Q&A with Wendy Holden

 

 

 

Wendy Holden is the author of the new novel The Teacher of Auschwitz. The book is based on the life of Fredy Hirsch, a Jewish man who taught children at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Holden's other books include Born Survivors. Also a journalist, she lives in Suffolk, England.

 

Q: How did you learn about Fredy Hirsch, and why did you decide to write a novel based on his story?

 

A: I wrote a book called One Hundred Miracles with Holocaust survivor Zuzana Ruzickova and she told me how she had met Fredy Hirsch—“the most beautiful man I ever saw”—in a Czech ghetto where she helped out with the younger children.

 

Then when she and her mother were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau she found him again and did the same work, which was what kept her alive.

 

Q: How did you research Fredy Hirsch’s life, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: As a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the author of several books on WWII and the Holocaust, I am familiar with multiple archives and went to them first for information and inspiration.

 

What surprised me most was how little had ever been written about Fredy and how he had been denigrated by the Communists after the war as a homosexual and a so-called “collaborator” simply for asking the SS for more food and better conditions for the children.

 

When I realized that I couldn’t complete his story to my satisfaction, I switched from nonfiction to fiction but kept it strictly true to the facts and I make that clear with a list of fictional and real-life characters in the back.

Q: The writer Dita Kraus said of the book, “This novel is the closest possible narrative a person who didn’t experience those times could have written . . . . a most important work, which will do justice to Fredy and all those victims.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: It made me cry! Once I found out that there was a survivor of the children’s camp still alive, I was so nervous of what she would think of my book, but she read it in days and loved it and said it should be published all over the world—which is about to happen!

 

Q: Especially given the current rise in antisemitism, what do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: That if hate speech, prejudice, racism, and a fear of difference go unchecked, then history shows us that it can develop into unspeakable cruelty. But if we each choose to show compassion, tolerance, and kindness then the world will be a better place.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have just completed the first-ever authorized biography of Audrey Hepburn with the actress’s son Sean, which will be published worldwide next spring, and I am currently working on a new WWII novel.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Authors like me are indebted to the army of book bloggers and influencers who take the time out of their busy lives to read our work and tell the world about it, so I applaud you all and thank you from the bottom of my heart for keeping literature and a love of reading alive.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb