Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Ana Kaminski is pushed through the iron gates of Auschwitz beside her frightened young friend Ester Pasternak. As they reach the front of the line, Ana steps forward and quietly declares herself a midwife – and Ester her assistant. Their arms are tattooed and they’re ordered to the maternity hut. Holding an innocent new-born baby, Ana knows the fate of so many are in her hands, and vows to do everything she can to save them.
When two guards in their chilling SS uniforms march in and snatch a blond-haired baby from its mother it’s almost too much for Ana to bear. Consoling the distraught woman, Ana realises amidst the terrible heartache there is a glimmer of hope. The guards are taking the healthiest babies and placing them with German families, so they will survive. And there are whispers the war is nearly over… Ana and Ester begin to secretly tattoo little ones with their mother’s numbers, praying one day they might be reunited.
Then, early one morning, Ana notices the small bump under Ester’s thin striped clothing…
Many thanks to Bookoutre via NetGalley for my copy of The Midwife of Auschwitz to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart opens in April of 1946 as a woman hopes to reunite with a child, if at all possible. She has walked a long and dark road to reach this place and as she enters the room filled with cots, she hopes the road has been worth it. Just a page or two throws up numerous questions. Who is the woman? Is it her child she is searching for and if so what led to their separation? What dark journey has she been on and will her hunt prove successful or a failure? The answers will only come with the turn of the final page and until then the reader is taken on an incredible journey of strength and courage.
We are then taken back in time to part one of the book which is set in 1939 and the following years. Given the title I expected the majority of the book to be set in Auschwitz but this wasn’t the case. It’s not until quite some time into the book that the characters are in the camp and from that point on the book takes on even darker tone than was already present and some of the things you read are truly horrifying and stomach churning. I read lots of historical fiction set in and around World War and at times you think oh I’ve read it all when it comes to descriptions of the atrocities committed in the many camps established during the time but here Anna Stuart truly shocked me with some of the events detailed that the women endured but at the same time I was filled with admiration for our two main characters Ana and Ester and even more so when you read the end notes and discover the book had been inspired by an incredible true story.
September 1939 and Ester Adams is an apprentice nurse in the Polish city of Lodz. She sits on the steps of the cathedral during her lunch break and day by day grows more confident in talking to Filip - an apprentice tailor. Their world is torn apart when Germany invades Poland and they fear there are many dark years to come. Filip quickly proposes to Ester, she accepts, and they are soon married. But their life is not what they would want it to be given fear and danger lurk around every corner. Even more so the fact that they are Jewish and Hitler is hell bent on eradicating all Jews from the face of the earth. How must it have felt to be free to walk the streets and live a normal life one day and then overnight to become the enemy? Hitler created a despicable ideology that tore so many families apart. Forced to wear the yellow star of David and viewed as a plague on earth, the love Ester has for Filip is strong and will hopefully see her through all the hardship, torture, fear, starvation and the harsh realities that are in front of them.
Soon a ghetto is created in Lodz and Ester, Filip and their parents and her younger sister Leah find themselves crammed into a tiny area and forced to share accommodation with many others. Their basic civil rights are taken away and they are left to live no better than the dogs on the streets. Anna Stuart spared nothing in her descriptions of the ghetto and in fact of Auschwitz itself and I am glad she did not. There is no point sugar coating things with a book of this nature. All the details really need to be laid bare for the reader to feel the full force and impact of what the characters are going through. It helps you to really feel for them and to be on their side journeying with them as you hope for a positive and happy eventual outcome for them. Ester does her best to help those who are ill in the ghetto but disease, illness, dirt, starvation and appalling conditions are commonplace and life is one long grind to merely survive. No one wants to be the person picked up off the street lifeless and thrown onto the death cart. Several years pass and by 1943, the worst occurs when Ester’s mother is to be taken away destined for a camp. Rumours of which swirl around the ghetto. Ester stands by her mother and she finds herself transported leaving Filip and her father behind. What could be possibly worse than what they are already going through?
The second character to feature is Ana Kaimski. She is a midwife and not Jewish and awful as this is to say she and her family fare better than what Ester is going through. Ana is renowned and respected for her talents as a midwife. I found it different to have two female main characters in a book who both took equal precedence. At times, I found myself becoming confused between the two and I needed to stop reading and think for a minute or two and get the two stories straight. But once I got things clear in my mind, for the second half of the book, I was able to follow along much easier. I didn’t prefer one woman over the other as I thought they both had strong voices in order to tell their stories and I loved how Ana became the mother to Ester when she needed a mother most.
Ana fulfilled a promise right until the bitter end and the bond and relationship they formed was remarkable and would bring a tear to your eye as they battled through a storm that at times it seemed they would never emerge through the other side. Ana and her husband and three sons become involved in resistance work to help those in the ghetto. Simple but necessary things are passed into the ghetto and the family put themselves in danger to help those in need. They needn’t have done anything at all but it highlighted all the good qualities they possess. The worst occurs when Ana’s family are discovered, arrested and tortured. This is when Ana meets Ester on the train to Auschwitz and they will need each other more than ever as everything that awaits them in the camp is designed to make them fail and die.
I found part one of the book to be too long as I kept waiting as mentioned above given the title for the plot to develop and to reach Auschwitz and for me that’s when the story proper began. I understand there needed to be a part one in order to introduce both Ana and Ester and to establish their backgrounds and differing stories but I would have preferred a slightly shorter, what I am calling introductory section so we could get to the main parts of the story earlier. Part Two follows the two women in Auschwitz and part three ties the strands of the story together.
Part two was the best I felt because it had me completely gripped. The terror experienced by Ana and Ester is all too real and they promise to protect each other and never let go. What follows is endless displays of bravery in the most fearful of places. Barrack 17 at the camp became like the maternity ward and Ester and Ana band together to help so many desperate mothers deliver babies. But what occurs is just truly horrific and Klara the Kapo for the block is just a crazed criminal with death and destruction on her mind. The scenes that are described are very hard to read and will hit you right through the heart. The brutality and lack of compassion is immense but the two women are in a fight against humanity and determined to succeed to the bitter end.
To say much more as to what occurs at the camp would give too much away as to how the remainder of the story unfolds. Suffice to say there are many twists and turns. One of which brought the story in a surprising direction and I found myself glued as to what the outcome would be. There are lots of harrowing scenes throughout the book but it’s near the end when specific details of January 1945 unfold that I found myself really welling up at what the inmates were left to deal with. The Midwife of Auschwitz is a very good, detailed read which reinforced the power of human endurance and spirit. It’s an inspirational yet heart-breaking story of a woman trying to bring hope and new life to a world enshrouded by darkness and evil. It’s a story definitely worthy of a read.
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