I am not normally one for historical reads, however, this has completely changed my perspective! I loved it! Incredibly gripping and heart-wrenching, would definitely reccomend it!

I was very excited to get the opportunity to review The Dressmakers of Auschwitz as I thought the plot sounded very interesting and I was not disappointed. It was a fantastic read and I can't wait to read more from the author in the future.

Lucy Adlington shines a spotlight on a little known group of Auschwitz-Birkenau inmates who sewed in a ‘fashion salon’ established by Hedwig Höss, wife of Rudolf the SS Officer in charge of the death camp. Her exhaustive research includes an interview with Mrs Kohut (98) in San Francisco, the last surviving dressmaker of Auschwitz. The book explains how these 25 women came together through the most terrible circumstances of camp life and their stories personalise something so huge it’s still hard to get your head around even after all those years. These women were part of ‘Obere Nähstube‘ -Upper Tailoring Studio - under the supervision of Marta Fuchs who uses her ‘privilege ‘ to help other inmates. Their stories demonstrated the close bonds of family and nationality and how you couldn’t kill friendship and loyalty. Under Marta this disparate group became experts with the needle, producing excellent work for the wives of Nazi elite and in the process became an extended family. There are numerous photographs of these woman, some before the war which are especially poignant, breaking your heart as they showed happy times before their worlds imploded.

This is an extensively and exhaustively well researched piece of work that is written in a very accessible way. The background on Rudolf and Hedwig Höss from their marriage in 1929 is infused with the lives of the dressmakers giving a chilling insight into rising racial tension and provides a thought provoking and terrifying contrast. The contradictory attitudes of Höss come across strongly too as do Hedwig’s. The author does a great job at giving all involved a sense of their character which is a remarkable achievement. There is interesting background on high fashion and local dressmakers and dressmaking and some good illustrations of fashion of the time. The regime wanted Berlin to become the centre of fashion rather than Paris and image via smart clothing was seen as being extremely important. Yet most clothing and chain stores were Jewish (80%) which were of course destroyed and thus Jewish women such as these planned a mode of survival utilising their skills with the needle. We get a step by step build up via these women of the increasing Nazi yoke, with concentration camps and the Final Solution. Some of the dressmaker women worked in Kanada before transferring to the tailoring studio and this is very chilling with some of the horrifying discoveries they made.

Overall, inevitably this is a tough read. I did know that this group of women existed as I’d read a book about Rudolf and Hedwig Höss but no more than that. This is well worth reading to gain further insight into a little known aspect of the ruthless regime and is testament to the power of resistance no matter how small and to human resilience. What an absolutely amazing group of women.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Hodder and Stoughton and the author for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.