999

The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz

De: Heather Dune Macadam, Caroline Moorehead - foreword

Narrado por: Suzanne Toren

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. Instead, the young women - many of them teenagers - were sent to Auschwitz. Their government paid 500 Reich Marks (about $200) apiece for the Nazis to take them as slave labor. 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 powerless and insignificant not only because they were Jewish - but also because they were female. Now 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 to create an important addition to Holocaust literature and women's history.

©2019 Heather Dune Macadam (P)2019 Tantor

Amazing

It was a wonderful but heartbreaking read. I would recommend it to everyone as a reminder of the evil inside humans.

Read it.

This book is not for the faint of heart but it is necessary to read, it is so well done and so truthful in the experiences, heartbreaking yes, enlightening yes, worthwhile absolutely.

6 Million stars

My only wish is that this would be mandatory reading for all the world to read. In today's society it seems everyone feels we deserve special privileges due to the way our ancestors were treated. I believe if everyone one truly looked backed through history were could all find injustices. None however in my eyes this cruel to so many men, women and children. This is a fact based masterpiece. So well written and performed and I will carry these pages in my heart for the rest of my life. Thank you for all your hard work and research.

Most important history

This is a must read for every citizen of the world. Thank you for your hard work, thorough investigation, and kindness with which you reported the stories of this remarkable cadre of invincible women.

Never forget

Another in-depth glimpse into the hell that was the Holocaust so expertly and compassionately described by Heather Dune Macadam. I’ve been studying the Holocaust since 1978. Two of the best books I’ve read on the subject are this one and “Rena’s Promise”. Both should be recommended reading in schools and read by anyone who is a serious scholar of this subject. Thank you for all of the work that went into writing this. May the memories of these girls and all who perished at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators be a blessing.

Important but tough to hear.

The two things I really got out of this book were: 1. the extraordinary fortitude of the women who survived and 2. the unbelievable sadism of other human beings, guards. It is hard to understand how anybody, no less young girls/women could persist in these circumstances (most didn’t). But it is even more difficult to understand how any human being could be so cruel to another.

Horrible story, but needs to be heard

I listened to this book. I did enjoy it, but it had so many characters it was hard to keep track of them all, but it didn't seem to matter, you basically just kept going and it all fell together for me. It's amazing the torture that these individuals lived through. The narrator did a nice job in telling the story and keeping me invested in the ending. I have recently read The Radium Girls and it felt along the similar lines of following the lives of many individuals and it was sometimes hard to remember all the characters and what had happened to them, but over all I enjoyed listening to this one.

Speechless

This book is moving beyond description. The writers succeeded in making the girls/women come to life and the reader can almost feel the pain and suffering they endure. I highly recommend this book.

A Lesson in History

I've had this book for over a year and have been unable to listen. It's a brutal story, beautifully written and read. May HaShem bless those who survived and those who didn't.

A moving historical novel

A very different perspective—based on exhaustive research—this novel paints a very moving series of portraits of the brave young Jewish women who became wartime pawns in this horrific war. Despite the constant reminders of their number, the book gave each woman context as a sister, a daughter, a cousin, a wife, or a dear friend. It showed us her humanity, and made us recognize that each was so much more than the horror she was forced to endure.