgydama padvėsusių rusų arklių mėsos ir supuvusių daržovių sriubą.
  Taip pat čia įdomus ir prižiūrėtojų žvilgsnis.
  Tūkstantis kalinių, atvežtos iš Ravensbriuko kalėjimo, išlieti savo įtūžį, kurio prikaupė atlikdamos savas bausmes. Ar gerumas tokiame pragare įmanomas?
  Ir ypač i�� tokios viso ko vadovės Johannos Langefeld, kurią apibūdina vos viena nuotrauka, kur ji velkasi iš paskos trims esesininkams.
  Pasirodo, apie ją ką tik sukurtas dokumentinis filmas. Turėsiu susikaupti. Nors turiu prisipažinti, kad po knygos jaučiu jai gailestį.
  Teisi Mišele Obama sakydama, kad bet kurią visuomenę galima vertinti pagal tai, kaip ji elgiasi su savo moterimis ir mergaitėmis.
  O ši knyga yra didžiulis indėlis į moterų istorijos archyvą.
  Atraskit savyje jėgų. Perskaitykit.
  Ir parodykit savo paaugliams.
  Tai privalo mumyse užauginti daugiau žmogiškumo vieni kitiems.
• 
  Jane Brewer

  I won this through a Goodreads Giveaway. This is the startling story of the first women to be transported to Auschwitz. I read a lot of Holocaust literature and the story of those who survived (and even those who perished) never ceases to amaze me. Again, the fact that the Nazis went to such great lengths to dehumanize these women is stunning. Why? Just why? I will never understand how these men and women agreed to participate in such awful behavior.
• 
  Natalyn

  Emotional. That's the one word I would use to describe "999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz". Heather Dune Macadam paints a very realistic picture of the lives of these women, based on extensive interviews. Books like this are invaluable.
  
  One thing Macadam does extremely well is making sure her narration is as accurate as possible. It's extremely evident the time and research that went into writing this book. Repeatedly it is noted which things might have been true or which things were foggy in the memories of the survivors. This adds a layer of authenticity to the text that draws readers closer to the subject matter and makes it more personal.
  
  Books like this can tend to be dense and full of despair. Macadams does good work on keeping the story moving, so no one aspect can be overly dwelt upon, but also nothing is overlooked or made to seem less important. The sheer number of subjects within the text makes the story move quickly from girl to girl and story to story. Also, the book has a relatable feeling. Young women with dreams and futures is something most readers can relate to. Leaning into this feeling carries the story like nature of the narrative.
  
  Overall, this book was so good! Macadam takes serious subject matter and presents it in the most interesting way possible: giving names and faces to victims. Macadam makes readers take a moment to truly care and remember and reflect. This book is a must read.
  
  Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the ARC of this book.
• 
  Lisa Vegan

  There were so many people included in this book and I’m afraid and sad that at times I lost track which person was which, despite frequent reminders.
  
  At the beginning in particular I noticed that too much conjecture had to be done the way this story was told. Yes in a way the account can make the reader feel closer to the girls and young women but in another way it’s distancing not knowing how close to reality the account was. As the account went on the book got better and better and it was obvious that the accounts were genuine and there were plenty of details and well as getting a general sense of how things were. Truly horrific. The more I got into the book the more I “enjoyed” it and the more it became a page-turner.
  
  Perfectly done were the testimonies of those who survived, of the family members of those who died, and completely but unfortunately realistically the mystery of what happened to some of the females on this first transport.
  
  Many wonderful photographs are included. There is a large section of them in the middle of the book and there are also others scattered throughout the book.
  
  There are several helpful maps.
  
  I’m glad that this account exists. Much of it was emotionally difficult to read but I’m glad I read it. It’s a worthy addition to non-fiction Holocaust literature and not for the first time only after I read the account did I realize it’s yet another necessary one.
  
  I do not fully understand how some people can withstand so much pain (physical and psychological) and so much terror and that goes for the survivors and the way too many who died at some point, whether early on or toward the end. This account does not shy away from the damage that lasts in people who have been through extreme trauma.
  
  4-1/2 stars
  
  My next book will not be but now/soon I need some lighter reading material.
  
  I need to add that I have read hundreds of Holocaust books, nonfiction and historical fiction, and I had known nothing about this transport and I also learned a tremendous amount of information I never knew before about day-to-day life in the camp (camps and things about life before and after and after the war too) which included very diverse experiences. As far as each individual and relationship that was covered I learned a lot by reading about them.
• 
  Nora|KnyguDama

  Apie nieką nėra prirašyta tiek knygų, kiek apie Antrąjį pasaulinį karą. Tokie buvo du, bet antrojo žiaurumas kur kas labiau kursto autorių kūrybingumą. Tačiau ši knyga kitokia. Tikra. Niekas šitų istorijų neišgalvojo, jos papasakotos iš pirmų lūpų, o jas skaitant net sielą skaudą. Jau nežinau kiek kartų skaitant ašarą braukiau..
  
  Autorė ieškojo su pirmuoju traukiniu į Aušvicą iš Slovakijos išvykusių mergaičių, radusi – dar ilgiau įkalbinėjo dalintis, ne visos sutiko, ne visų giminačiai sutiko pasakoti jau mirusių moterų, atsiminimus, bet užteko ir tos medžiagos, kurią rašytojai pavyko surinkti. Ir 5 žvaigždutes knygai duodu ne dėl emocinio užtaiso, ne iš pagarbos tragedijai ir patirtims. Knyga tikrai gerai parašyta ir sudėliota. Rašytoja labai pasistengė, įsigilino į ieškotus dokumentus, nuotraukas, nukentėjusių moterų sielas ir parašė storą ir vertingą atsiminimą, pamoką, kuri net Aleksijevič braižą priminė.
  
