The Teacher of Auschwitz review: ‘he helped Jewish children survive hell’

The more improbable a premise, the more fascinating it can be. Wendy Holden, a multi-award-winning journalist, has done a remarkable job in bringing to life the story of a man of whom few have heard – Fredy Hirsch, a German Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz who died at the age of 28 in 1944. He had also spent years up to that point succouring hundreds of Jewish children by helping them to face the daily threats to their well-being, and saving them physically and mentally from Nazi depredations that they rarely understood.

At the same time as sheltering children from unspeakable truths, Hirsch had secrets of his own to hide – that he was a gay man, who went to endless lengths to stop his sexuality becoming known, suppressing his true nature in the hope of saving others.

Hirsch’s story begins, in this account, in Auschwitz itself, as he and hundreds of other Jews are decanted from jam-packed cattle wagons on trains from Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia. The son of a kosher butcher, he and his brother Paul had followed very different paths: Paul studied to be a rabbi, while he found refuge in prolonged physical activity to compensate for his father’s lack of pride in him.

But building up his bodily strength enabled Hirsch to help others for much longer periods than anyone else. He was set on going to live in Mandatory Palestine, Holden tells us, and it was through his work with the young Zionists in central Europe that he ended in Theresienstadt, where he bravely, challenged SS officers to allow the children time in the open air to play.

He provided endless inspiration to help the children forget what was happening, offering a sense of fun, teaching them songs, putting on plays, giving them hard-fought-for crayons and paper. Most importantly he instilled in his young charges the importance of paying attention to him and his fellow Maccabee leaders. If Fredy Hirsch told a child to do something, it was absolutely necessary.

He provided endless inspiration to help the children forget what was happening, offering a sense of fun, teaching them songs, putting on plays, giving them hard-fought-for crayons and paper

The overarching lesson that Hirsch taught the children was how to survive, a lesson that came too late for him. He died after falling into a coma in Birkenau on March 7 1944, becoming one of 3,972 people who died in the gas chamber the following day.

Helpfully – and I wish more writers would do this – Holden includes an index detailing the fate of every real-life person in the book.

In Holden’s prologue and epilogue, the real-life Fredy Hirsch begs the reader: “My name is Fredy Hirsch, I am 28 years old. I am a teacher. I am a dreamer. I am not just a number. Nor will I be identified by the yellow triangles I’ve been forced to wear….I am a good man. Please, be so kind as to remember my name.” Thanks to Holden, we can.

The Teacher of Auschwitz

By Wendy Holden

Bonnier Books, £14.99