Heather Dune Macadam

An expanded edition of the powerful memoir about two sisters' determination to survive during the Holocaust featuring new and never before revealed information about the first transport of women to Auschwitz In March 1942, Rena Kornreich and 997 other young women were rounded up and forced onto the first Jewish transport of women to Auschwitz. Soon after, Rena was reunited with her sister Danka at the camp, beginning a story of love and courage that would last three years and forty-one days. From smuggling bread for their friends to narrowly escaping the ever-present threats that loomed at every turn, the compelling events in Rena's Promise remind us that humanity and hope can survive inordinate brutality.

Una incre ble historia de amistad, sororidad y supervivencia. La historia de las primeras 999 mujeres jud as que fueron enviadas al campo de exterminio. «Todo comenz con las chicas , dice Giora Amir, de 91 a os. El 25 de marzo de 1942, cientos de j venes mujeres jud as y solteras abandonaron sus hogares para subir a un tren. Estaban impecablemente vestidas y peinadas, y arrastraban sus maletas llenas de ropa tejida a mano y comida casera. La mayor a de estas mujeres y ni as nunca hab an pasado ni una noche fuera de casa, pero se hab an ofrecido voluntariamente para trabajar durante tres meses en poca de guerra. Tres meses de trabajo? No pod a ser algo tan malo. Ninguno de sus padres habr a adivinado que el gobierno acababa de vender a sus hijas a los nazis para trabajar como esclavas. Ninguno sab a que estaban destinadas a Auschwitz. Los libros de historia han podido pasar por alto este hecho, pero lo cierto es que el primer grupo de jud os deportados a Auschwitz para trabajar como esclavos no inclu a a combatientes de la resistencia, ni a prisioneros de guerra, no. No hab a ni un solo hombre prisionero en esos vagones de ganado. Era un tren de 999 chicas solteras, vendido a la Alemania nazi por una dote de 500 Reich Marks, el equivalente a 200 euros. Sabemos que la historia est escrita por el vencedor. Casi todas las figuras poderosas en ambos lados de este conflicto eran hombres. Estas 999 mujeres j venes fueron consideradas indignas e insignificantes, no s lo porque eran jud as, sino tambi n porque eran mujeres. Estas chicas eran peones en un gran plan de destrucci n humana, pero frustraron ese plan al sobrevivir y dejar su testimonio a sus familiares. Este libro da voz a esas mujeres y ni as que la historia olvid . ENGLISH DESCRIPTION A PEN America Literary Award Finalist A Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee An Amazon Best of the Year Selection The untold story of some of WW2's most hidden figures and the heartbreaking tragedy that unites them all. Readers of Born Survivors and A Train Near Magdeburg will devour the tragic tale of the first 999 women in Auschwitz concentration camp. This is the hauntingly resonant true story that everyone should know. On March 25, 1942, nearly a thousand young, unmarried Jewish women, many of them teenagers, boarded a train in Poprad, Slovakia. Believing they were going to work in a factory for a few months, they were eager to report for government service and left their parents' homes wearing their best clothes and confidently waving good-bye. Instead, the young women were sent to Auschwitz. Only a few would survive. Now acclaimed author Heather Dune Macadam reveals their stories, drawing on extensive interviews with survivors, and consulting with historians, witnesses, and relatives of those first deportees to create an important addition to Holocaust literature and women's history.

Vuelve la autora best seller de Las 999 mujeres de Auschwitz. La conmovedora historia real de una joven jud a y un poeta de la Resistencia francesa, en el Par s ocupado por los nazis. Par s, 1940. En plena ocupaci n alemana, el arte, la cultura y el jazz se han convertido en actos de desaf o. Tambi n lo es el romance prohibido entre Annette Zelman, una jud a estudiante de Bellas Artes, y el joven poeta cat lico Jean Jausion, tras conocerse en el famoso Caf de Flore, entre cuyos clientes desfilan personajes como Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Pablo Picasso o Django Reinhardt. Durante un tiempo, Annette y Jean creen eludir a los nazis, as como la vigilancia y las amenazas de sus familias, pero el destino juega en su contra. Una impresionante historia real de belleza, arte y liberaci n contra los horrores del Holocausto, en la que el poder transformador del amor resuena como un poema de devoci n eterna. Si Romeo y Julieta hubieran vivido en el Par s ocupado por los nazis, se habr an llamado Jean y Annette. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION For readers of The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah who are hungry for a non-fiction account of Nazi-occupied Paris, Star Crossed is an epic true story of love and resistance during WWII from the award-winning author of 999. Part historical portrait of life during the Occupation, part valentine to The City of Light and the resilience of its people, this true love story follows the romance between the Romeo and Juliet of war-torn Paris - a Catholic Resistance fighter and a Holocaust victim who meet at the famous Caf Flore before war, prejudice, and disapproving families set them on divergent and tragically inevitable paths. "What a beautiful, heartbreaking story." - Erica Robuck, National Bestselling Author of Sisters of Night and Fog Paris, 1940. The City of Light has fallen under German occupation. Among patriotic Parisians, the pursuit of art, culture, and jazz has become a bold act of defiance. So has forbidden love for talented and spirited Jewish teenager Annette Zelman, a student at the Beaux-Arts, and dashing young Catholic poet Jean Jausion. Despite their devout families' vehement opposition, the young couple finds acceptance at the famed Caf de Flore, whose habitues include Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Pablo Picasso, Django Reinhardt, and other luminaries of the Latin Quarter. For a time, Annette and Jean feel they have eluded the brute might of the relentless Nazis -- and more immediately, their parents' threats and demands. But as restrictions on the Jewish community escalate to arrests and deportations, the maleficent forces gathering around the young lovers set them on divergent and tragically inevitable paths. Drawn from never-before-published family letters and other treasures, as well as archival sources and exclusive interviews, Star-Crossed offers us precious insight into the Holocaust and the lives French people bravely led under the Hitler regime. This breathtaking true story of beauty, art, liberation, and the transformative power of love resonates with an intimate story of undying devotion, seen through the prism of history.

