The Redhead of Auschwitz - (Holocaust Survivor True Stories) by Nechama Birnbaum (Paperback)

About the Book

Rosie was always told her red hair was a curse, but she never believed it. She often dreamed what it would look like under a white veil. Her life takes a harrowing turn in 1944 when she is sent to the most gruesome of places: Auschwitz.

Book Synopsis

Rosie was always told her red hair was a curse, but she never believed it. She often dreamed what it would look like under a white veil with the man of her dreams by her side. However, her life takes a harrowing turn in 1944 when she is forced out of her home and sent to the most gruesome of places: Auschwitz.

Upon arrival, Rosie's head is shaved and along with the loss of her beautiful hair, she loses the life she once cherished. Among the chaos and surrounded by hopelessness, Rosie realizes the only thing the Nazis cannot take away from her is the fierce redhead resilience in her spirit. When all of her friends conclude they are going to heaven from Auschwitz, she remains determined to get home. She summons all of her courage, through death camps and death marches to do just that.

This victorious biography, written by Nechama Birnbaum in honor of her grandmother, is as full of life as it is of death. It is about the intricacies of Jewish culture that still exist today and the tender experiences that are universal to all humanity: family, coming of age, and first love. It is a story that celebrates believing in yourself no matter the odds. This is a story about the little redheaded girl who thought she could, and so she did.

Review Quotes

My wife was dumbfounded that I read the entire book in three sittings over just three days. You have no idea what my daily reading of world events consumes of my daily routine! I don't usually have the time or the inclination to read an entire book, but your grandmother's story and your ability to shift to the horror from the nostalgic was especially artful and powerful. The Redhead of Auschwitz is a story of a heroic Holocaust survivor who lived through the worst obscenity ever tolerated by human civilization. Yet, the Redhead's own exquisite loyalty, her unyielding courage and indomitable faith inspires us to still believe in the decency of humanity. Hitler lost and the Jewish People out lived him proving, once again, that despite every effort to destroy us throughout the millennia, we remain an eternal people embraced by G-d." -Rabbi Meyer H. May, Executive Director, Simon Wiesenthal Center

Nechama Birnbaum has written a very moving and heart-wrenching account about her redhead grandmother's life growing up in Crasna, Romania and her experiences in back breaking work in a brickyard, Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, the Duderstadt ammunition factory, Theresienstadt and DP camps. Her testimony honors the memory of family members who were murdered by the Germans, and demonstrates how, against all odds, she survived. "The redhead who promised herself that she is going home," leaves an incredible legacy of 5 children, 28 grandchildren, 120 great grandchildren and 7 great, great grandchildren. -Alex Grobman, PhD

The Redhead of Auschwitz was a difficult book to write but not so to read. Rosie Greenstein's granddaughter captured the experience of her grandmother and drew so close that she was able to write in her voice. The result is a powerful work that traces Rosie's experience from the lively family life of her youth, to the German invasion of Hungary, ghettoization, deportation, arrival, Auschwitz and the daily struggle for survival. No one survived Auschwitz without luck, but Rosie's is able to describe the many ways she defeated death by wit and wisdom, determination and an iron will. She was one of the very few who entered the gas chambers and returned because on the day she was selected to be murdered, gassing stopped. She was more valuable to the Nazis alive than dead. We follow her through the death marches to liberation and the return and catch the briefest glimpse of her life afterward. Each chapter begins with a verse from Psalms chosen with such great sensitivity that we see how Psalms can accompany us all the days of our life from the depths of anguish to the heights of joy, from the darkness of humanity to majesty of human kindness and our Creator. An important story told with grace and love! -Michael Berenbaum, Professor of Jewish studies