  Nežinau ar reikia pasakoti apie turinį... Jis žiaurus ir visi suprantam apie ką. Čia girdime kartu ir daugybės moterų, o kartu ir kelių pagrindinių kalbėtojų patirtis. Apie badą, kuris išauklėtas žydaites pavertė žvėrimis, apie mirtį, kuri pirmomis dienomis vertė klykti, o vėliau tapo kasdienybe. Apie apgaulę, kuria patikėjo, buvo išvežtos ir vietoj darbo fabrike, stebėjo rūkstančius dujų kamerų kaminus ir alko, sirgo, mirė. Žiauri knyga. Buvo vietų apie vaikus, mamas, tai ten jau verkiau atsakančiai. Labai sukrėtė pasakojančių moterų žodžiai, jog jos niekada negalės perpasakoti pačių žiauriausių nutikimų, įvykių, patirčių.. Atrodo, jau ir tai ką skaitai yra virš suvokimo ribos, o tai kas lieka nutylėta… ? Ne visiems šita knyga, nežinau ar ir pati skaičiau pačiu geriausiu metu – dar dabar knygos epizodai nepaleidžia. Tikrai labai skauda...
• 
  Lectoralila

  Hoy, 27 de enero de 2020, es el 75º aniversario de la liberación de Auschwitz. Y yo quería aprovechar esta fecha tan importante para reivindicar las voces de todas las mujeres del Holocausto. Judías, putas, lesbianas, comunistas. Todas ellas. Porque tienen voz, pero está silenciada. Y como lo que no se nombra no existe, necesitamos libros que recojan sus testimonios. Porque dentro de poco no quedarán supervivientes y sus voces se habrán perdido para siempre.
  ▫️
  Heather Dune ha escrito un trabajo exhaustivamente documentado gracias al cual nos cuenta no solo la vida y destino de las primeras mujeres que fueron deportadas a Auschwitz, también nos narra cómo era la vida en el campo de exterminio para estas mujeres. Cómo empezaron a funcionar las cámaras de gas, los crematorios. Pero me estoy adelantando. Cabe destacar que me ha encantado su forma de narrar. Hay un capítulo en el que a través de los trozos de papel que ella ha podido examinar nos relata durante varias hojas el proceso minucioso de registro de las mujeres. Es capaz, por las manchas de tinta, las faltas, los tachones e incluso la sangría del documento, de contarnos segundo a segundo la actitud del funcionario y de las chicas que estaban haciendo cola nerviosas sin saber qué iba a ser de ellas.
  ▫️
  Las primeras mujeres deportadas a Auschwitz fueron judías eslovacas. Se emitió una orden por la cual “todas las mujeres solteras de entre los dieciséis y los treinta y seis años” debían registrarse el 20 de marzo de 1942 para pasar un examen y ser trasladadas “para comprometerse con un trabajo de tres meses al servicio del Gobierno”. Todas esas mujeres fueron inscritas en un registro para su traslado a Auschwitz. Y ese solo fue el primer transporte de muchos. Sabemos por todo lo que pasaron y cómo fue cada paso dentro de aquel infierno gracias a mujeres como Edith Friedman n° 1970, que sobrevivió. No fue así para la gran mayoría de amigas y compañeras deportadas en el primer transporte.
  ▫️
  Té con bromuro de potasio es lo que desayunaban. Sopa con restos de caballos muertos en el frente es lo que comían. Pan hecho con harina y serrín es lo que cenaban. Eran vestidas con ropas de todo tipo de tallaje de los presos fusilados. Sus ropas tenían agujeros de bala, sangre y excrementos. Tenían calzado de diferentes tallas nada apropiados para las condiciones de vida durante el invierno en Polonia. No disponían de ningún lugar en el que asearse, aún cuando muchas de ellas se pasaban el día esparciendo estiércol con las manos en los campos de cultivo. Y todo esto solo es la punta de las atrocidades por las que pasaron; la punta de las atrocidades para las que consiguieron vivir hasta la liberación.
  ▫️
  Este es un libro que voy a guardar con mucho cariño y mucho cuidado porque sé que volveré a él muchas veces. Es un libro extremadamente duro, pero jodidamente necesario. Espero no solo que lo leáis, también deseo que habléis de él en vuestros círculos y que las voces de todas estas mujeres jamás se apaguen.
• 
  Jennifer (JC-S)

  ‘Why would anyone want to take away teenage girls?’
  
  I did not know what to expect when I read this book. I was unaware that the first official Jewish transport to Auschwitz contained 999 young Jewish women. And, as distressing as it is to read of yet another example of inhumanity, it is important that the stories of these women are not forgotten.
  
  On the 25th of March in 1942, nearly one thousand unmarried Jewish women boarded a train in Poprad, Slovakia. They believed that they would be working for the government for a few months, in a factory. Instead the young women (many still teenagers) were sent to Auschwitz. Few of them would survive. Their government paid 500 Reichsmarks per person for the Nazis to take them as slave labour. These women were powerless, both because they were Jewish and because they were female.
  
  In this book, Heather Dune Macadam reveals some of their stories. To do this, she has drawn on interviews with survivors, witnesses and families and the USC Shoah testimonies. This is a harrowing read. In terms of survival, some work assignments were slightly safer and more comfortable than others. Some women survived, most did not. Illness was almost always a death sentence, as were the whims of the guards. Survival had its own cost for many.
  
  There are few survivors now. And many of us, born after World War II, have limited knowledge of what happened. Accounts such as this are important: we need to remember their lives; we need to acknowledge the horror; we need to acknowledge the failings of so many who allowed (by ignoring what was happening) such a tragedy to occur.
  
  These women were not fighters or prisoners of war. They were young women who thought they were helping the government. They were young women looking to the future. Their stories are important and should not be forgotten. Thank you, Ms Macadam for writing this book.
  
  ‘A novel would end here. It would wrap up with everyone safe and happy and travelling home to be with loved ones. Fiction can do that. Nonfiction cannot. And that is not how wars end.’
  
  Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
  
  Jennifer Cameron-Smith
  
• 
  Karren Sandercock

  On March 25th in 1942, nine hundred and ninety nine teenage Jewish girls boarded a train in Poprad, Slovakia, they and their parents thought they were going to work in a factory for three months. Most of the young women had never left home before, some were really excited and others upset.
  
