My Years in Theresienstadt: How One Woman Survived the Holocaust »

Theresienstadt, located in Czechoslovakia, was a peculiar concentration camp. It was publicized as a retirement city, a place for privileged and prominent Jews to sit out the war. In reality, it was a collection point, a Schleuse or "sluice," for arriving and departing transports, most of them destined for Auschwitz. Prisoners suffered from disease, starvation, exhaustion, overcrowding, and the persistent threat of deportation. Between 1941 and 1945, about 33,000 people died in Theresienstadt of disease and malnutrition, while about 88,000 were transported to the death camps in the East. The desperate need for self-preservation caused by the isolation and deprivations of camp life mobilized prisoners to cope in their own special ways. Some placed their emphasis on nourishment, others developed asocial traits of behavior, while others retained their cultural interests. These creative activities helped artists as well as amateurs block out the fear and uncertainty while helping to restore the dignity otherwise denied them. From this maelstrom of inhumanity, Gerty Spies found her salvation in writing. Isolated from the outside world and surrounded by death, she retreated into her inner self to concentrate on human, cultural, and spiritual values. Her ability to transcend and triumph over mental and physical degradations, to keep her own integrity, to defeat the evil that tried to destroy her loving nature, and to maintain her faith in human beings gives Gerty Spies's narrative extraordinary power. Throughout her ordeal, Spies displays an unwavering belief in the decency, goodness, and sincerity of all people. No trace of cynicism, malice, or enmity finds a place in her life or work. Despite living for three years surrounded by horror, Gerty Spies's loving and kind disposition enabled her "to forgive - but not to forget." Returning to Germany after the war, Spies reconciled her experiences under the Nazi regime with a new, full life as an artist among newfound frie

Publishers Weekly

Spies, a Jew born in Germany in 1897, spent three years during WWII in Theresienstadt, the so-called model ghetto established by the Nazis northwest of Prague, where prisoners supposedly cultivated artistic pursuits. In reality, the camp was a holding station whence many Jews were ultimately dispatched to Auschwitz and other death camps in Poland. Because the author was once married to a Gentilethe marriage "ended" after about seven years, notes the translator (Spies herself does not elaborate)she was not deported until 1942, and her two children were never incarcerated. Spies recalls her daily camp life in vivid and haunting vignettes, describing watching friends and family die, the lack of food and the exhausting labor she was forced to perform. She committed herself to writing poetry and keeping a diary, a selection of which is included here, that she had to keep hidden from the camp guards. She credits her writing with helping keep her alive and convincing her to forgive but not forget her persecutors. After the war, Spies returned to live and publish books in Germany. Photos not seen by PW. (May)