The Teacher of Auschwitz

This is a powerful and moving story about a gay teacher in Auschwitz, who saved hundreds of children from death by providing hope under the darkest conditions imaginable . . .

'Haunting and beautiful. Excruciatingly vivid, The Teacher of Auschwitz is rigorously researched and true to the history, powerfully conveying what a smart, loving and energetic man Fredy was.' Dr Elizabeth Baer, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Fredy built a wall against suffering in their hearts...

At the dark heart of the Holocaust, there was a wooden hut whose walls were painted with cartoons; a place where children sang, staged plays and wrote poetry. Safely inside, but still in the shadow of the chimneys, they were given better food, kept free of vermin, and were even taught meditation to imagine full stomachs and a day without fear. The man who became their guiding light was a young Jewish prisoner named Fredy Hirsch.

But being a teacher in such a brutal concentration camp was no mean feat. Whether it was begging the SS for better provisions, or hiding his homosexuality from his persecutors, he risked his life every day for one thing: to protect the children from the mortal danger they all faced.

But time is running out for Fredy and the hundreds of children in his care. Can he find a way to teach them the one lesson they really need to know: how to survive?

From the bestselling author of Born Survivors, comes an assiduously researched and powerful new novel. Drawn from archives and survivor testimonies, historian and biographer Wendy Holden tells the inspirational and uplifting true story of Fredy Hirsch: The Teacher of Auschwitz.

About the Author

Wendy Holden was a respected journalist and war correspondent for the Daily Telegraph. She is the author of more than thirty-five non-fiction titles and three novels featuring remarkable men and women, many of which are international bestsellers and several of which have been adapted for film, TV, and radio. Her books include Born Survivors, the bestselling story of three mothers who hid their pregnancies from the Nazis, now published in twenty-four countries, and the No.1 bestseller Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day, the memoir of Captain Sir Tom Moore.