  Instead they are taken to Auschwitz in cattle cars, they were the first group of women to arrive there and be processed. The young women had to wait in line for hours, made to remove all of their clothes and subjected to a humiliating and brutal medical exam, had their heads shaved and a number tattooed on their arm.
  
  The girls were fed a small serving of soup, which consisted of rotten horse meat and vegetables and a small piece of bread. They were expected to do hard work and with their bare hands, spread cow manure in fields and demolish bombed houses and in all types of weather. The lucky ones worked inside, sorting through new arrivals clothes and in the section called “Canada”. The girls suffered from malnutrition, exposure, frostbite, typhus, and some had medical experiments carried out on them. Towards the end of the war the Germans destroyed documents, evidence and sent the young women on a death march.
  
  I received a digital copy of The Nine Hundred from NetGalley and Hachette Australia in exchange for an honest review. Heather Dune Macadam interviewed survivors, witnesses, relatives and did extensive research to discover what happened to the first group of women sent to Auschwitz and Birkenau. An amazing story about a generation of teenage girls who lost so much and including, their education, health, fertility, and family, many always felt scared, their feelings and hearts were damaged and they suffered from survivor’s guilt.
  
  Like all young women they had hopes and dreams for their future and this was taken from them. A powerful, heartbreaking, moving and inspirational Holocaust story and five stars from me.
• 
  Tammy (Tamarybooks)

  Las 999 mujeres de Auschwitz es un libro que relata como muchas jóvenes judías fueron enviadas engañadas a realizar servicio laboral para el gobierno en la Polonia recién ocupada. El objetivo de la autora es construir una imagen completa del primer transporte "oficial" de judios a Auschwitz. Para ello conversó con varias sobrevivientes quienes les relataron sus vivencias. La autora aclara que si bien la mayoría de la historia es real, se ha tomado licencias dramáticas para complementar la historia y así entregarle inmediatez a su texto.
  
  Esta historia no está escrita a modo de novela, más bien relata los acontecimientos de las sobrevivientes, nos cuenta como vivieron todo el proceso y la gran incertidumbre que se tejió en esos tiempos cuando se da el primero aviso de que las mujeres solteras judías debían ir a trabajar, todas pensaban que irían a una fábrica, pero cuando se dan cuenta de la realidad para ellas fue muy traumático descubrir que fueron llevadas para ser esclavas y que no volverían a su hogar en un par de días como se pensaba en un inicio. De a poco comprendieron que la única manera de que las conservaran, lo que significaba que no las mataran, era trabajando y siendo útil, por lo mismo enfermarse era impensable, ya que comenzaron a darse cuenta que si enfermabas, te mataban. En un principio nadie entendía lo que realmente estaba en juego, ni el verdadero propósito de Auschwitz, hasta que de a poco comenzaron a ver el terrible horror que estaban viviendo.
  
  El libro nos cuenta desde que se llevaron a las mujeres judías hasta que son liberadas. La historia es bastante fuerte, hay varias situaciones de las cuales tenía una noción de lo sucedido, pero acá te la cuentan con detalle, y esos detalles son los que marcan. La autora se encarga de que tomemos conciencia del real horror que vivieron y las horribles experiencias traumáticas que debieron pasar para sobrevivir. Mucha hambre, tratos inhumanos, frío y hacer lo que sea para sobrevivir son algunas de las situaciones que tuvieron que pasar, aunque muchas de ellas admiten que bloquearon gran parte de sus vivencias por lo fuerte que fueron.
• 
  Simon Worrall

  It's rare that you can say "untold story" about the Holocaust, but this really is one - the story of the first official transport of Jews to Auschwitz, and the 999 young girls and women who were taken on it. Most Holocaust history has tended to be male-centric ( think Primo Levi or Eli Wiesel), so until now the story of these young women had been ignored. Using previously overlooked archives in Slovakia, and the testimonies of survivors and their children, Ms. Macadam, an award winning Holocaust biographer, has created a multi-narrative story that reads like a novel, yet never distorts the facts ( unlike novels like The Tatooist of Auschwitz). In the age of Boko Haram and the #MeToo movement, the story of these girls as we follow them from freedom to slavery and oppression is particularly timely. Passionately told, deeply moving and, despite the nature of the material, uplifting, this book is set to become an instant classic.
• 
  Staci

  Nearly 1,000 young women traveled from Slovakia to Auschwitz. They believed they were going to work for three months in a shoe factory.
  
  The author shows what their lives were like prior to March 1942, which seemed very ordinary. These young women/teenagers went from one day living normal lives filled with friends and family to having their heads shaved in Aushwitz days later. It is alarming how quickly it all happened. Their families had no idea what was happening to their daughters and sisters.
  
  The details shared during their three years in Auschwitz were horrifying. Although this was not a surprise, there were things learned that I wasn't previously aware of.
  
  Rather than ending this story with liberation, the author goes on to show the challenge of finding a new home, reconnecting with any surviving family members and the mental and physical effects of their confinement.
• 
  Catherine

  I was going to say that this book was amazing. After I typed it, before deleting, I realized that that word didn't even touch what this book is. We pay huge amounts of money to go to theaters and see horror movies. These 999 women, and all that came after, lived it, morning, noon and night for years; If they survived. A miracle achievement compiling this information for us. Thank you Heather Dune Macadam.
  I firmly believe that these stories, the stories of genocides and slavery should be taught to all children of all persuasions. If this were the practice, there would be so much less hatred in the world.
  
  This was a Goodreads Giveaway.
  I will re-read this book...more than once.
• 
  Amanda - Mrs B's Book Reviews

  
  https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com
  
  
  The story uncovered by Heather Dune Macadam in The Nine Hundred charts an unbelievable, but sadly true account of the first female transport of young Jewish women to Auschwitz. A story of horror, pure survival, heroism and courage, The Nine Hundred is a text carefully rooted in copious research, as well as moving testimonies.
  
