This is a well researched book. It is very hard hitting as to be expected. It reads like fiction but it is actually non fiction. A difficult read but brilliant.

The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: story needed to be shared with the world and not be lost in the unwritten part of history, it’s an important part of life in Auschwitz in World War 2. The authors writing pulled me in, she was so sensitive with the subject and it was so beautifully written with care.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

In "The Dressmaker of Auschwitz," Lucy Adlington delivers a poignant and emotionally gripping account of one woman's extraordinary journey through the horrors of the Holocaust. Set against the backdrop of Auschwitz, this novel unveils a harrowing yet ultimately uplifting narrative that explores the indomitable human spirit.

Ada is a young Jewish woman with a remarkable talent for dressmaking. When she finds herself imprisoned in Auschwitz, Ada's skills become a lifeline, allowing her a chance at survival. Despite facing cruelty and loss, Ada uses her skill to preserve her sense of identity and purpose.
Amidst the darkness, glimmers of hope emerge as Ada forms unexpected connections and discovers moments of compassion and courage in the most unlikely places. The novel skillfully explores themes of resilience, sacrifice, and the power of creativity to provide solace even in the most dire circumstances.

Very raw and emotional, it leaves you feeling bereft and sorrowful at times.

Loved this book. Lots of interesting information to digest. This is a great read for anyone who loves to read about history. Very well written

These stories are always so hard to read but this one has been written so well and with so much respect. Lucy Adlington tells a harrowing tale but with such eloquence. It’s hard to read matters like this let alone to write them and do it justice.

A very special book, that details how brave and determined these women were to survive the atrocious experience of Auschwitz. As a dress historian the author stumbled across the fact that there was a fashion workshop set up at the extermination camp to create clothes for the Camp Commandant's wife and friends. The fact that this happened if breathtaking and highlights the hypocrisy of the situations. However, this book is not a tale of woe and despair as although horrific, the author has made this an explanation of survival and how these women found a way to get through the experience as a 'family' Their life stories are told from pre and during the events, are clearly a display of friendship, kinship, love and even humor through the darkness they faced. A very moving book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder&Stoughton for the arc of The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington.

5 stars- This is a true story from Auschwitz-Birkenau when 25 young inmates mainly Jewish women and even girls. who were chosen to cut, sew and and design beautiful clothing in a salon for the "Elite Nazi Women" And it was this type of work in what they thought would save them from death! The dedicated salon was called the "Upper Tailoring Studio" it came to be by the commandments wife Hedwig Hoss... this is the 25 women and girls story of their time in the salon making high quality garments for SS social functions in Auschwitz.

Such an interesting and gripping read.

A very emotional read about a group of dressmakers in Auschwitz. These were women were chosen by Hedwig Hoss the wife of the commandment. Well written about the horrors and autotricities oof Auschwitz .

This book was such an emotional read, told in a sometimes brutally honest, non-romanticised way, that tells the truth of some of the Holocaust horrors inflicted on a group of amazing, determined to survive women⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinons are mine

A true story - I had seen this book previously so was thrilled to get the opportunity to read this

This is a new author to be and this book is stunning
A myriad of emothions felt throughout - I think partly because I Knew this was true and not fiction

A must read

The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: by Lucy Adlington is a True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive in World War 2.
This new book by Lucy was amazing and a very hard read. I had to put it down several times and then come back to it.

This book is a very powerful true story of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and is about twenty-five mainly Jewish women and young girls who used their sewing skills to survive the Holocaust, stitching beautiful clothes at an extraordinary fashion workshop created within one of the most notorious WWII death camps. They created and designed
beautiful clothes for elite Nazi women in a dedicated salon. These talented women produced high-quality garments for SS social functions in Auschwitz, and for ladies from Nazi Berlin’s upper crust.

As they worked they hoped it would spare them from the gas chambers.

This fashion workshop was called the Upper Tailoring Studio and was established by Hedwig Höss, the camp commandant’s wife,

Lucy has a way of writing; that will pull you in. Her books are always beautifully written with so much care and you will need a box of tissues handy. This book "The Dressmakers of Auschwitz:" need to be shared with others and not be forgotten on what happened at Auschwitz in World War 2.