For readers of The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah who are hungry for a non-fiction account of Nazi-occupied Paris, Star Crossed is an epic true story of love and resistance during WWII from the award-winning author of 999. Part historical portrait of life during the Occupation, part valentine to The City of Light and the resilience of its people, this true love story follows the romance between the Romeo and Juliet of war-torn Paris - a Catholic Resistance fighter and a Holocaust victim who meet at the famous Caf Flore before war, prejudice, and disapproving families set them on divergent and tragically inevitable paths. Paris, 1940. The City of Light has fallen under German Occupation. Among patriotic Parisians, the pursuit of art, culture, and jazz have become bold acts of defiance. So has forbidden romance for talented and spirited Jewish teenager Annette Zelman, a student at the Beaux-Arts, and dashing young Catholic poet Jean Jausion. Despite their devout families' vehement opposition, the young couple finds acceptance at the famed Caf de Flore, whose habitues include Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Pablo Picasso, Django Reinhardt, and other luminaries of the Latin Quarter's creative world. For a time, Annette and Jean feel they have eluded the brute might of the relentless Nazis -- and more immediately, their parents' threats and demands. But as restrictions on the Jewish community escalate to arrests and deportations, the maleficent forces gathering around the young lovers set them on divergent and tragically inevitable paths. Drawn from never-before-published family letters and other treasures, as well as archival sources and exclusive interviews, Star-Crossed offers us precious insight into the Holocaust and the lives French people bravely led under the Hitler regime. This breathtaking true story of beauty, art, liberation, and the transformative power of love resonates with an intimate story of undying devotion, seen through the prism of history.

A remarkable story of courage in the face of injustice and brutality in the Second World War Books such as this are essential: they remind modern readers of events that should never be forgotten' - Caroline Moorehead On March 25, 1942, nearly a thousand young, unmarried Jewish women boarded a train in Poprad, Slovakia. Filled with a sense of adventure and national pride, they left their parents' homes wearing their best clothes and confidently waving good-bye. Believing they were going to work in a factory for a few months, they were eager to report for government service. That is not what happened. The young women - many of them teenagers - were sent on their way to Auschwitz. Their government paid 500 Reichsmarks (about £160) apiece for the Nazis to take them as cheap, forced labour. Of those 999 innocent deportees, only a few would survive.The facts of the first official Jewish transport to Auschwitz are little known, yet profoundly relevant today. These were not resistance fighters or prisoners of war. There were no men among them. Sent to almost certain death, the young women were rendered powerless and treated as insignificant not only because they were Jewish - but also because they were young women. Now, for the first time, acclaimed author Heather Dune Macadam reveals their poignant stories. Drawing on extensive interviews with survivors, and consulting with historians, witnesses, and relatives of those first deportees, The Nine Hundred sheds crucial light on an overlooked moment in the Holocaust, and in women's history in the twentieth century.

A PEN America Literary Award FinalistA Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee An Amazon Best of the Year Selection The untold story of some of WW2's most hidden figures and the heartbreaking tragedy that unites them all. Readers of Born Survivors and A Train Near Magdeburg will devour the tragic tale of the first 999 women in Auschwitz concentration camp. This is the hauntingly resonant true story that everyone should know. On March 25, 1942, nearly a thousand young, unmarried Jewish women, many of them teenagers, boarded a train in Poprad, Slovakia. Believing they were going to work in a factory for a few months, they were eager to report for government service and left their parents' homes wearing their best clothes and confidently waving good-bye. Instead, the young women were sent to Auschwitz. Only a few would survive. Now acclaimed author Heather Dune Macadam reveals their stories, drawing on extensive interviews with survivors, and consulting with historians, witnesses, and relatives of those first deportees to create an important addition to Holocaust literature and women's history. "Intimate and harrowing. . . . This careful, sympathetic history illuminates an incomprehensible human tragedy." --Publishers Weekly "Against the backdrop of World War II, this respectful narrative presents a compassionate and meticulous remembrance of the young women profiled throughout. Recommended for all collections." --Library Journal "Staggering . . . profound. Macadam's] book also offers insight into the passage of these women into adulthood, and their children, as 'secondhand survivors.'" --Gail Sheehy, New York Times bestselling author of Passages and Daring: My Passages "Heather Dune Macadam's 999 reinstates the girls to their rightful place in history." --Foreword Reviews "An important addition to the annals of the Holocaust, as well as women's history. Not everyone could handle such material, but Heather Dune Macadam is deeply qualified, insightful, and perceptive." --Susan Lacy, creator of the American Masters series and filmmaker "The story of these teenage girls is truly extraordinary. Congratulations to Heather Dune Macadam for enabling the rest of us to sit down and just marvel at how on earth they did it." --Anne Sebba, New York Times bestselling author of Les Parisiennes and That Woman "An important contribution to the literature on women's experiences." --Dr. Rochelle G. Saidel, founder and executive director, Remember the Women Institute