  The date of March 25th 1942 is an important one, etched on the minds of survivors and loved ones left behind when a convoy of almost 1000 young Jewish women were placed on a train bound for a government shoe factory. In reality, these unmarried young Jewish women in their prime were headed for the extermination epicentre of World War II, Auschwitz. Sadly, these young women were unaware of their horrific destination. Many were proud to be called up for government service and they were happy to say goodbye to their families in favour for doing their bit for the war. Earmarked as slave labour for an evil plan to create and populate a death camp, only a small group of this remarkable set of women would end up walking free from Auschwitz. The author of The Nine Hundred, Heather Dune Macadam, had a big task ahead of her in committing to this book. We discover that both evidence and facts are missing from the history books on this important first transport. Therefore, it is difficult to unveil a complete story from this evidence available. However, what The Nine Hundred reveals is an extraordinary account of a group of women who were persecuted for their gender, age, location, religion and culture. Their stories are incredibly moving, plucked from a host of historical advice, first hand interviews, eye witness accounts and stories of relatives left behind. The Nine Hundred earns a place on the shelves of literature available to those seeking to learn more about the Holocaust experience.
  
  The Nine Hundred is a 2020 publication from Hachette Australia. There is also an accompanying feature documentary film based on the experiences relayed in this book. I am keen to get my hands on this when it becomes available. The author of The Nine Hundred, Heather Dune Macadam, has an impressive resume that puts her in a good standing to pen a text based on the first female transport to Auschwitz. Heather Dune Macadam’s debut novel Rena’s Promise outlines a very personal account of the first female transport experience. The author is clearly very passionate about her subject matter and she has worked hard to fight against Holocaust denial. With her active involvement in various foundations, advisory boards, along with her work as both a director and producer on the documentary film on the 999, I think that Heather Dune Macadam is more than qualified to conduct a comprehensive historical account of the first female transport experience to Auschwitz.
  
  The Nine Hundred is an essential and pertinent guide to the first female transport to Auschwitz. Told over three parts, with a homecoming, afterword, one final word, list of photographs, illustrations, archives, source notes, bibliography, acknowledgments and an index, this is a very detailed text. The Nine Hundred is preceded by a moving forward by Caroline Moorehead, an author’s note and a list of principal figures on the first transport.
  
  Heather Dune Macadam had an insurmountable task ahead of her when she first committed to providing a historical account of this pinnacle first female transport. She acknowledges this in her author notes. I felt the burden, the pressure and the urgency to get these stories out to the general public. It seems inherent that we continue to bring these stories to the floor. In texts such as The Nine Hundred, there is the double hope that the Holocaust will never be forgotten and never repeated again. In The Nine Hundred, we hear the stories of many on this transport and I am sure there were more that have been lost in time. The information at hand is presented in a factual, compelling, personal and sensitive manner.
  
  I was shocked, surprised and dismayed yet again to learn of the harrowing and cruel practices of the government and Nazi party. The move to recruit a large portion of young Jewish women from Slovakia for a government shoe factory, when they were actually being sent to the hell zone of Auschwitz was incredibly underhanded. Even the act of making the women send postcards home as a rouse to conceal the real experience they were facing was utterly appalling. This is just a dip in the ocean as to the horrible situations faced by these women who were robbed of everything. To think that any of them managed to overcome their ordeal and survive begs belief, but they did, which gives us hope.
  
  Heather Dune Macadam is very conscious of her need to explore the backgrounds of the women on this first transport. She gives the reader a solid understanding of their roots and their feelings in selflessly giving up their lives for national service. Heather Dune Macadam provides a blow by blow account of the process of the travel and transportation arrangements, along with the women’s arrival to Auschwitz. The Auschwitz chapter is revealed in finite detail, with information taken directly from the author’s vast collection of primary and secondary sources. Both vivid and informative, the reader will be moved to tears by these tragic experiences. Finally, a glimpse into the aftermath of Auschwitz is exposed. We learn of the death marches and the rush to exterminate as the allies made their presence known. We also learn of the liberation process and the early days of recovery for the survivors. A focus on justice and resettlement forms the final backbone of the novel, along with a look at the legacy these figures left on history.
  
  The Nine Hundred is pertinent, paramount and indispensable. It exposes a dark wing in our past, a history that should not be rewritten, but continued to be aired.
  
  *Thanks is extended to Hachette Australia for providing a free copy of this book for review purposes.
• 
  Olivia

  One of the most eye-opening book I've read about Auschwitz 💔 this is a devastating read, but a necessary one.
• 
  Justina Neliubšienė

  ,,Kol tau nereikia rinktis tarp valgio ir bado, šalčio ar šilumos, maldos ar vagystės, negali nė įsivaizduoti, kam ryžtumeis, kad tik išgyventum. Prieš pavagiant galima ir maldelę sukalbėti - Viešpatie, atleisk, kad vagių šios merginos antklodę, nes kažkas pavogė manąją. Dieve, atleisk tai, kuri pavogė man skirtą Raudonojo Kryžiaus paketą, kad ji galėtų pavalgyti, o aš - ne.'' Skaudi, jautri, bet manau kiekvienas turim paskaityti tokią knygą.❤️
• 
  Sarah

  Absolutely amazing. I'll admit all the names in the beginning made it hard to follow, but once I got a grasp of that, I'm so glad I didn't give it up. What these women were put through is heartbreaking and Heather Dune Macadam did an excellent job of helping us to see it.
• 
  Jen Juenke

  I have read a TON of Holocaust books about survivors and have even read the definitive work of Martin Gilbert, however, this book provided a great light upon a part of the Holocaust that I had not read much about.
  This book is about the ladies of the first transport to Auschwitz. They were promised to work for 3 months and then sent home. Most did not survive.
  Some, some of the lucky did survive.
  This book is about the choices that they had to make, the hard reality of their situation (watching loved ones taken to the gas chamber) and then freedom.
  It was overwhelming, yet I felt that I must bear witness.
  I learned something new and I am grateful to the author for telling a new side of the Holocaust story.
• 
  Schmimmerock

  I told myself I would stop reading Holocaust literature for a while after finishing
  The Child of Auschwitz. I've been fighting a book slump by reading on familiar topics, reading books that I've always enjoyed reading. So, in my hopes to return to what I know in regards to reading, I've been diving into a lot of very easy, fluffy romance novels, and then again into a lot of very difficult, heavy Holocaust fiction and nonfiction.
  