I highly recommend this book and several tissues. Plus, a must read book for 2021

Big Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

I had to DNF (did not finish) this book. I felt like it was more facts and information than a story. I'm not sure if I would have read more maybe a story would have started but I just honestly wasn't feeling it everytime I went to go read it. I needed to move on from it on to something else because it wasn't keep me interested enough and was to informational.

This is a true story of a group of young women who sewed to survive Auschwitz, they stitched and remade beautiful clothes in a fashion workshop inside Auschwitz, that was set up by Nazi Hedwig Hoss whose husband was the commandant. I have read many Auschwitz books but never knew this part of the history.

Unfortunately I didn’t finish this book.
I was very much looking forward to a biographical exploration into the lives of individuals in Auschwitz who were allocated roles that profited the nazis. However, only 9% into the book I was so confused by all for the names, how they were linked to each other, places names etc. I wasn’t engaged enough to continue:
It’s a book I would maybe come back to in the future.

I’ve read quite a number of Holocaust books in my time, especially this year, and whilst there may be hints of repetitiveness through them, I will never fail to be astounded and horrified by each story. But Adlington has managed to find the right balance between being sensitive and respectful and not shying away from the horrors of what was happening.

The idea of a dressmaking salon in the middle of a concentration camp seems absurd. A seemingly peaceful, creative outlet smack bang in the middle of a torture camp. It is unbelievable to think that people still have the ideologies - maybe not to the same extent - today.

It is very well researched and clearly Adlington was very touched by the stories she heard.

As with all Auschwitz books, it is not an easy read at all, but it was a pleasure (if that’s the right word for it) to read about such a little known group of inmates. It’s so important that all their stories are told and retold through the generations.

This is quite a slow start as it takes over 100 pages for the girls to even enter Auschwitz and then another 100 to talk about the Upper Tailoring Studio/dressmaking salon. Even so there was some rather interesting and gross facts inside such as the Nazis used inmates hair to make fabric and even used human skin as leather to make gloves, slippers and bags!!! It also had random quotes in the middle of chapters that don't always seem to have an immediate connection with what the previous paragraph has spoken about which interrupted the flow quite a lot. It has also made me think about fashion as a whole considering Hugo Boss, C&A and Triumph all profiteered from Jewish slave labour in the Ghettos. Overall this was an interesting read but by the time I eventually got into it, it was over with.

After having read this author’s other book which is fictional and called The Red Ribbon as soon as I heard about this non-fiction title, I knew I had to read it. I love that the cover of the book, it’s not a typical cover of this era and setting, there is not oppressive image of Auschwitz or its famous gate. The by-line of the book really sums up in a very simplistic sentence why these women survived.

I do not really know why I have such a deep-seated pull, and compelling desire to read books about the Holocaust, other than I think what happened to these people who were just like anyone else were suddenly chosen, isolated and put under such horrendous daily torture just because of their religion, really deserve to have their stories read, remembered and passed on to every other generation to follow. A lesson needs to be learnt from these historical facts, memoirs and even the fictionalised stories aet at this time too.

I really loved how Lucy introduces Mrs Kohut, a 98 year old woman, who is the last surviving dressmaker from the fashion salon created at Auschwitz concentration camp. I don’t know if was done intentionally or not but by not giving the first name of Mrs Kohut as a reader you end up reading the events that happened not knowing which person is Mrs Kohut. You find out much later into the story.

Referring back to the by-line of the book, “The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive” as it was the simple fact, they could sew that saved their lives. Saying that it doesn’t mean these ladies had a much smoother or easier life within Auschwitz. They were still subjected to the same horrific conditions and being under the constant fear of being noticed and punished for some minor infraction on the rules the Nazis made. Or even just beaten and tortured because a Nazis officer felt like it. They were also answerable and in danger from even “one of their own” put in charge of either their work detail or the building they slept in referred to as their Kapo.

