At the height of the Holocaust twenty-five young inmates of the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration campmainly Jewish women and girlswere selected to design, cut, and sew beautiful fashions for elite Nazi women in a dedicated salon. It was work that they hoped would spare them from the gas chambers.
This fashion workshopcalled the Upper Tailoring Studiowas established by Hedwig Höss, the camp commandants wife, and patronized by the wives of SS guards and officers. Here, the dressmakers produced high-quality garments for SS social functions in Auschwitz, and for ladies from Nazi Berlins upper crust.
Drawing on diverse sourcesincluding interviews with the last surviving seamstressThe Dressmakers of Auschwitz follows the fates of these brave women. Their bonds of family and friendship not only helped them endure persecution, but also to play their part in camp resistance. Weaving the dressmakers remarkable experiences within the context of Nazi policies for plunder and exploitation, historian Lucy Adlington exposes the greed, cruelty, and hypocrisy of the Third Reich and offers a fresh look at a little-known chapter of World War II and the Holocaust.