  So it's been fun.
  
  I decided to read this anyway because even with how much I've read and studied WWII and the Holocaust, the events leading up to and following, and everything in between, I knew of the 999 in name only. Nearly a thousand unmarried Jewish girls and women boarded a train departing Poprad in March of 1942, feeling spirited, no doubt, as they headed for what they believed to be a few months of work service.
  
  This was the first ever transport of Jews to Aushwitz.
  
  One thousand women were sold by their own government to Germany as slave labor. They would arrive in Aushwitz on March 26, and while at the time of their arrival it wasn't the Nazi center of mass extermination that it would grow to be by its end in 1945, the women of the first transport would be forced to build that camp. It was not the work they expected when they left the warmth and comforts of their homes, to say the least. Of the 999, only a handful would survive the three years at the camp.
  
  Dozens of books, articles, essays, and accounts, and this is the first thing I've read about the first transport, this first deportation. This is such a disservice to these women, to the small but mighty few survivors, to the legacy of the 999 Jewish women who went on that train, most of whom never made it back home.
  
  Macadam's book is excruciatingly detailed, thoroughly well-researched, and at its heart, a surprisingly hopeful story of survival. I think that might be why, in spite of the heartbreak they inspire, I keep coming back to Holocaust narratives. There is a thrum of hope in every single one, because while you cannot open one without encountering some of the worst humanity and history have to offer, the other side of it is that we get to hear about the survivors. In every tale of pain, suffering, and loss, there is the relentlessness of the human spirit, there is humanity's sheer will to survive and thrive, even in places created to strip people of their identities, of their humanity, and there is hope.
  
  It isn't an easy book to read, but then I don't think anyone considering reading this thinks they are signing up for a lighthearted read. Still, I feel a sense of obligation to these women to hear out their stories. The suffering they experienced is difficult to comprehend, but I feel we owe it to these women to read about them, to remember them as the bright young women they were, who had families and dreams and so much potential. To honor the memory of the 999, the first ones to go.
  
  Macadam does the very difficult subject matter justice. She isn't overly sentimental, doesn't embellish, and really it's an amazing feat that she has as much information to offer to us as she does given just how little is actually known of the first transport. As is the run with this sort of book, it was compelling and emotionally charged and a bit of work to finish. More importantly, it was absolutely meticulous in the research. I cannot emphasize enough how impressed I am with the obvious, exhaustive amount of effort that Macadam poured into these pages. If you only read one more book about the Holocaust, only have it in you for one more story about the horrors of Auschwitz, make it this one.
  
  Thank you so very muchly to NetGalley, Heather Dune Macadam, and Citadel Press for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Lucia Nieto Navarro

  Novela histórica, narrada de una forma sencilla, agil y fluida que hace que se lea fácilmente, aunque los temas que trata no sean tan fáciles de leer, de hecho, ha habido en algún momento que he tenido que para y respirar para procesar todo lo que el ser humano es capaz de hacer…
  La novela trata sobre el primer transporte hacia Auschwitz, las primeras 999 mujeres Eslovacas que salen hacia Auschwitz, bueno, en realidad muchas eran niñas, niñas que tienen que convertirse en mujeres de la noche a la mañana.
  Es verdad que no se sabe realmente el numero exacto de personas que llegaron a Auschwitz durante los años 1941 y 1944, ni cuantas personas murieron allí. En esta novela, la autora, después de su gran investigación, tras entrevistas a supervivientes y familiares, sabe que 999 mujeres eslovacas entre 16 y 35 años las “recogieron” de sus casas diciéndoles que iban a trabajar para el Gobierno en Polonia y que solo estarían fuera durante tres meses.
  Muchos se preguntaban que por qué elegían a mujeres, habiendo hombres que podían también trabajar y ellas podrían quedarse en casa, todo era muy confuso y nadie decía nada más, pero todas tenían que cumplir. Es aquí cuando empieza todo, la sorpresa a la llegada al campo, como capitulo a capitulo nos va contando los horrores que sufrían cada una de las mujeres, como con el tiempo iban consiguiendo “trabajos” mejores, como sobrevivían al tiempo, a la falta de comida, a las enfermedades…. Como la amistad en estos casos es una cosa prescindible, la ayuda de unas a otras… también nos habla de la gente que iba llegando poco a poco, y de la marcha final a otros campos cuando Auschwitz estaba a punto de desaparecer…
  Las supervivientes que vuelven a casa, se encuentran solas, sin familia, sin hogar, nos cuenta el después de muchas de ellas, y lo realmente difícil que fue todo, no todas son capaces de hablar de ello, por eso la principal informante a nuestra autora es Edith Grosman, una superviviente de 94 años que aporta muchísimos datos.
  Hay capítulos realmente duros, pero que merece mucho la pena leer, siempre digo que esta época de la historia es muy muy dura pero que es necesaria para que no vuelva a ocurrir. Me ha gustado mucho la parte final, donde se recopilan un montón de fotos, y los agradecimientos que hace la autora.
  Si te gusta el tema, es necesario leer esta gran historia.
  
• 
  Ausra Maldeikiene

  Skaičiau ir nuolat mąsčiau, kokia esu laiminga. Nepelnytai laiminga niekad nemačiusi panašių žiaurių kataklizmų ir jų nepatyrusi.
  
  Tai, ką turėjo pergyventi šios knygos herojės — Slovakijos mergaitės iš gerų darbščių mylinčių žydų šeimų vieną dieną nieko neįtardamos išplėštos iš šeimų ir įmestos į Aušvico pragarą, nesuvokiama.
  