It seems ironic that the Nazis men and women (as there were female guards at the concentration camps too) wanted to rid the world of the whole Jewish race, made them surrender businesses and all possessions of any value, yet found it acceptable to take a few women who could sew and have them make clothes for them. The Nazis valued clothing highly. The author shares the fact Eva Braun, first Hitlers mistress then later wife, actually had her wedding dress delivered across a burning Berlin just days before their suicides to wear with her designer shoes. Joseph Goebbels wife, Magda is quoted as having said “What a nuisance that Kohnen is closing . . . we all know that when the Jews go, so will the elegance from Berlin. These women, Emmy Goering, Hedwig Hensel-Hoss and Magda Goebbels, knew about the victimisation of the Jewish people yet decided the best way to cope with this knowledge was to turn away from it. Though these women and their men were realising that a lot of industries, including the clothing industry were heavily, reliant on a Jewish workforce.

There were a lot of “shops” created within the concentration camps that the Jewish prisoners worked in as well as doing the outside heavier manual laboured jobs too. There was a furrier’s cutting shop at Ravensbruck. The furs were recut and made into items such as jackets and gloves for the soldiers. The women working often split seams and hems whilst altering the items and found jewellery and valuable that had been hidden.

Though Hedwig Hensel-Hoss, wife of the man in charge of Auschwitz, Rudolph Hoss is credited as creating a small fashion salon for the wives of the Nazis elite, when reading the details Lucy has researched and listened to from Mrs Kohut it was truly the invention of a sharp, quick witted woman called Marta who had been working as a dressmaker for Hedwig. Marta used her own opportunity to help other less fortunate in the camp. Marta managed to get agreement for another seamstress. When other SS wives saw the garment’s Hedwig was having made, they became envious. Hedwig then went on to expand her attic sewing shop into a select fashion salon.

There were many that could sew, in fact figures state that out of ten thousand women there must have been at least five hundred. Marta used her own position to suggest and choose other women she could depend upon to sew. Such as a woman called Irene who was chosen because Irene’s brother Laci had married Marta’s sister Turulka. So, Irene was chosen, then Irene suggested her good friend Bracha. Bracha was chosen and revealed she had a sister who could sew and on and on it went. Lucy reveals there were 25 young girls and women that ended up working in Hedwig’s fashion salon.

The author Lucy had already done a lot of research about the dressmakers for her fictional book The Red Ribbon, and had found just an incomplete list of female names, Irene, Renee, Bracha, Katka, Hunya, Mimi, Manci, Marta, Olga, Alida, Marilou, Lulu, Baba and Boriskha. Lucy thought she had found out all she was going to about these women until her book actually released and she began being contacted the families of these women. Suddenly Lucy found herself with a new wealth of information. As Lucy did more research and discovered more details and met Mrs Kohut, she shares all her discoveries with us the reader in this book.

It’s hard to describe how I felt reading this book, I found it difficult to read about the way these innocent young girls and women were treat by the Nazis and their sympathisers. At times it really had me questioning if I wanted to read such a truthful, bluntly honest book about the realities of the harsh conditions these women tried to survive within. Then I became angry with myself, in that all the horror these women were put through and I was feeling saddened reading about it. What on earth did those young girls and women feel every day, day in day out, wondering where the next morsel of food was coming from and when the next beating, or the last call to be sent to their death would be. I strongly believe these books need to be written, and read and continue to be remembered, talked about and lessons learnt. If its not the wrong thing to say I honestly ended up “enjoying” discovering more about these women, the real women and their names behind the fictional story Lucy wrote based her book The Red Ribbon on. I could go on and on talking about this book, but it needs to be read by as many people as possible, so I will say I have only scratched the surface of the book in my review. I also know I rattle on and on when I read books set in this era, saying these are the titles that should be on school reading lists, discussed and talked about in schools, but I believe that to be right. These atrocities should never be allowed to occur again.

