The Midwife of Auschwitz is a very raw and powerful book that I read on the advice of a friend There are many books dedicated to concentration camps, a dark part of history that is still difficult to talk about. This book, despite being a novel, is inspired by historical facts and characters that really happened. It is a book that touches the heart, that makes you think and that hurts to think about how much cruelty man is capable of.
The story is told by two voices, that of Ana, a Polish midwife, and that of Esther, a Jewish girl. Esther lives a fairly carefree life until the Germans approach, she has a boyfriend she wants to marry, she studies to become a nurse, she has a sister, a close-knit family that cares about her, she lives a common, simple life, she manages to get married shortly before being transferred to the ghetto, deprived of her welcoming home, her spaces, crammed with more families and with less and less food and fear. The Nazis begin to take away the old and the sick, there are rumors of work camps with decent food and a good roof over their heads. In the ghetto Esther helps out as best she can, her studies as a nurse are very useful to her but there are many pregnant women and she is not very experienced in childbirth so she turns to an acquaintance of hers outside the ghetto, Ana. Ana is a very good midwife who fights against the Nazi regime silently with her family, she helps the Jews as she can, bringing supplies, medicines helping them to escape if she can.
She does not tolerate Nazi ideas and is a brave woman willing to risk everything to help others. One bad day Ana and her family are discovered and she is arrested and sentenced to go to Auschwitz, Ester also receives the same sentence when she tries to defend her sick mother from the abuses of the Nazis, she will not even be able to say goodbye to her beloved husband. They will both find themselves on the convoy to the concentration camp and from there the darkest part of the story will begin...
La partera de Auschwitz es un libro muy crudo y poderoso que leí por consejo de una amiga. Hay muchos libros dedicados a los campos de concentración, una parte oscura de la historia de la que todavía es difícil hablar. Este libro, aunque es una novela, está inspirado en hechos históricos y personas reales. Es un libro que toca el corazón, que hace pensar y que duele pensar en cuánta crueldad es capaz el hombre.
La historia está contada por dos voces: la de Ana, una partera polaca, y la de Esther, una niña judía. Ester vive una vida bastante despreocupada hasta que se acercan los alemanes, tiene un novio con el que quiere casarse, estudia para ser enfermera, tiene una hermana, una familia unida que se preocupa por ella, vive una vida normal y sencilla, consigue casarse poco antes de ser trasladada al gueto, privada de su hogar acogedor, de su espacio, hacinada con más familias y con cada vez menos comida y miedo. Los nazis comienzan a llevarse a los ancianos y a los enfermos, corren rumores de campos de trabajo con comida decente y un buen techo sobre sus cabezas.
En el gueto Esther ayuda en lo que puede, sus estudios de enfermera le sirven mucho pero hay muchas mujeres embarazadas y ella no tiene mucha experiencia en partos así que recurre a una conocida suya de fuera del gueto, Ana. Ana es una muy buena partera que lucha contra el régimen nazi en silencio junto a su familia, ayudando a los judíos como puede, llevándoles suministros, medicinas, ayudándoles a escapar si puede. Ella no tolera las ideas nazis y es una mujer valiente dispuesta a arriesgarlo todo para ayudar a los demás. Un mal día Ana y su familia son descubiertos y ella es detenida y condenada a ir a Auschwitz, Ester también recibe la misma condena cuando intenta defender a su madre enferma de los abusos de los nazis, ni siquiera podrá despedirse de su amado esposo. Ambos se encontrarán en el convoy rumbo al campo de concentración y a partir de allí comenzará la parte más oscura de la historia...
Arriving at the concentration camp, Ana cleverly convinces everyone that Ester is also a midwife and they begin their career in that horror. From here on they will see more death than life, the crematoriums, the humiliations, the diseases, the violence, the pain, everything most terrible that a human being can do to another human being. In the meantime they will try to bring as many lives as possible into the world and survive that hell, Mengele, the medical experiments, the ovens, many of their children will perish but not all. There will be a project (this is a real part of a very controversial Nazi project) where Jewish children with Aryan features will be given to German families and Ester will figure out a way to find them and also find her daughter she had in the camp. I won't reveal the ending of course but it ends with the liberation of Poland at last. A story as I said very dark and hard but also of hope, resistance and strength.
Una vez que llegan al campo de concentración, Ana convence astutamente a todos de que Ester también es partera y comienzan su carrera en ese horror. A partir de ahora verán más muerte que vida, los crematorios, las humillaciones, las enfermedades, la violencia, el dolor, todo lo más terrible que un ser humano puede hacerle a otro ser humano. Mientras tanto intentarán traer tantas vidas como sea posible al mundo y sobrevivir a ese infierno, a Mengele, a los experimentos médicos, a los hornos, muchos de sus hijos perecerán pero no todos. Habrá un proyecto (esta es una parte real de un proyecto nazi muy controversial) donde niños judíos con rasgos arios serán entregados a familias alemanas y Esther encontrará una manera de encontrarlos y también de encontrar a su hija que nació en el campo. Obviamente no os revelaré el final, pero termina con la liberación final de Polonia. Una historia, como decía, muy oscura y dura pero también de esperanza, resistencia y fortaleza.
First picture edited by canva, translation with deepl.
Buen libro. Un saludo.
💕
Divano, copertina e un buon libro. Cosa si vuole di più dalla vita? 😍
!discovery 30
Ormai è la mia routine serale ancora di più quando accendo la stufa 😂😂😍
Che meraviglia!! le stufe e i camini creano un'atmosfera pazzesca 😊
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Did esther and anna manage to escape that cruelty? and what happened to the nazis. Am curious
I think it's a book that would make me cry a lot, as every story from that period of time, but those type of stories that leave a strong emotional mark are the ones that are worth reading.
Great post 🖤
I have this added to my tbr. I really am interested in the history of Auschwitz.