Unshed Tears (Holocaust Survivors) - Softcover

Hofmann, Mrs Edith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1908223901 ISBN 13: 9781908223906

Publisher: Memoirs Publishing, 2012

Synopsis

'Unshed Tears', written soon after the war, relates the experiences of Edith Hofmann being deported to a ghetto and then to Auschwitz and Bergen Belsen. It has only very recently been published. Although it has been written as a novel, it details events, which were all too tragically true. In the summer of 1944, with the Russians advancing, the whole Ghetto population of Lodz including Edith Hofmann were herded into cattle trucks and sent to Auschwitz. She was aged only 17 and one of the lucky ones. For the majority it was their final journey. A small group of people were selected for work. So, with her hair shaved off and deprived of all her possessions, she travelled to Kristianstadt, a labour camp in Silesia to work in an underground munitions factory. In January 1945, with the Russians approaching again, she was sent off on a Death March across snow covered Germany to Bavaria. There cattle trucks were waiting for her. Spending a week in crowded conditions without food or water she arrived in Bergen Belsen on 15th March. A month later she was liberated.

About this title

About the Author

Edith Hofmann is a survivor of the Holocaust, born in Prague in 1927 as Edith Birkin. In 1941, along with her parents, she was deported to the Lodz Ghetto, where within a year both her parents had died. At 15 she was left to fend for herself. The Lodz Ghetto was the second-largest ghetto to Warsaw, and was established for Jews and Gypsies in German-occupied Poland. Situated in the town of Lodz in Poland and originally intended as a temporary gathering point for Jews, the ghetto was transformed into a major industrial centre, providing much needed supplies for Nazi Germany and especially for the German Army. Because of its remarkable productivity, the ghetto managed to survive until August 1944, when the remaining population, including Edith, was transported to Auschwitz and Chelmno extermination camp in cattle trucks. It was the last ghetto in Poland to be liquidated due to the advancing Russian army. Edith was only 17, and one of the lucky ones. For the majority, it was their final journey. A small group of them were selected for work. With her hair shaved off and deprived of all her possessions, she travelled to Kristianstadt, a labour camp in Silesia, to work in an underground munitions factory. In January 1945, aged 18 and with the Russians approaching again, she was sent off on a death march across snow-covered Germany to Bavaria. There cattle trucks were waiting. After spending a week in crowded conditions without food or water she and her companions arrived in Bergen Belsen on 15th March 1945. A month later they were liberated. In 1946, after the liberation and destruction of the death camps, she came to England to study, eventually becoming a teacher in London. Edith has written 2 books about her experiences, Unshed Tears, a novel and The Last Goodbye, a book of poems and pictures. Edith now lives with her husband in Hereford. She has three children and six grandchildren.

From the Back Cover

'The capital's picturesque buildings and its hundred spires rearing up towards the sky were surrounded by peace and darkness, unaware of the thousand souls for whom this hour meant the beginnings of a journey into the unknown.'

'Among the thousand little specks weighed down by heavy loads, struggling against the weather and darkness, making their way from all corners of the city to a strange meeting place, were three silent figures: a man, a woman and a young girl.'

Turned down by publishers at the time she wrote it in the wake of her experience in Nazi occupied Europe, for fifty years Edith Hofmann's book has lain gathering dust, waiting to be read. Her story is a novel, but it's not a fiction. It is raw and aching testimony both to her survival, and her bid to survive survival. You will be moved. Not only by what she has written, but by the fact that she wrote it all.

Edition details

• Publisher: Memoirs Publishing
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1908223901
• ISBN 13: 9781908223906
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480