  Bet knyga tikrai padeda pajusti jų siaubą ir gėlą, bei dar ir dar kartą primena : joms irgi reikia dėkoti, kad galime gyventi.
  
  Ar verta skaityti? Taip, tikrai. Tiesa, eiti su mažomis mergaitėmis, praktiškai vaikais, jų kančių keliu yra psichologiškai sudėtinga.
  
  Dar kartą labai suskaudo širdį dėl mano Katalikų Bažnyčios vaidmens per Holokaustą. Kaip ir Lietuvoje, Slovakijoje dalis Bažnyčios žmonių ne tik neužstojo žydų, bet ir rėmė smurtą ir grobė išniekintų ir nukankintų žmonių turtą.
  
  "Žmonės klausia, ar tai, kas dedasi — krikščioniška. Ar tai žmogiška? — porino jis [tuometis Slovakijos prezidentas J. Tiso, beje, katalikų kunigas — mano pastaba] Holyčiaus krikščionimis, visai neseniai likusiems be kaimynų žydų. "Ar tai ne paprasčiausi plėšimai?" Sutraškėjo mikrofonas. "Tačiau aš klausiu: argi ne krikščioniška slovakų tautai norėti nugalėti amžinąjį priešą — žydą? Argi tai ne krikščioniška? Viešpats įsakė mylėti save patį, ir šį meilė iš manęs reikalauja vyti šalin visa, kas man kenkia, kas kelia grėsmę mano gyvybei. Aš tikiu, kad niekam nereikia perdėtai įrodinėti, jog Slovakijos žydai visuomet kėlė mums grėsmę — vargu, ar ką nors reikia stengtis tuo įtikinti". Džiugiai šūkaudami miestiečiai mojo javų pėdais" (p.216)
  
  Tiesa kita: nieko negali būti toliau nuo Kristaus mokymo, nei šitie žodžiai.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Nissa

  This was a very informative and descriptive book. I felt sorry for all of the pain and suffering that these heroic young Jewish girls had to endure during the Holocaust in WWII Europe. These girls had great strength and courage. I urge everyone to read this book and especially needs to be told to the younger generations although very sad because of what they went through. I would highly recommend this book if you like to read Holocaust literature.
• 
  Theresa

  On March 25, 1942, only two months following the Wannsee Conference, 999 young, unmarried Slovakian women heeded the call of their government and boarded a train. Rather than being sent off to provide three months of government service in a factory, then returning home to their families, they were thrown into the hell on earth known as Auschwitz. These women had numbers between 1,000 and 2,000 tattooed on their forearms - very low numbers, compared to the great many more victims that would follow them, including many of other own family members.
  
  They were immediately placed on a starvation diet, forced into slave labor, and dehumanized in every way imaginable (and unimaginable). Living in unbearable conditions, these women started dying. Two-thirds of these women died before the end of December 1942. As 1943 and 1944 unfolded, these young women once filled with great hopes and dreams of the future experienced more death and misery. Their bonds of friendship and desire to support and encourage each other, however, remainder strong - and it is through these bonds that those who survived where able to survive.
  
  Those women still alive by mid January 1945 earned the ability to participate in a death March. These remaining few opened the camp, survived three years of camp life, and closed the camp. At the War's end, most did not have a home or living family members waiting for them. As true survivor's, though, they went on living and found ways to create new futures for themselves. Whether these young women on this first official Jewish transport perished in Auschwitz or survived, Heather Dune Macadam wrote this book so that their stories could be told and that they may be remembered. These women, each amazing in her own right, must be remembered!
• 
  Tamara Viajando Entre Libros

  Con este libro tengo sentimientos encontrados. Se trata de un libro verdaderamente duro, donde la escritora nos contará la vida de las primeras mujeres que llegaron a Auschwitz, como llegaron allí, como murieron, como sobrevivieron y todas las atrocidades inimaginables que se pudieron encontrar. Unas adolescentes judías que, a través del engaño, fueron conducidas hasta la peor de sus pesadillas.
  El trabajo de documentación es espectacular, la autora explica todo lo que es cierto con pelos y señales ofreciéndonos datos exactos además de aclarar todo aquello que puede no ser del todo correcto.
  No se trata de una novela, sino más bien son unas memoras que Heather consiguió elaborar durante un gran periodo de tiempo y en parte gracias a aquellas mujeres que contra todo pronóstico sobrevivieron y le contaron a la escritora todo lo que vivieron allí además de todos los sentimientos que tuvieron y que siguen teniendo.
  Pero por otro lado, aunque en parte entiendo a Heather, quiso que cada una de esas mujeres tuviera su espacio y fuera reconocida en este libro contando la historia de cada una de ellas, lo que finalmente, provoca que tantísima información y tantísimos nombres, resulte abrumador y a veces difícil de seguir el hilo.
  Me ha gustado mucho las fotografías que va incluyendo a lo largo del libro de estas mujeres y su familia. Otro punto que he disfrutado del libro es el final; cualquier libro sobre el Auschwitz terminaría con la liberación de estas mujeres, pero Heather, va más allá y nos contará que hicieron cada una de ellas y como estas atrocidades acabaron influyendo en su vida.
• 
  Laura Oliva

  Una lectura impactante...
  
