Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Nobody leaves Auschwitz alive.
Mala, inmate 19880, understood that the moment she stepped off the cattle train into the depths of hell. As an interpreter for the SS, she uses her position to save as many lives as she can, smuggling scraps of bread to those desperate with hunger.
Edward, inmate 531, is a camp veteran and a political prisoner. Though he looks like everyone else, with a shaved head and striped uniform, he’s a fighter in the underground Resistance. And he has an escape plan.
They are locked up for no other sin than simply existing. But when they meet, the dark shadow of Auschwitz is lit by a glimmer of hope. Edward makes Mala believe in the impossible. That despite being surrounded by electric wire, machine guns topping endless watchtowers and searchlights roaming the ground, they will leave this death camp.
A promise is made––they will escape together or they will die together. What follows is one of the greatest love stories in history…
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
In the latter months of last year I read a phenomenal book, The Violinist of Auschwitz by Ellie Midwood, and I knew as soon as I finished reading it that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on another story by this brilliant author. Thankfully the wait wasn’t too long and now the author returns to the same setting of Auschwitz during World War Two. The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz is another excellent, epic read that despite having read so many books read during this period previously I was still left in absolute horror, sadness and anger at what unfolded at the extermination camp. You think you have read everything there is to know about the camp or read every brutal description but then here is this talented author opening your eyes to so much you weren’t aware of. There is a fear that you might have become hardened to some of the descriptions and images and they don’t have the intended impact but in this story there were several scenes which literally made me stop, pause and gasp out loud so horrific were they.
So many years after the conclusion of the war what went on behind barbed wire still has the power to shock and awe. You really can’t quite comprehend what so many people went through and what’s more it was all so needless and occurred on the whims of a mad man. The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz is another powerful, thought provoking read where you really don’t know what the ending will be. Ellie Midwood has a way of having her readers become deeply invested in the incredible characters she writes about and you are with them every step of the way on their difficult journey. You want the best for them but given their circumstances you wonder is this possible to achieve?
This story is told from the perspective of two inmates, Mala and Edek. The chapters alternate between their viewpoints and over time the two connect and work for one cause and put a plan in motion for their ultimate freedom. The prologue is brief but tense and spine chilling and it lingers in your mind as you progress through the story for it raised many questions and I wasn’t sure did I want to know the eventual outcome. We are then taken back to the summer of 1943 where we met Edek, a political prisoner and one of the first to arrive at Auschwitz. He is Polish and had been sentenced to hard labour as the Gestapo claimed he along with other members of the Polish intelligentsia were plotting against the Reich. He soon came to realise that the prisoners are viewed as vermin and the propaganda and front put on for the world and in particular for the Red Cross is just a mirage. For behind the gates of the camp such unspeakable, horrific and deadly atrocities occur on a daily basis that if the truth were told many would find it hard to believe that such things occurred.
Edek works in the camp locksmith making locks for Gestapo jails and he is a clever man who knows he needs to get out of the camp otherwise he cannot contemplate what eventual fate might befall him. The abuse of human rights and such torment and blood chilling experiences horrify him and impact severely on his mind. So called enemies of the Reich were to be exterminated through work, starvation or disease that’s if you were not sent to the gas chamber first. Edek knows he has to be cunning, inginuitive and clever in order to achieve his freedom and along with his friend Wieslew he creates a plan that if it is pulled off will see him walk out through the gates never to return again. This plan forms the basis of the book but it takes passion, determination, guts and lots of plotting and planning on so many people’s parts in order to make the duos dream a reality. That’s if everything goes to plan as posing as a guard and being discovered could have the most deadly consequences of all.
Once Edek had his plan in his mind there was no stopping him and what struck me is that these people were living in the depths of hell with torture, beatings and death lurking around every corner on the whim of a guard but yet these people had hope courage and resilience. I really don’t know where they got the tenacity from to do what they did especially given how weak they must have been from lack of proper nutritional food and from being made to do back breaking work and living in such dirty and in humane conditions. Reading through the story the author opened my eyes to a whole new world. The camp was like a little country in itself with lots of sections of society and those that knew the right people, made the right contacts and came to understand the underground network at work then they were the people who stood the best chance of making it out alive. I became totally fascinated and engrossed by Edek’s plan and story which was only enhanced the more that Mala began to feature.
Mala was a remarkable character who time and time again did everything in her power to improve the inmates situations. She was so selfless in a dog eatdog world where some people only looked out for themselves. Instead she used her position as camp runner to great affect. She is an interpreter and secretary for Mandl, the women’s camp leader, and therefore privy to certain things and boy does she use this to her advantage. Zippy is a secretary too and she had featured in the previous book along with Frau Alma. I loved to see this crossover of characters and events between the two books. It really helped bring the two books together that whilst Alma had her orchestra there was so much else going on at the same time especially with Mala. Mala has sworn that one day she will get back the freedom so unjustly taken from her. The one lock of shorn hair that she managed to keep is a reminder of her freedom lost and the promise that she will regain it.
Mala was a brilliantly written character. She never sat back and took it easy even though she had some form of privilege working as the secretary and camp runner. She was so open minded and knew every little trick in the book that could benefit someone in the camp. She was always so alert and on the ball and as she finds herself working for the resistance within the camp as a reader your admiration really grows for her. There was so much swapping of goods and information. Little bargaining tools that would mean nothing to us in the wider world where we have our freedom but behind the gates of hell something so simple such as a nail could mean the difference between life and death. Mala draws strength from her hatred of what she is going through and what she has witnessed. The unnecessary suffering that ensues on a daily basis and the nonchalant manner in which the camp leaders and guards deal with death and murder. She sets goals and works tirelessly to achieve them. She wants to outwit the SS in their own lair and there is no stronger, more capable woman that can do this.
When she encounters Edek and learns of his ambitious plan to flee and that he will need a pass, she does everything in her power to make this dream a reality. I don’t think she bargained on developing feelings for this man but this is what happens and a powerful love story ensues. She feels a kinship with him because he is a dreamer, they both feel that surrendering and submitting is not an option. Human decency which both Edek and Mala have in spades cannot be purchased and having this trait and drawing strength from each other and making each other laugh amidst the dark moments of which there were many will hopefully see the plan come to fruition. Edek makes her see that the impossible can become a reality and that maybe there is light on the other side of the wire should she chose to join him? He gave her hope in the hell of the camp and without him Mala comes to realise that life itself will lose all meaning.
The pace of the story was fantastic and I was rapidly turning the pages as quickly as I could. Ellie Midwood makes you feel as if you too are there in the camp alongside Mala and Edek. At times, there were scenes I found very hard to read in particular the work of the sonderkommando - those men who worked in the crematorium. It was just barbaric and deeply upsetting to read about and the means in which inmates got their water well that turned my stomach. Towards the end as the plans for the Hungarian Jews become apparent well my stomach was churning at what I was reading. When you think the lowest depths have been reached you are shocked to read much lower depths can be plunged. Yet all those images and scenes needed to be in this story and I am glad the author did not spare them it gives a deeper understanding of what went on and a deep appreciation for the sacrifices so many people made at the time in order to win the war.
Millions of inmates died needlessly. Such hatred, systematic slaughter and mass extermination were inhumane and one wonders can Mala and Edek survive on their intellect and see their plan become a success. To discover the outcome, read this amazing book that will have a profound and long lasting impact on you.Ellie Midwood has now certainly cemented herself as one of my favourite authors and it’s been a long time since I have been so excited about discovering a new author. Long may she publish books of this astounding calibre.
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