Lovers in Auschwitz : a true story

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Title:

Lovers in Auschwitz : a true story

Author:

Blankfeld, Keren, author.

ISBN:

9780316564779

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

xi, 388 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

Contents:

Interlude -- Part I: Overture. "Small stuff" -- The end of an era -- "He was bluffing" -- "No one's going to beat them" -- The Jewish codex -- "You go" -- Part II: Aria. An ordinary affair -- "God is with us" -- The number book -- Part III: Duet. The hanging -- An understanding -- "You are my sister-in-law!" -- Orchestra girls -- "Evening in the moonlight" -- "We are going to play" -- "Long live Poland" -- "Don't give up" -- "Always forward" -- Part IV: Interlude. "You are free!" -- White star -- "Are we free?" -- Little Davey -- "How are you still alive?" -- An example for the rest of the world -- Part V: Cadenza. "The loneliness of survival" -- "That's an American" -- "Just the ticket" -- "Ask me anything" -- Isn't life strange -- Epilogue.

Personal Subject:

Spitzer, Zippi.

Wisnia, David S., 1926-

Corporate Subject:

Auschwitz (Concentration camp)

Subject Term:

Jews -- Biography.

Holocaust survivors -- Biography.

Nazi concentration camps -- Germany.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Concentration camps -- Liberation.

Genre:

Biographies.

Summary:

"Zippi Spitzer and David Wisnia were captivated by each other from the moment they first exchanged glances across the work floor. It was the beginning of a love story that could have happened anywhere. Except for one difference: this romance was unfolding in history's most notorious death camp, between two young prisoners whose budding intimacy risked dooming them if they were caught. Incredibly, David and Zippi survived for years beneath the ash-choked skies of Auschwitz. Under the protection of their fellow inmates, their romance grew and deepened, even as their brushes with death mounted and David's luck in particular seemed close to running out. As the war's end finally approached and the time came for them to leave the camp, David and Zippi made plans to meet again. But neither of them could imagine how long their reunion would take or how many lives they would live in the interim. They had no inkling, either, of the betrayals that would await them along the way. But David did suspect that Zippi harbored a secret--one that could explain the mystery of his survival all those years ago. An unbelievable tale of romance, sacrifice, loss, and resilience, Lovers in Auschwitz is a saga of two young people who found themselves trapped inside a waking nightmare of the Nazis' creation, yet who nevertheless discovered a love that sustained them through history's darkest hour."--Amazon.

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	920 BLA	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Wildwood Library (Mahtomedi)	920 BLA	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

The "mesmerizing and inspirational" (Judy Batalion) true story of two Holocaust survivors who fell in love in Auschwitz, only to be separated upon liberation and lead remarkable lives apart following the war--and then find each other again more than 70 years later.

Zippi Spitzer and David Wisnia were captivated by each other from the moment they first exchanged glances across the work floor. It was the beginning of a love story that could have happened anywhere. Except for one difference: this romance was unfolding in history's most notorious death camp, between two young prisoners whose budding intimacy risked dooming them if they were caught.

Incredibly, David and Zippi survived for years beneath the ash-choked skies of Auschwitz. Under the protection of their fellow inmates, their romance grew and deepened, even as their brushes with death mounted and David's luck in particular seemed close to running out. As the war's end finally approached and the time came for them to leave the camp, David and Zippi made plans to meet again. But neither of them could imagine how long their reunion would take or how many lives they would live in the interim. They had no inkling, either, of the betrayals that would await them along the way. But David did suspect that Zippi harbored a secret--one that could explain the mystery of his survival all those years ago.

An unbelievable tale of romance, sacrifice, loss, and resilience, Lovers in Auschwitz is a saga of two young people who found themselves trapped inside a waking nightmare of the Nazis' creation, yet who nevertheless discovered a love that sustained them through history's darkest hour.

Author Notes

Keren Blankfeld is a long-form journalist with a special interest in investigative narrative nonfiction. A former staff writer for Forbes Magazine , her stories have appeared in the New York Times , Forbes , Reuters , The Toronto Star , and others. She teaches reporting and writing at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and has also taught at the New York University's Graduate School. She has been a guest on CNN, BBC World News, and E! Entertainment. In 2013, Keren served as a creative executive at New Regency Productions, where she worked with screenwriters and playwrights to develop material for movies and TV shows. She holds a B.A. in International Relations and English from Tufts University and an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University. She now lives in New York with her husband and two sons.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Journalist Blankfeld debuts with a page-turning account of the unlikely love story between David Wisnia, a Polish Jew from the Warsaw ghetto, and Zippi Spitzer, a Jew from Slovakia, that blossomed amidst the horror of Auschwitz. The two met during a work detail in the prisoner intake area; the only woman stationed there, Spitzer--a smooth operator who had "immediately been strategic in creating connections prisoners and guards"--had talked her way into a position painting the stripes on women's prison uniforms. She eventually became the right-hand woman to the commandants of the women's camp, Birkenau, and, according to Blankfeld, "used her growing influence to shield unhealthy prisoners by giving them positions inside her office." A graphic designer by trade prior to her internment, she made secret copies of rosters and camp diagrams, "hiding the copies in her office in hopes that one day they'd come in handy" for prosecuting Nazi crimes. Separated after the war, Spitzer and Wisnia both made their way to the U.S., where they began new lives. Unbeknownst to Wisnia until they met again, more than 70 years after the war, Spitzer had taken several actions to keep him alive in the camps, including removing his name from crematorium rosters. Fast-paced and novelistic, this is a moving demonstration of the ability to find love in the darkest places. (Jan.)

Kirkus Review

A true tale of love amid unimaginable suffering. Former Forbes writer Blankfeld pieces together the stories of Zippi Spitzer and David Wisnia. The author never met Zippi, but she interviewed David before his death in 2021. However, the author notes that Zippi never spoke of a romance with David before she died in 2018. Hence, there is an odd disconnect, as often happens among Holocaust survivors, regarding how memories are preserved, concealed, and presented. Zippi was born in 1918 in Pressburg, Slovakia (now Bratislava). In 1927, her mother died from tuberculosis, and Zippi and her brother, Sam, were sent to live with other family members. Trained as a graphic artist, one of the few women in the field, Zippi was just getting started as a professional when the Nazis came to power and race laws restricting employment were passed. Meanwhile, David, from the small Polish town of Sochaczew, studied music and opera singing in Warsaw. With Poland conquered and Czechoslovakia broken apart, the Jewish population was deported, and Zippi and David were transported to Auschwitz. Thanks to Zippi's friendship with a Nazi sympathizer who got her a job as an administrator, she was able to receive ample rations and help other women survive. David, barely 18, got preferential treatment because of his singing abilities and worked in "Canada," the warehouse that housed the pilfered clothes and possessions of the transported Jews. As Blankfeld recounts in dramatic prose, their trysts in the clothing warehouse were risky and thrilling. David promised to meet Zippi in Warsaw, though he never appeared; he had become embedded with the U.S. Army, while Zippi became a displaced person. They met again only on her deathbed. Though the author's italicized speculations about Zippi's thoughts and actions may deter some readers, the story is worthwhile. A moving and tragic account with many unresolved elements. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

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