  Las 999 mujeres de Auschwitz es una lectura muy fuerte, la autora nos presenta una investigación del primer tren que llevo a 999 mujeres a Auschwitz desde Eslovaquia, esta datada desde 1942 cuando Eslovaquia era aliada y protegida de Alemania, fue irónico ya que estas mujeres prácticamente fueron vendidas a la Alemania nazi, sin embargo, con los años, Eslovaquia quedo en deuda con Alemania ya que este país exigió que Eslovaquia pagara por las deportaciones de judíos provenientes de este país por el esfuerzo de reubicación en campos de concentración, ¡Locura total! En marzo de 1942 llego un comunicado a Eslovaquia en el que se exigía que las mujeres de entre 16 y 36 años se presentaran en establecimientos específicos para ser seleccionados y posteriormente ser llevadas a un servicio de trabajo por su país, nadie sabia lo que les esperaba. Estas mujeres eran judías, muchas de familias ortodoxas, y varias estaban emocionadas por la oportunidad de trabajar y salir de sus ciudades. Cuando llegaron a Auschwitz las cosas se tornaron duras, fueron rapadas, depiladas, obligadas a desfilar desnudas, a vestir ropa de soldados rusos muertos, privadas de higiene y alimentación, tuvieron que aprender a sobrevivir. Estas mujeres eran vigiladas por otras 999 mujeres provenientes de la prisión de Ravensbruck, algunas eran buenas otras no.
  
  La autora logra redactar ese libro con la ayuda de los archivos del Holocausto, identificando a estas primeras mujeres que llegaron a Auschwitz, Edith Friedman es la principal voz de esta historia, entre otras que nos esquematizan los hechos de ese entonces. Los trabajos que fueron obligadas a realizar eran duros, en condiciones de poco o nula higiene contraían enfermedades que en muchos casos las llevaban a la muerte, pero cada vez empezaban a llegar mas trenes con mas gente que tornaba las cosas mas difíciles, era fácil reconocer a estas mujeres ya que sus números solo eran de 4 dígitos, después de una sobrepoblación estas fueron enviadas a Birkenau o Auschwitz II, donde siguieron siendo testigos de la llegada de mas gente, de la selección a la que eran expuesta y vieron morir a sus familiares y amigos.
  
  Obtener trabajos que exigían menos esfuerzo era un privilegio, asistente en la enfermería, costura, selección de pertenencias (sector "Canadá"), y marcaba la diferencia de vivir o morir. Este libro describe en la parte final, al termino de la guerra, como los soldados rusos, americanos, etc, se aprovechaban de su poder, escenas muy tristes son relatadas en este libro respecto del tema, este hecho muestra las desventajas de la guerra para con las mujeres. Otro capitulo que destaco es el 5 donde se presenta el uso de la mitología pagana de Hitler para manipular a las multitudes y como Himmler consideraba que "la astrología estaba científicamente justificada y era de los mas precisa", hipótesis que particularmente no tenia en cuenta, y es muy interesante encontrar este tipo de información.
  
  Se trata de una lectura altamente recomendable, toda la información relatada es valiosa y destaco la dirección que toma la autora al contarnos esta historia.
• 
  Polly

  3.5 There were a lot typos and errors that were distracting. Also, the author at times forced sentimentality that I found manipulative. The Holocaust and what these women went through was horrific and heartbreaking enough and there was no need to manipulate the reader by some hackneyed ploy to fictionalize what might have happened.
• 
  N.L. Brisson

  If you decide to read 999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune Macadam, read it with a whole box of tissues handy. This is not because, as in fiction, authors know how to engage our emotions; this is a nonfiction book and the tears will be real. Despite all the times authors have written about the Holocaust, this story still has the power to horrify us, to remind us of the heroic efforts it took to survive this unimaginable cruelty and brutality, to make us wonder if we would have been a survivor, and to force us to accept that the right set of circumstances could possibly turn any one of us into a monster.
  
  Macadam was studying the first transports to Auschwitz in 1942. She learned that a notice went out in Slovakia that spring requiring 999 young teen girls to pack a bag and report for a physical exam. The notice said that they were going to be employed somewhere just outside Slovakia and would return home in 3 months. A few parents tried to hide their daughters because they could not understand why the government was taking girls. But in the end 997 girls were collected and parted from their parents and from all they knew. Macadam made extensive use of the USC Shoah Archive and the official records in Israel to track down the girls who survived this first transport. Although rumor had it that the girls were going to a shoe factory, they actually were taken to occupy the first buildings at Auschwitz. Their small suitcases were confiscated and they were given the uniforms of dead soldiers to wear and some were given black and white striped dresses. On their feet they had homemade clumsy sandals which they called clackers.
  
  Some of the survivors could not talk about their experiences, some could not remember the details because their minds had blocked them, but there were survivors who felt it was important to tell people what had happened in those camps. How anyone survived I cannot say. The treatment of these girls was insane and inexplicable, apparently only possible because the Nazi’s were convinced that Jewish people were less than human. But they did what they did under conditions of great secrecy, so clearly they knew well how the world would judge them. After these girls, transport after transport of young Jewish women were delivered to Auschwitz, and they, in fact, cleared the ground for the entire concentration camp by hand, without coats in winter, in those awful homemade sandals, and thousands died.
  
  This is the most authentic book I have read so far about Auschwitz and the ‘Final Solution’ given that Macadam spoke with people who had lived there and experienced that nightmare. The slightest small misstep, a bout of illness, an injury could result in death. Eventually the girls with the lowest numbers were given indoor work in Canada, which was the name given to the buildings where confiscated Jewish belongings were sorted. This decision may have been the only reason some of these girls survived. The thing that saved their lives put them right next to the crematoriums which had now been built and operated day and night when transports arrived, eventually leaving people off almost at the entrance to the ovens. The girls could see their relatives and neighbors lined up to be killed. The ashes of other Jews filled the air they breathed. Even the comfort of an indoor job held horror.
  
  When I read The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris, I was skeptical of the things the author recounted. I also tended to see Jewish people in the camps who had light duty as possible collaborators. The girls who survived have a lot of guilt about things they did in the camps, but most of them offered a kindness when they could without putting their own life or their own survival in jeopardy. There were girls who were given power as a building supervisor, and some of these girls were dangerous and mean, but the things the girls on this first transport out of Slovakia felt guilty about were unavoidable. Now I believe that Heather Morris was just recounting a story that a survivor told her and that it was most likely as trustworthy as memories of such trauma can be. I read books about the Holocaust because it is the least I can do to honor those who lived through those inhuman camps. But also, so I will always remember that if one deranged human could decide to commit mass murder based on hate or jealousy, or some pathological construct, then it could happen again.
• 
  Kirsty

  I studied the Second World War and the Holocaust extensively whilst at school and University, and have been lucky enough to visit Holocaust museums and memorials all around the world, from Poland and Hungary to Australia. It is a subject which I keep coming back to, time and again, particularly as more scholarly books and works of memoir are published. As an historian, it is so important to me to learn as much as I can about different periods in history, and about the many causes and triggers which led to a particular situation.
  
