Tuesday, 14 January 2025

The Teacher of Auschwitz

Wendy Holden

IN the hellhole of Auschwitz concentration camp in 1943, one inspirational and selfless young man was determined to create ‘a little piece of heaven’ for the children caught up in the horrors of the Holocaust.

It was a simple wooden hut, complete with cartoon wall paintings... a place known as the ‘children’s block.’ Its purpose was to provide a small oasis of caring and safety where the camp’s youngest prisoners were not just isolated from the terrors around them, but could experience ‘some of the best days of their lives in the worst place imaginable.’

And the extraordinarily brave man who managed to being hope where there was none was Alfred ‘Fredy’ Hirsch, a gay German Jewish teacher who did all he could to protect hundreds of children... and is now the hero of a powerful, heartbreaking and unforgettable novel from historian and biographer Wendy Holden.

Holden (pictured below) – author of more than thirty-five non-fiction titles and three novels featuring remarkable men and women – has dug deep into the history of the Holocaust to bring readers Fredy’s incredible and uplifting true story, ensuring that his legacy will live on for generations to come.

Drawn from archives and survivor testimonies, and with only a few scenes and characters created for narrative and dramatic purposes, The Teacher of Auschwitz takes us up close not just to Fredy’s awe-inspiring courage but to those other innocent victims of Nazi atrocities.

Born to Jewish parents in the German city of Aachen in 1916, Fredy soon discovers the pain and inequity of hate and prejudice, but he also learns that to counter hatred, it is best to stand up to the haters and show them that their words or actions don’t you hurt you. ‘That,’ says a wise teacher, ‘takes away their power.’

It is a lesson Fredy takes through life and one that he will need in the coming years as the insidious rise of the Nazis brings one of the greatest and deadliest threats the world, and particularly the Jews, have ever faced. Having decided to centre his life around drama, sport and the outdoors, Fredy works with a Jewish youth movement called the Maccabi, leaving Aachen and moving to Czechoslovakia where he becomes a recognised figure, teaching sports, organising summer camps and extolling the virtues of community, responsibility and fitness.

But soon Fredy becomes a victim of Germany’s anti-Jewish laws and finds himself a prisoner in the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp and at the dark heart of the Holocaust. But, as always, it is the fate of the children that becomes his first priority.

Using his skilful diplomacy with the guards, he wins a hut assigned specially to children and it is here that they sing, stage plays and write poetry. Safely inside, but still in the shadow of the chimneys, they are given better food, kept free of vermin, and are even taught meditation to imagine full stomachs and a day without fear. But being a teacher in such a brutal concentration camp is no mean feat. And whether it is begging the SS for better provisions, or hiding his homosexuality from his persecutors, Fredy risks his life every day for one thing... to protect the children from the mortal danger they all face. And time is running out for Fredy and the hundreds of children in his care. Can he find a way to teach them the one lesson they really need to know... how to survive?

By the very nature of its time and place, this heart-wrenching and yet unexpectedly uplifting tale was always going to have few happy endings, and Fredy died aged 28 in Auschwitz in 1944. And yet reflecting on his life – full of youthful enthusiasm, relentless optimism, unquestioning compassion, and an ability to fill the children’s days with love, laughter and learning – cannot help but fill your own heart with a piquant joy.

Determined to always make the best of whatever situation he found himself in, combined with an ability to tread a perilous fine line that won respect from both his fellow prisoners and their ruthless guards, Fredy – with his ‘toothpaste advertisement’ good looks – drew on his own love of physical exercise to inspire the children and give their restricted lives some structure and purpose.

Holden does a magnificent job of bringing Fredy’s world to vivid and haunting life, shedding light on one of history’s darkest chapters and reminding us that after his death, Fredy was either forgotten or denigrated by Communists and homophobes who accused him of being a coward and a collaborator. But to hundreds of children, Fredy was a hero and ‘a guiding light.’ Those who survived were always immensely moved when recalling his kindness, his ‘spirit of morality,’ his ability to accomplish ‘a real miracle’ and his ultimate gift as the saviour ‘who built a wall against suffering in their hearts.’

Before her death aged 90 in 2017, the world-renowned Czech musician and indomitable Auschwitz survivor Zuzana Růžičková only cried twice during extensive interviews with Holden, once when recounting how her father died in the Terezín death camp, and secondly when she talked of Fredy Hirsch. ‘He was unique. He was goodness... we all learned from Fredy a sort of hope that even in a terrible situation you can arise from the dead.’ And take my word for it... reading Fredy’s story without shedding your own tears is nigh on impossible.
(Zaffre, hardback, £14.99)

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