To me personally, the Holocaust is an extremely sensitive subject, so while writing this novel I tried my best to keep as close to reality as I could, only using creative license where no survivors’ testimonies could be used and where I had to use my author’s imagination to fill in the blanks. The timeline of events, most historical figures, the complex camp hierarchy and the functioning of different work details are all true to fact and their descriptions are based on survivors’ memoirs and historical studies.
The Denazification Tribunal procedure (its structure, members, history, and background) is also based on historical fact. The program itself was extremely complex and had to undergo multiple changes throughout the years. The German courts were indeed replacing American Military Tribunals starting in late 1946 – early 1947 with the Americans acting only as supervisors from that time on. The backlog of cases was such that a lot of POWs and former Nazis indeed escaped justice and got off without a charge but only with minor restrictions imposed on their professions (no public office, no positions in the education or press were permitted for a certain period of time, etc.). You can read more about the program and the way a Denazification Trial was conducted in Spayd and Insanally’s study “Bayerliein: The Denazification Trial of Rommel’s Chief-of-Staff, and Panzer Lehr Division Commander Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein” and also F. Taylor’s study “Exorcising Hitler.”
Most of the historical figures mentioned in the novel are also based on real Auschwitz survivors and SS men serving there. R. Höss, who is considered the Kommandant of Auschwitz despite the interruption of his service there, was indeed removed from his position during the investigation of the corruption in Auschwitz (conducted by Dr. Konrad Morgen and his staff in 1943, as described in the novel) and replaced by Kommandant Liebehenschel. The personality of Liebehenschel and the changes he introduced at once (he indeed toured the camp right after his appointment, spoke to the inmates, strictly prohibited the Kapos and the officers from abusing the prisoners, removed the so-called “standing cells” which the Auschwitz Gestapo used during Höss’s time as a Kommandant and introduced a system of rewards to the prisoners) are all based on survivors’ memoirs. H. Langbein, a former Austrian political prisoner in Auschwitz and a historian, has an entire chapter in his study dedicated to the comparison of the two Kommandants. Both Höss and Liebehenschel were tried in Cracow after the war and sentenced to death by hanging, for crimes against humanity. Höss’s personality I also based on what I read about him from his own memoir that he wrote in captivity, “Death Dealer.”
Franz’s comrade Oskar Gröning (the name was not changed), indeed worked as an accountant in the Kanada detail until his transfer to the front was finally approved in 1944. He arrived at Auschwitz in 1942 and, after witnessing the cruelty reigning there firsthand, requested to be transferred to the front immediately but that request was denied. He was indeed mostly a desk person and wasn’t charged with any brutality towards the inmates, however, he was still tried as an accessory to murder in September 2014, found guilty of facilitating mass murder and sentenced to four years of imprisonment but died on March 9, 2018, before he could start serving his sentence. He gave multiple interviews to the BBC, some of which were made into documentaries, such as “The Accountant of Auschwitz,” “Auschwitz: the Nazis and the Final Solution,” “The Last Nazis.”
Gerhard Palitzsch was actually the first Auschwitz Rapportführer, who was indeed accused of appropriating inmates’ valuables and of having sexual relations with a non-Aryan inmate during the investigation of 1943. As a result, he was transferred to Brünn and later, in June 1944, he was thrown out of the SS. His further fate is unknown, though, he is considered to have fallen during the Battle of Budapest.
Aumeier, Hössler, Moll, Voss, Gorges, and Grabner are all real people who served in the SS in Auschwitz during Helena’s incarceration there. Hössler, nicknamed by the inmates “Moshe Liar,” was indeed infamous for his sleek manner with the new arrivals and the stories he would spin in order to pacify them. While writing his eerie addresses to the new arrivals, I mostly relied on the memoirs of one of the Sonderkommando survivors, Filip Müller (“Eyewitness Auschwitz”), who witnessed Hössler’s talk firsthand.
Unterscharführer Gorges, who was the Kommandoführer of Crematorium V, and Oberscharführer Voss, who was in charge of all crematoria before Moll replaced him on Höss’s orders right before the Hungarian Aktion, are also described as they were presented in Müller’s memoirs, “Eyewitness Auschwitz.”
Otto Moll, unanimously remembered by the inmates and fellow SS men as the brutal and fanatical slave-driver, torturer, sadist, and murderer, was indeed placed in charge of the Hungarian Aktion by Kommandant Höss, who returned to Auschwitz in May 1944; the change of the command in the crematoria, the construction of the pits behind the crematoria, the camouflage screens, the scene with the three women brutally executed by him personally, and also his appearance and personality are all based on the Sonderkommando survivors’ memoirs, who worked under his charge. Moll was indeed one of the few people awarded by Himmler with the Cross with Swords for distinctive service to the Reich. He was tried in Cracow after the war and sentenced to death by hanging.
Maximilian Grabner was indeed the head of the Auschwitz Gestapo, who was later tried in Weimar for corruption and unsanctioned murder of inmates at the so-called “Black Wall” – the wall, by which many prisoners died by firing squad, on Grabner’s orders. It was situated near Block 11, the punishment block. After the war, he was tried for crimes against humanity, found guilty, and hanged in January 1948.
