999

999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune Macadam (

 
Title: 999
Author: Heather Dune Macadm
Gener: Nonfiction ( WW 2 History)
Pages : 417
Read as a NetGalley ARC
Rating:4.5
On March 25, 1942, nearly a thousand young, unmarried Jewish women boarded a train in Poprad, Slovakia. Filled with a sense of adventure and national pride, they left their parents' homes wearing their best clothes and confidently waving good-bye. Believing they were going to work in a factory for a few months, they were eager to report for government service. Instead, the young women--many of them teenagers--were sent to Auschwitz. Their government paid 500 Reich Marks (about $200) apiece for the Nazis to take them as slave labor. Of those 999 innocent deportees, only a few would survive.

The facts of the first official Jewish transport to Auschwitz are little known, yet profoundly relevant today. These were not resistance fighters or prisoners of war. There were no men among them. Sent to almost certain death, the young women were powerless and insignificant not only because they were Jewish--but also because they were female. Now acclaimed author Heather Dune Macadam reveals their poignant stories, drawing on extensive interviews with survivors, and consulting with historians, witnesses, and relatives of those first deportees to create an important addition to Holocaust literature and women's history.


My thoughts
Would I recommend it ? Yes
Will I read more by this author? Yes
This is a most read book even though it's on a really tough topic to read about and will make you very emotional as well. Because  up until I read 2 historical fiction books about this horrible place I had no idea it  existed and what went on there, and while those historical fiction books did nothing to bring this place or the story of the people who was there alive ,this author did the complete opposite ,she really did her research and not only that but she brought to life the characters as well as the places she was talking about, she brought their fears and their struggles to life so much so that you could feel it. As well as the stories of the ones that didn't come back , in many ways she give them a voice to tell their story so they could be remembered. With that said I want to thank NetGalley for letting me read and review it .