The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive

A few weeks ago I watched the Academy Award winning film, “The Zone of Interest”, it’s an uncomfortable, chilling glimpse into the life of Rudolf Höss (commandant of Auschwitz) his grasping wife Hedwig and their children. Please see this film if you haven’t, it gives insight into the banality of evil and the horrific use of slave labor. Then find your way to the book “The Dressmakers of Auschwitz” beautifully written by Lucy Adlington. I’ve read a great deal about the Holocaust but wasn’t at all familiar with the Upper Tailoring Studio, a wretched place where enslaved seamstresses were forced to create haute couture for Hedwig Höss and wives of the SS. This is a very different story, it isn’t in any respect novelized, Adlington has devoted herself to painstaking in-depth research, factual accounts and interviews. This story is real. It won’t surprise me if this becomes a film. I ordered and sent three books to my friends, it is an absolute must for readers, nothing phony here. Adlington is an excellent writer, you will not be able to put this one down!

This was a great historical and personal read. Enjoyed the personal photos and accounts. Though a somber read I enjoyed reading of these extraordinary and resilient women.

Firstly, this is a beautifully researched book. It truly is a chronicle of the lives of each woman before, during and after the Holocaust. I was only disappointed that there was not more writing on their time together in the Upper Tailoring Studio - there was much time spent providing background, setting the scene, a short time in the UTS and then before I knew it, the war was over and the book had moved on to their post-war lives. I would have loved to read more about the nature of their work, interactions and relationships to one another working in that small studio and living together. Overall a humbling and eye-opening book about some of the strongest women to walk this earth.

If reading this book makes one uncomfortable, then it’s completed its goal. This was a fascinating look at a faction of the Holocaust few knew of outside of those who participated. These women (and the men who supported their efforts) were a machine within a machine, saving lives and each other, under the worst possible conditions and in a race to obliterate Jewishness in Europe. The arrogance of Nazi thinking is mind boggling. These were the people who “stood up” to their oppressors in creative and self-preserving ways that few of us, today, could fathom. The fact that ANYONE could say this never happened is beyond comprehension. I could hardly put this book down. While some of the situations were rehashed, it only portrayed the depth of destroying a people who contributed so much to their families, communities and countries. I see vestiges of this happening in more recent times and it turns my stomach. The contributions these women made pre-war, in the fashion industry, were amazing and to have it all taken away along with members of their family and community is gut wrenching. How they survived post war is amazing as well. I had no idea that these slave industries happened in concentration camps. A truly fascinating glimpse at survival under the most extreme, dehumanizing circumstances.

This book gave me an overview of the Holocaust. I have not studied it much but given the subject of the seamstress, my interest was peaked. It's a good beginning for learning more in depth of that terrible time in history.

This book was well researched and well written. It tells the stories of many women who were brutalized and yet survived. However, not all survived, and their stories must be remembered also. Thank you, Lucy, for bringing read stories to the public!

My rating: ⭐️⭐️💫 (2.5 stars)Oof. Oh, boy. How to even begin here…First, anyone picking up this book needs to know off the bat that this is nonfiction. VERY nonfiction. As in very much cut and dried. This happened to this person in this place, and so on. There is very little editorializing, which may appeal to some.Second… I really wanted to like this book. I really did. But it took me multiple attempts to finish, mainly because of the author’s writing style. Instead of neatly divided narratives for each person written about in this book, Ms. Adlington decided to just lump all the stories in together. It was extremely hard to get through, without having to back up (sometimes several pages) just to figure out who was where or what was happening.Last, there’s this… I’m sure Ms. Adlington didn’t intend on being a nazi-apologist here. Most of her book is written from the victims’ perspective, and simply factual. However, there is this quote:…”an important reminder that the SS should not be characterised as a homogeneous mass of evil automata. They were human beings, with human vices and virtues”.Nope. Just no.I gave this two and a half stars instead of the one I wanted to at about 20% in, because it did get easier to read by about 40%. But it still reads more like a textbook than a book anyone outside a classroom setting should force themselves to read.

This book was well written. It was easy to follow the various people in the book. I almost felt as though I was there, but I know words never match reality. This was truly a sad time for the Jewish people and others who were put in Nazi prison camps. It is unbelievable how cruel people can be to other people.

When I purchased this book, I was expecting a "story" but got quite a shocking surprise to discover it was not only to remind us of the horrors of the Holocaust, but a history lesson we would never find in a classroom, or a texxt book.A story of unknown strengths, endurance, resiliance, lifelong friendship, loyalty, unbelievable hardships and the power of positivity. Yes, many more characters than a normal book would introduce, and often could not keep track of them, but in the big scheme of lhings, just as in our own lives, everything is inter-twined, and each person impacted the lives of the Dressmakers in one way or another.A huge thank you to Dr Lore Shelley for realizing that the experiences and memories of these survivors needed to be documented and shared, and by starting the daunting task of contacting this women (and men) and gathering the information. And another big thanks to the author Lucy Addington for all the work and time she invested in completing the project - chronicling the submissions and all of the research and follow up with several of the main characters.Among other things, it serves to remind us that we are so lucky to live in the world we live in today.

Very readable, a sobering account of how people were treated by the Nazis in WW11, but also a tribute to the human spirit and the strength and support between a group of women.

This book was so in-depth of just how brutal and inhumane the Germans were. The POWS were put through hell. Very intense and saddening at times. The strength and courage these prisoners had is beyond incredible.

I found the book to be insightful and interesting read as I learn more about this difficult time in human history and the will to survive through this shameful part of the 20 th century

I have read all of Lucy's books but this one was rather different. Her account of the women who worked in Auschwitz's "Upper Tailoring Studio", sewing as if their lives depended upon it - as it truly did - is moving and awe-inspiring. Although it is a very well-researched non-fiction account it is written in a very accessible and readable style. The author does not shy away from describing the gruesome conditions and almost unimaginable torments of life in the death camps but throughout the story the beacon of courage and survival burns bright. A very worthwhile book which adds an important contribution to accounts of the Holocaust for both those who survived and the families of those who did not.