  In The Nine Hundred, Heather Dune Macadam has chosen to focus upon a particular instance and group of women whom I knew little about - those who were sent on the first official Jewish transport to the Auschwitz concentration camp. In Poprad, Slovakia, in March 1942, almost one thousand young and unmarried Jewish women, many of them teenagers, boarded a train. They were "asked" to 'commit to three months of government work service', and believed that they were going to be working in a factory, before coming back to their families. With a 'sense of adventure and national pride' they set off. Only later did they realise what was in store for them, and many had to watch whilst their families were also forced to Auschwitz, and sent straight to the gas chambers. By the end of 1942, two thirds of the women on this first convoy had been murdered, and just a handful survived the war.
  
  The Slovakian government despicably paid 500 Reichsmarks - or about £160 or $200 apiece - for the Nazis to take these young Jewish women away, and use them for slave labour. As news travelled slowly around rural Slovakia at that time, the announcements were staggered, and no immediate warnings could be made before more women were taken away. Macadam writes: 'All over Slovakia, the same notices were being posted and simultaneously heralded by town criers clanging brass bells or banging drums. The only variable between communities was where the girls should go: firehouse, school, mayor's office, bus stop. The rest of the news was the same...'.
  
  Relatively little is known about this initial transport, but Macadam has pieced together so many sources, from consulting with historians to the relatives of these first deportees. She has also interviewed as many survivors as she could firsthand. She writes that knowing about these women is 'profoundly relevant today. These were not resistance fighters or prisoners of war... Sent to almost certain death, the young women were powerless and insignificant not only because they were Jewish - but also because they were female.'
  
  The foreword to the volume has been written by historian Caroline Moorehead, whose book, A Train in Winter, I loved. She comments that in The Nine Hundred, Macadam 'has managed to re-create not only the backgrounds of the women on the first convoy but also their day-to-day lives - and deaths - during their years in Auschwitz.'
  
  Alongside the wider historical context, which she covers excellently, Macadam has taken the decision to focus upon as many of the individual women in this transport as was possible. This means that what we read as a result is concurrently a shared experience, and a solitary one. In her author's note, Macadam explains: 'This book would not be a memoir... It would be about all of them, or as many as I could find information on and fit into this complex history.' She goes on to write: 'It is a great honor and privilege to be a part of these women's histories, their champion and their chronicler.'
  
  I liked the way in which Macadam has structured The Nine Hundred. It is a work of non-fiction, but some of the writing reads more like that of a novel, allowing one to become involved with the individuals immediately. Macadam begins her narrative in the incredibly cold winter of 1942, just before the girls were snatched from their homes. At this time, rumours were beginning to fly around Slovakia's small towns and villages: 'Flames of doubt and uncertainty were quenched by reason. If the rumor was true, the most reasonable said, and the government did take girls, they wouldn't take them far away. And if they did, it would only be for a little while. Only for the spring - when and if spring ever arrived. If, that is, the rumor was true.' Macadam goes on to recap many of the restrictions and laws made against Jewish people in Slovakia before this point, which ranged from being 'forbidden to reside on any main street' in a town, and being banned from having pets, to having to deposit their fur coats with the right-wing Hlinka Guard, and the denial of operations at any hospital.
  
  The Nine Hundred is an invaluable resource, which has a real quality of immediacy about it. It goes without saying that the content of Macadam's book is shocking and horrific, and I did find some of it very difficult to read. The author demonstrates real strength in setting the scene, and in giving appropriate background information whenever it is needed. One gets the sense, from the very beginning, that Macadam cares deeply about each of these girls, and she handles the portrayal of each expertly. The Nine Hundred is heartbreaking, but learning about these brave women, many of whom were forced to abruptly grow up and face so many horrors, is a powerful and moving privilege.
• 
  Ryan Buckby

  There have been so many stories told about the Holocaust and so many i've only just discovered in recent years and this one is definitely one that i think needed to be talked about. This is about the heartbreaking first transport of 999 women who were giving the summons to leave their families behind those from the ages of 16-30s who were all unmarried were all chosen.
  
  I don't think there have been many recounts of the first transports in the early days of the war and i'm glad that Heather got in touch with some survivors or relatives along with solid information that was collected from the war to collect a story about these extraordinary women. Hearing different stories that were all intertwined within this story was truly remarkable and I can never imagine to this day why humans can do this to other humans. The Nazi's were truly horrible people who did some unthinkable things and the way they treated jewish prisoners just makes my stomach lurch and my blood boil.
  
  This story was written in three different parts to give the reader a clear idea of the beginning, the duration of the war and the homecoming or lack thereof for a lot of these women. I am so thankful that there are some of these women still alive today to be able to tell their stories of being in the camps for so long and still managing to overcome starvation, sickness and the relentless beatings of the Nazi soldiers. The one thing that sticks with me for all of these stories that so many people were left orphaned or having their entire family wiped out during this horrific period of human history and I can never prepare myself for what i know has already happened however it really never does.
  
  
  I really learned a lot about how the first transports were thought of and how the initial days of the camps were established which i've never really had the perspective of. The all too familiar day to day life inside the camps that always makes me feel so sick to just read i can never imagine how these people had so much strength to get through it. I also found interesting how the survivors after the camps were liberated and how the re-homing and other processes took place to help those who no longer had a home.
  
  
  I am truly grateful to the woman who are still alive today who told their stories for the world to know and get a sense of how their lives were changed. Thank you so much for telling your stories of not only your own but lending a voice to those who perished in the camps you're all truly remarkable people.