Join us on Zoom!

Shirley Stein Annual Book Review:

The Dressmakers of Auschwitz

Monday, January 24, at Noon

 

Cosponsored by NCJW Greater Long Beach & West Orange County and the Sharon-Carmel chapter of Hadassah, the event will feature the noted British historian Lucy Adlington as she discusses her book The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive. 

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About the Book

 

The Dressmakers of Auschwitz:

The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive

 

At the height of the Holocaust, 25 young inmates of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp—mainly Jewish women and girls—were selected to design, cut, and sew beautiful fashions for elite Nazi women in a dedicated salon created within one of the most notorious WWII death camps. It was work that they hoped would spare them from the gas chambers. 

 

This fashion workshop—called the Upper Tailoring Studio—was established by Hedwig Höss, the camp commandant’s wife, and patronized by the wives of SS guards and officers. Here, the dressmakers produced high-quality garments for SS social functions in Auschwitz, and for ladies from Nazi Berlin’s upper crust. 

Drawing on diverse sources—including interviews with the last surviving seamstress—The Dressmakers of Auschwitz follows the fates of these brave women. Their bonds of family and friendship not only helped them endure persecution but also to play their part in camp resistance. Weaving the dressmakers’ remarkable experiences within the context of Nazi policies for plunder and exploitation, historian Lucy Adlington exposes the greed, cruelty, and hypocrisy of the Third Reich and offers a fresh look at a little-known chapter of World War II and the Holocaust.

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While there is no cost to attend virtually, we would greatly appreciate a donation to our general fund which will go in its entirety to the Holocaust Museum LA in honor of this program. 

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For further information, please contact Sharon Brannon via info@ncjwlongbeach.org or (657) 235-2511.

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This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Barbara Alpert National Council of Jewish Women Endowment of the Jewish Community Foundation of Great Long Beach & West Orange County.

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