As for the inmates, some of them are real people (such as Mala Zimetbaum, who worked as an interpreter and a courier in Auschwitz before her escape with her beloved, Edward Galiński, as well as the inmate known as Dayen, who was said to be a former rabbi and who was in charge of burning books and documents left from the new arrivals) and some are fictional characters based on real people. For instance, the Slovak doctor who helped Helena. He is based on Dr. Miklos Nyiszli, who worked as an inmate pathologist assigned to Dr. Mengele. His living quarters and his responsibilities are all based on Dr. Nyiszli’s memoir, “Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account.”
The Kanada work detail, its structure, organization, and functions are all described based on the survivors’ memoirs. It was definitely considered to be the most desirable work detail since the inmates had comparatively bearable living conditions (they lived in the complex itself and were allowed to have mattresses, pillows, bed covers, etc. in their barracks), were permitted to take showers that were also installed next to the warehouse, and allowed to keep their hair and wear civilian clothes. They did work under the supervision of male SS guards, both male and female inmates together, which was not the case with the regular camp in Birkenau, where the inmates were strictly separated by sexes and where women from the women’s camp worked under the supervision of female SS wardens (most of whom began arriving in the spring of 1942, along with the first women transports from Slovakia). The idea to appoint “antisocial” German inmates (mostly it meant prostitutes) as Kapos belonged to Himmler, who ordered Kommandant Höss to implement it at once. Maria Krupp is the collective image of such a Kapo. It was mostly women who worked in the Kanada Kommando under Franz Wunsch’s (Dahler’s) charge.
The Sonderkommando (the inmates who worked in the gas chambers, crematoria, and burial pits) was also considered an “elite” Kommando since they, just like Kanada inmates, were allowed certain privileges. They also had separate living quarters from the rest of the inmates and were more or less prohibited from interacting with them since the SS didn’t want any details of the crematoria operations leaking out to the general population of the camp. They also had rather comfortable bunks, plenty of food and drink in their living quarters (SS camp leader Aumeier later characterized the members of the SK as “hulking, well-nourished Jewish inmates”; Tadeusz Joachimowski, who was a roll-call clerk in a section of Birkenau, provided the following descrip
tion: “When I went to Block 3 and entered the room occupied by the camp elder and camp Kapo, I saw a big table with a cloth of white linen at which about twenty Jews from the Sonderkommando were sitting. Karl Seefeld put platters with choice ham, sausage, fish, and other foods on the table and those around it enjoyed the feast. After-dinner treats included chocolate and an assortment of fruit.” – H. Langbein, “People in Auschwitz”) and were permitted to wear civilian jackets and sometimes even civilian slacks. The SS tolerated their appropriating food, alcohol, and even valuables from the dead inmates and the Kanada solely due to the fact that no one else would do the job and therefore the SS felt that the SK had to be compensated somewhat for the horrors of their profession. The difference between the Kanada and the SK was that the members of the SK were summarily liquidated every four to five months, with the exception of only a few members and a new team would be gathered, in order not to keep witnesses alive for too long.
The description of all five crematoria is also all based on survivors’ testimonies and historical sources. Crematorium I, the walls of which were constantly crumbling, which was the reason why the corpses were at first buried in the open field behind Bunkers 1 and 2 (which served as gas chambers) called The Little Red House and The Little White House, was situated in Auschwitz; Crematoria II, III, IV, and V were later constructed in Birkenau. They combined the crematorium facilities, the gas chamber, the SK living quarters, and the Kommandoführer’s office and became the main extermination sites starting in 1943. Bunker 1 and Bunker 2 were former farmhouses which were transformed into gas chambers before the construction of the four crematoria; they were much smaller in size and only had a small changing room and hatches in the ceiling into the gas chamber itself, through which the gas was dropped by the SS medics. The new crematoria were much more complex, had changing rooms much bigger in size and with multiple signs in different languages that were placed there to pacify the new arrivals and persuade them that they were indeed only taking a shower. Inside the gas chamber, they had special “gas columns,” through which Zyklon B was lowered into the chamber by the SS medic. They also had elevators to deliver the bodies faster, from the basement into the crematorium upstairs. You can read more about it in F. Müller’s memoir “Eyewitness Auschwitz,” which also includes their detailed plans.
Trucks with the Red Cross were indeed used to deliver the gas to the bunkers and to transport inmates, who didn’t pass the selection. The members of the SK also had to shave heads of the corpses and extract golden crowns, which were later melted into gold bars and delivered to the Reichsbank. The hair was said to be used for the socks and belts of the Kriegsmarine, for felt boots, mattress stuffing, and upholstery.
Burial pits behind the bunkers indeed had to be dug out and the bodies burned in the fall of 1942 since the ground around them became poisonous and began contaminating the waters in the vicinity. Later, in the same field, the pits were used for burning the bodies during the so-called Hungarian Aktion, just as described in the novel.
