The extraordinarily moving memoir by Australian Slovakian Holocaust survivor Magda Hellinger, who saved an untold number of lives at Auschwitz through everyday acts of courage, kindness and ingenuity.
In March 1942, twenty-five-year-old kindergarten teacher Magda Hellinger and nearly a thousand other young Slovakian women were deported to Poland on the second transportation of Jewish people sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. The women were told they'd be working at a shoe factory.
At Auschwitz the SS soon discovered that by putting Jewish prisoners in charge of the day-to-day running of the accommodation blocks, camp administration and workforces, they could both reduce the number of guards required and deflect the distrust of the prisoner population away from themselves. Magda was one such prisoner selected for leadership and over three years served in many prisoner leader roles, from room leader, to block leader – at one time in charge of the notorious Experimental Block 10 where reproductive experiments were performed on hundreds of women – and eventually camp leader, responsible for 30,000 women.
She found herself constantly walking a dangerously fine line: using every possible opportunity to save lives while avoiding suspicion by the SS, and risking torture or execution. Through her bold intelligence, sheer audacity, inner strength and shrewd survival instincts, she was able to rise above the horror and cruelty of the camps and build pivotal relationships with the women under her watch, and even some of Auschwitz's most notorious Nazi senior officers including the Commandant, Josef Kramer.
Based on Magda's personal account and completed by her daughter Maya's extensive research, including testimonies from fellow Auschwitz survivors, this awe-inspiring tale offers us incredible insight into human nature, the power of resilience, and the goodness that can shine through even in the most horrific of conditions.
A New York Post‘Must-Have’ Book
‘A vivid, remarkable tale of courage and resilience in the face of human-made horror.’ Spectrum
‘A poignantly illuminating Holocaust memoir.’ Kirkus Reviews
‘Hellinger has written an important perspective of the Holocaust, of a kind that we rarely see. A standout memoir’ Library Journal
‘Magda’s own words, completed by her daughter’s copious research, create an unputdownable account of resilience and the power of compassion.’ Booklist
‘Magda Hellinger survived three years in Auschwitz and served as camp leader, saving lives including her own, wherever she could. This may be one of the final first-hand Holocaust accounts to be published as a book.’ Politico
‘[R]are and fascinating personal accounts of infamous SS guards and personnel help to make The Nazis Knew My Name unputdownable, while Magda’s enduring choice to save who she could will hopefully inspire kindness and selflessness in another generation.' Glam Adelaide
‘[A] harrowing, heroic story of a woman in an impossible position who devoted her energies to doing what she could with the scraps of power and influence she managed to construct.’ BookBub
‘[V]aluable, interesting, and thought-provoking.’ New York Journal of Books
‘[A] compelling and seamless portrait of a young woman who managed to survive and save others through cunning bravery and compassionate leadership… an extraordinary portrait of one woman who fought for others in the midst of unimaginable horror.’ BookPage
GraceGoogh
2025-01-06
Incredible work! A very important part of the Holocaust which needs to be given more space in every aspect of society as well as in academia! I feel particularly saddened by listening to Magda’s book, I cannot pinpoint why my sadness is so much more profound after listening to her testimony, and nor can I or will I compare “the why”! The amount of sadness I’m experiencing now, doesn’t take away from any other book I have listened to written by Holocaust survivors! I do realize that I previous to listening to Magda’s book have listened the book “999”! A book about Magda and all her Slovak “sisters” who’ll were the first teenage girls to be sent away from their parents and families, they were forced by the Slovak authorities to leave everything they knew and be sent to concentration,- and extermination camps in cattle cars in March of 1942! These teenage girls are all miracles in their own rights, they managed to survive in these horrendous, murderous, brutal camps who were places plagued with diseases, unimaginable violence, hunger and death, death of their parents, siblings, friends and unknown to them personally women, children, men, infants who all were selected as soon as the cattle cars stopped to either be killed in gas chambers immediately upon arrival or sent into the camp to fulfill orders by the deranged men and women who were sent to prison guard these camps and these Nazi prison guards knew they were in complete control over ALL prisoners! No prisoner in an extermination,- or concentration camp had any bodily autonomy or freedom of speech, these cruel and inhumane camps became the worst mass murder of millions of Jewish people, Sentia-Roma people, and many more millions of innocent people! It’s indeed a miracle that some of these people survived against all odds, and in particular the “999-teenage girls” sent there in March 1942 to survive that many years of total destruction of their beings,- BUT not destruction of the survivors hearts and souls! I’ve known off, read a lot about ww2 in general and the Holocaust in particular and literally grownup “alongside” this terror! Yet I was forced to take a brief pause to collect my thoughts before continuing writing this review! As I now continue to write my review, I’ve reflected on the extraordinary emotional state of mind I have experienced throughout this book and continue to feel inside of my entire being! And I think, hope I’ll be able to write the following review in hopes that it makes sense to anyone who is reading my review. I think I’m able to broadly pinpoint where the very strong sensation of sadness stems from, this biography about Magda, partly written by herself and partly by her eldest daughter is my first ever witness account I’ve listened to written by a prisoner who survived these extermination camps, but who contrary to most other Holocaust survivors which books I’ve listened to differs greatly due to Magda and her “998 Slovak sisters”where the first to be sent off and become the first to be transported,- and arrive to Auschwitz(1),- & later back and forth btw Auschwitz-Birkenau and to survive in these horrific conditions for over three years! I’ve during my brief pause realized, and it saddens me immensely that I’ve learned about myself that I have subconsciously carried a form of negative “non self experienced” bias towards those of the prisoners who I naively thought had some privilege, leverage compared to those who wasn’t chosen by the Nazis to be forced to become “lager eldeste”/“block elders”, I also realize I’m not alone in my PREVIOUS bias towards those who came to hold these horrendous positions, they themselves had no choice over other than to obey what the Nazis, their so called “subordinates told them to deal with!” What a remarkable cruel state these men and women were put into by the Nazis! (I recognize that there existed some block elders who contrary to Magda was completely out of their morals and righteousness, oftentimes by their own choices. However Magda and the other 998 teenage girls sent away from Slovakia in March 1942 doesn’t belong to these inhumane individuals!) Our focus should always be directed towards the Nazis because they are the ones to blame! The Nazis were the ones who had all authority,- and bodily autonomy over all their victims who they murdered, and all of the prisoners, those who survived and those who did not survive! All prisoners who were sent to one of the 100’s of (thousands) concentrations,- and extermination camps around Germany as well as in Eastern Europe, as a matter of fact the Nazis set up camps in almost every country they occupied, and the men, women, teenagers, children and infants who was prisoners in any of these camps were all considered to be nonhumans! Almost all prisoners inside these camps were considered to be below even those people the Nazis referred to “Untermenschen” “subhumans” (= people who often were born with a birth defect and therefore wasn’t wanted by the Nazis and hence they too were murdered by the Nazis oftentimes inside of hospitals or hospital-homes with a lethal injection, or by gas! This book is written with a profound depth and a deep sense of detailed information, and it’s also written with a great tenderness which is clearly shown in each chapter of this book, after I’ve listened to having Magda’s biography I feel a great deal of remorse for my previous own subconscious biased view, but as I understand, Magda’s personal belief was always to look forward and to live! Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this book because I’ve personally learned so much from listening, and I’m immensely and forever deeply grateful for having had the privilege to listen to this impactful book! Magda’s impactful testimony! With utmost appreciation, respect and love to Magda, her family and to all Holocaust Survivors and to all of the Holocaust’s victims and their families and friends! Respectfully, Grace 🙏
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