My immediate thoughts on this book were thank goodness there were prisoners such as Marta who thought quickly and managed to make Frau Hoss think it was all her own idea to open a fashion salon, and use free Jewish labour. I love how Marta's quick thinking saved lives. Sure, it was people she knew from her own town etc but you can understand her wanting people who she knew that were reliable after all it was her neck on the line too!!"

To sum up, this book is an amazing read, brilliantly written account using extensive research and first-hand accounts from the very last surviving dressmaker of Auschwitz. The book left me feeling like I wanted to reach through the book and hug Mrs Kohut, to thank her for sharing her story. How must she feel being the last one alive, had she already told her family about what she went through and how she managed despite the odds to survive. I am not ashamed to say the book had me in tears, especially when I thought had Lucy not written The Red Ribbon, that the true story of the Dressmakers of Auschwitz may never have been fully told.

My final, final words on the book have to be that it really is a very moving, emotional read, told in a sometimes brutally honest, non-romanticised way, that tells the truth of some of the Holocaust horrors inflicted on a group of amazing, determined to survive women.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with an early copy of this book via NetGalley. I want to preface by saying it was extremely unlike me to request this kind of book. I'm not a big reader of non-fiction unless it's my studying. I am not a history fan and especially likely to avoid any subject of the second World War. I moved schools and ended up studying it three separate times, all of which were desperately boring and ended up putting me off the subject of history completely. So the fact that this pulled my attention is, quite frankly, a small miracle!
I love how this book came in to being with Adlington's other non-fiction and fiction previous publications. It's certainly plenty of time to research and build the span of knowledge shown on the Upper Tailoring Studio and it's attendants.
Adlington doesn't just give us the view of Auschwitz but takes us from the beginning of the Nazi's impact on the fashion industry. How businesses were uprooted and handed over, how the armbands came in to being and how Jews were stripped of all they had before they even reached the concentration camps. There is so much more to the build up towards the concentration camps than I realised.
Adlington has done extensive research in to the dressmakers as well and gives us plenty of insight to their lives before the Upper Tailoring Studio. Their families, their plans, their skills. It's truly impressive how much she's found.
When we reach Auschwitz it is some time before the Upper Tailoring Studio is formed, the dressmakers arrive at different times for different reasons. They experience horrors and talk of the general life of Auschwitz and the various other horrible work they endured there. I was also shocked to see mentioned that the idea of the gas chambers came from the treatment of lice. I do question this as I tried to look it up later and found very little answers, the only mention of the same method being conspiracies that the Holocaust never happened. Not a great source to have any kind of connection to but a fantastic insight all the same.
There are chapters post-Auschwitz, not for all the dressmakers and not all that make it fully through the chapters. It's fascinating to see how their experiences differed after the war.
There is a real load of interesting information about a largely unexplored detail of Auschwitz here however. I feel like we really didn't hear very much about working in the Upper Tailoring Studio. It's formed, part of the resistance and then over very quickly. I would have liked to hear more about their working conditions and any further stories it feels like there are. True to the title however this is about the dressmakers and their story rather than the studio itself.
I really enjoyed Adlington's writing, informative but still interesting. Well paced within in each chapter and an excellent introduction.
This renewed my interest in one day making a trip to Auschwitz, I'm convinced it's an experience we should all have given it's still such recent history. I'll be glad to have the nuggets of information from this book when I do.

The Dressmakers Of Auschwitz - Lucy Adlington

I was immediately drawn to this book, I've read a few of the Holocaust historical fiction novels and the idea on a book about the experiences of real people written by a historian rather than a novelist was very appealing.

It reads very differently, it reads as a researched history with direct quotes from those many of those involved and featured detailed photographs. The level of research is obvious, and impressive.

There is no attempt to romanticise or exaggerate the experience, it feels like 'the truth'.

I found it rather dry reading, but still very moving. Readers of historical biographies will probably take to it more easily than those (like me) who had read a few of the popular Holocaust novels.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton

This is a very well documented and thought out telling of a difficult period of history. Very insightful on a subject that needs telling. There are life stories and pictures which make the book different from others I have read about this time period. Well worth reading.