999

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

By: Heather Dune Macadam, Caroline Moorehead - foreword

Narrated by: 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.

Understanding transport and lies, Never Forget

Carol Vance Michigan
Ms. Macadam writes about a painful chapter in World history. Single women from Slovakia were offered work, little did they know it was not to be. These young women knew each other in Slovakia and were the 1st Jews to be transported to Auschwitz. The book weaves together their journey and survival of the worst 3 years one can imagine. Yet, there is more than history. Their stories are stories of healing and of hope, of love and courage, of sisterhood.

I recommend reading their stories, not as another holocaust book, but to meet brave women who held onto hope as hard as that is to imagine.

Suzanne Toren narration is excellent.