The Auschwitz Collection

This collection of fifteen memoirs and two anthologies represents a fraction of the more than one hundred survivor narratives published by the Azrieli Foundation’s Holocaust Survivor Memoirs program. Each of the books presented here tell of experiences surviving Auschwitz-Birkenau. Memories of Auschwitz might comprise a significant portion of the author’s experience, or an author may depict poignant fragments of significant experiences in the camp. You can also consult our digital resource Re:Collection to view survivor authors’ video clips and read memoir excerpts focusing on their deeply moving experiences. In addition to our published memoirs, memoir excerpts from our digital exhibit Sustaining Memories may also be referenced in your work, and we can provide full memoirs from this partner-assisted writing project. Many of our other memoirs not listed here also reference Auschwitz from a variety of perspectives, so don’t hesitate to reach out with questions if there is something specific you are looking for.

Digital copies of the memoirs can be ordered online and are also available at university libraries in Canada that offer access to the Scholars Portal online ebook collection. Check with your Canadian university library to ensure access to the entire collection through Scholars Portal.

Contact Carson Phillips, Manager of Academic Initiatives, for additional information about the Auschwitz Collection or the academic conference.

Memoirs in the Auschwitz Collection

Six Lost Years

Amek Adler

Deported from Radom to Auschwitz-Birkenau in July 1944
Not registered into Auschwitz; sent on to Vaihingen, a subcamp of Natzweiler
Discusses return to Auschwitz with Jewish students on March of the Living programs

A Cry in Unison

Judy Cohen

Deported from Debrecen ghetto to Auschwitz-Birkenau in June 1944
Describes life in women’s barracks BIII (“Mexico”)
Initially with her three sisters, then, alone, joins two sisters to survive: “sistering”
Deportation to Bergen-Belsen and Aschersleben forced labour camp
Focus on gendered experiences and spiritual resistance

Spring’s End

John Freund

Deported from Terezín/ Theresienstadt to Auschwitz-Birkenau in November 1943
Describes the brutality of the arrival and selection process
Details conditions in Czech Family Camp at Auschwitz for six months, then Men’s Camp until evacuation

As the Lilacs Bloomed

Anna Molnár Hegedűs

Deported from Szatmár to Auschwitz-Birkenau in May 1944
Written in 1945, first published in 1946 in Hungarian
Detailed and nuanced literary style written from the perspective of a wife and mother
Focus on gender, camp hierarchy and mother-daughter relationships

A Lasting Legacy

Johnny Jablon

Deported from Plaszow to Auschwitz-Birkenau in February 1944
Death march from Auschwitz-Birkenau to Nazi camps in Austria
Survival attributed to Polish linguistic ability, luck and friendship

We Sang in Hushed Voices

Helena Jockel

Deported from Užhorod (Ungvár) ghetto to Auschwitz-Birkenau in spring 1944
Death march from Auschwitz-Birkenau to Leipzig and Dresden, Germany
Focus on women supporting one another and spiritual resilience

Inside the Walls

Eddie Klein

Deported from Lodz ghetto to Auschwitz-Birkenau in August 1944
Kitchen worker and messenger for SS
Sent to Sosnowitz subcamp at end of 1944; rapport with German functionaries
Unique perspective from a place of relative protection

The Weight of Freedom

Nate Leipciger

Deported from Sosnowiec ghetto to Auschwitz-Birkenau in August 1943
Describes brutality and constant, ever-present threat of death
Survives with his father and expresses their changing relationship
Deported to various concentration camps; writes of his vulnerability as a pipel

A Name Unbroken

Michael Mason

Deported from Monor to Auschwitz-Birkenau in July 1944
Poignantly details the shock of the arrival and selection process
Recalls liquidation of the “Gypsy Camp”
Discusses learning about gas chambers and crematoria and witnessing suicides

Gatehouse to Hell

Felix Opatowski

Deported from a labour camp near Lodz to Auschwitz-Birkenau in August 1943
Detailed stories of fellow prisoners, kapos and commandants
Messenger role from Buna to Auschwitz; implicated in Sonderkommando uprising
Friendship, trading, smuggling, connections with Polish underground

Bits and Pieces

Henia Reinhartz

Deported from Lodz ghetto to Auschwitz-Birkenau in August 1944
Unique literary style of describing experiences in short vignettes, as if glimpses of fuller memories
Deported from Auschwitz to Sasel, Germany, in October 1944
Focus on the importance of being with her mother and sister

Dignity Endures

Judith Rubinstein

Deported from Miskolc ghetto to Auschwitz-Birkenau in June 1944
Attributes survival to her mother’s sacrifice
Observes the Sonderkommando uprising from the unique perspective of a kommando who cleaned the watchtowers

The Last Time

Eva Shainblum

Deported from Nagyvárad ghetto to Auschwitz-Birkenau in late May 1944
Reliance on older sister for support
Succinct account; deported to forced labour camp in October 1944

My Heart Is at Ease

Gerta Solan

Deported from Terezín/ Theresienstadt to Auschwitz-Birkenau in October 1944
Survival with no family, in children’s block
Snapshots of memories

In Fragile Moments

Zsuzsanna Fischer Spiro

Deported from Kisvárda ghetto to Auschwitz-Birkenau in late May 1944
Reliance on older sister for support
Includes postwar diary entries describing a death march, written in Leipzig, Germany, in 1945

Confronting Devastation: Memoirs of Holocaust Survivors from Hungary

The Miracle of Our Survival, Yittel Nechuma Bineth
Eviction and Terror, Sandor (Sam) Grad
Amid the Burning Bushes, Ilonka (Helen) Rodak-Iszo
Beliefs under Shock, Veronika (Vera) Schwartz

Auschwitz, Fela Yoskovitz-Ross
Sometimes I Can Dream Again, Suzanne (Katz) Reich
If the World Had Only Acted Sooner, Rebekah (Relli) Schmerler-Katz
With Great Pride, Fela Zylberstajn Grachnik
To My Daughters, Ida Dimant