The food given to the inmates (including bromide added to tea and coffee), the monthly “disinfection” procedure (including the solution used for the inmates’ hair), the clothes the inmates wore (including the differences between the so-called “elite” prisoners and regular ones) are all based on the survivors’ memoirs. You can read more about it in H. Langbein’s study, “People in Auschwitz,” in Olga Lengyel’s memoir “Five Chimneys,” and in R. Gelissen’s memoir, “Rena’s Promise.”
The so-called Muselmänner (extremely emaciated inmates who seemingly lost all will to live) and the scene with their selection by the SS doctors is based on H. Langbein’s memoir of his time in Auschwitz.
The camp orchestra and their appearance are also based on survivors’ testimonies.
Jehovah’s Witnesses and their refusal to handle anything military-related is also based on true fact, just like the so-called Pipels or bum-boys and their “relationship” (one can only use the term very loosely here) with the homosexual Kapos.
The inmates could indeed receive Red Cross parcels (as mentioned by Helena) starting in the Fall of 1942. First Aryan, and then Jewish inmates were permitted to receive parcels from Red Cross and their homes, however, they were opened by the camp’s post office and some things were taken out before delivering the rest to the inmates. The inmates were allowed (and, in fact, even ordered) to write postcards to their relatives and friends; most likely so that the SS could enrich themselves even more after an inmate would ask for a parcel to be sent to their name or, a more sinister motive, to get their relatives to come to Auschwitz willingly. Auschwitz was indeed called Waldsee on cards dated 1944. Olga Lengyel mentions these cards in her memoir, “Five Chimneys.”
A part of the Sonderkommando did organize a revolt in October 1944, blowing up Crematorium IV and burning one of the SS men alive in the oven (as described by Franz Dahler in this novel); the revolt was suppressed and 451 Sonderkommando men were shot, as a consequence. Filip Müller was fortunate to survive it and later described the event in his memoir.
Every survivor definitely experienced Auschwitz differently, however, every single one was scarred by it to a greater or lesser extent. All of the people who were fortunate to leave the camp alive brought with them certain psychological traumas that stayed with them for their entire lives. Among such traumas, Stockholm Syndrome (still undiscovered in 1947, yet described more or less accurately by the fictional psychiatrist, Dr. Hoffman) definitely played a big role. Forced into the position of a virtual slave, an inmate often turned to anyone who was in a position of power and could offer assistance in case that inmate’s life was in danger. It’s only natural that bonds began forming between the captor and the captives, who were so desperate that they were ready to do anything to gain the captors’ favor to survive.
Whether Helena and Franz’s relationship was actually a case of Stockholm Syndrome or whether she indeed fell in love with him, we all can only speculate. Among the general brutality of the camp, their case is certainly an exception to the rule. However, the fact that the SS man could change under his beloved’s influence from a “natural Jew-hater” (as described by one of the survivors) into someone who began helping the inmates and tried to get out of ramp duty by any means possible (the scene where he vomited while escorting the people to their death is also based on a survivor’s testimony, Ernst Müller) testifies to the idea that love is always stronger than hate and that even in the most brutal conditions, a person can undergo the most drastic change if only that person chooses kindness over violence, which is always a conscious choice. As an author, I cherish such stories the most and particularly today, when we, as a society, could really use some compassion and kindness towards each other. I hope that Helena and Franz’s story touched you just as it touched me after I first learned about it. Thank you for reading!
If you still have any questions left or would like to proceed with further reading, feel free to contact the author via Goodreads or Facebook – I’ll be more than happy to provide you with answers and further reading material!
About the Author
Ellie Midwood is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning historical fiction author. She owes her interest in the history of the Second World War to her grandfather, Junior Sergeant in the 2nd Guards Tank Army of the First Belorussian Front, who began telling her about his experiences on the frontline when she was a young girl. Growing up, her interest in history only deepened and transformed from reading about the war to writing about it. After obtaining her BA in Linguistics, Ellie decided to make writing her full-time career and began working on her first full-length historical novel, "The Girl from Berlin." Ellie is continuously enriching her library with new research material and feeds her passion for WWII and Holocaust history by collecting rare memorabilia and documents.
In her free time, Ellie is a health-obsessed yoga enthusiast, neat freak, adventurer, Nazi Germany history expert, polyglot, philosopher, a proud Jew, and a doggie mama. El
lie lives in New York with her fiancé and their Chihuahua named Shark Bait.
Readers’ Favorite - winner in the Historical fiction category (2016) - “The Girl from Berlin: Standartenführer’s Wife”
Readers’ Favorite - winner in the Historical fiction category (2016) - “The Austrian” (honorable mention)
New Apple - Award for Excellence in Independent Publishing (2016) - “The Austrian” (official selection)
Readers’ Favorite - winner in the Historical fiction category (2017) - “Emilia”
Readers’ Favorite - winner in the Historical fiction category (2018) - “A Motherland’s Daughter, A Fatherland’s Son”
National Indie Excellence Awards - finalist in the Military Fiction, Faction, and Friendship categories (2019) - “Of Knights and Dogfights”
Readers’ Favorite - winner in the Historical Fiction category (2019) - “No Woman’s Land”
Auschwitz Syndrome: a Holocaust novel based on a true story (Women and the Holocaust Book 3) Page 30