Lovers in Auschwitz: A True Story

Journalist Blankfeld debuts with a page-turning account of the unlikely love story between David Wisnia, a Polish Jew from the Warsaw ghetto, and Zippi Spitzer, a Jew from Slovakia, that blossomed amidst the horror of Auschwitz. The two met during a work detail in the prisoner intake area; the only woman stationed there, Spitzer—a smooth operator who had “immediately been strategic in creating connections [with] prisoners and guards”—had talked her way into a position painting the stripes on women’s prison uniforms. She eventually became the right-hand woman to the commandants of the women’s camp, Birkenau, and, according to Blankfeld, “used her growing influence to shield unhealthy prisoners by giving them positions inside her office.” A graphic designer by trade prior to her internment, she made secret copies of rosters and camp diagrams, “hiding the copies in her office in hopes that one day they’d come in handy” for prosecuting Nazi crimes. Separated after the war, Spitzer and Wisnia both made their way to the U.S., where they began new lives. Unbeknownst to Wisnia until they met again, more than 70 years after the war, Spitzer had taken several actions to keep him alive in the camps, including removing his name from crematorium rosters. Fast-paced and novelistic, this is a moving demonstration of the ability to find love in the darkest places. (Jan.)