The Teacher of Auschwitz

Wendy Holden

June 17th, 2025

Harper Collins

The Teacher of Auschwitz by Wendy Holden shines a light on Fredy Hirsch, a truly remarkable individual, and tells the inspiring story of how he fought to protect innocence and hope amid depravity and despair. Fredy Hirsch, a teacher, protected children at Auschwitz from danger while trying to engage their minds. 

Amid the brutality of the Holocaust, one bright spot shone inside the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz. In the shadows of the smokestacks was a wooden hut where children sang, staged plays, wrote poetry, and learned about the world. Within those four walls, brightly adorned with hand-painted cartoons, the youngest prisoners were kept vermin-free, received better food, and were even taught to imagine having full stomachs and a day without fear. Their guiding light was a twenty-seven-year-old gay, Jewish athlete: Fredy Hirsch.

Being a teacher in a brutal concentration camp was no mean feat. Forced to beg senior SS officers for better provisions, Fredy risked his life every day to protect his beloved children from mortal danger.

But time was running out for Fredy and the hundreds in his care. Could this kind, compassionate, and brave man find a way to teach them the one lesson they really needed to know: how to survive?

The Teacher of Auschwitz shines a light on a truly remarkable individual and tells the inspiring story of how he fought to protect innocence and hope amid depravity and despair.

Elise Cooper: Is any of the story real?

Wendy Holden: Almost all of it is real.  In the back of the book, I list all the fictional and non-fictional characters.  

EC: How would you describe Fredy?
WH:
 He was a teacher of sorts.  He taught them meditation, how to hope, and how to survive.  He was a spiritual leader to the children. He was brave, direct, kind, and moralistic. He was also a disciplinarian, quite strict with the children. He made them clean themselves every day and roll in the snow during the winter.  Fredy wanted to make sure they remained alive and incredibly, he did not lose any of those in his care.

EC: How did you describe Dr. Mengele, the Angel of Death, in your other book, Born Survivors?

WH: In Born Survivors I wrote about him performing experiments, “Dr. Joseph Mengele treated them like cattle, opening their mouths and looking at their teeth.  To find out if they were pregnant, he would squeeze their breasts to see if any milk leaked out.  Those discovered were either sent to their death or were used for testing.”

EC: What about the description of him in this book?

WH: Our perception of those who are pure evil is that they behave in a sinister way. But the people who are the most evil are the ones who had a veneer of sincerity and charm. This is what makes Mengele eviler than anybody else.  I wrote in Born Survivors, about a woman who was found to be pregnant, “He waited for the baby to be born, and then had her tied to her bed, lying next to the baby so that she could watch it starve to death.” Yet, the next minute he comes into the children’s blocks with sweets and asked them to call him uncle. He never showed remorse and always felt it was necessary work. 

EC: What was the Fredy/Mengele relationship like?

WH: Mengele was the puppet master.  As I wrote in Born Survivors, with one flick of his fingers he could have sent them all to the gas chamber. Fredy was put in a position that he had zero control. Fredy’s life and that of those around him were dependent on Mengele’s whim with the alternative to give up or attack him which would have ended up in the death of thousands. 

EC: You also intertwine Fredy’s youth within his story during the war?

WH: I wanted people to get to know Fredy from his childhood on.  To understand he was an ordinary boy with an unhappy childhood. He found solace in nature and being outdoors. He realized he was a natural leader to young people. It was his sole focus all the way through the war, the concern and care of those in his keep. I hope readers see that although an ordinary human being he was able to stand up to hate and evil. He was a beacon of light in the darkness to become an inspirational figure. 

EC: The quote in the prologue is very powerful because just referring to numbers like 6 million Jews died during the Holocaust, or 3,000 died on 9/11, or 1,200 Israelis brutally murdered on October 7th takes away from the people who died.  Please comment.

WH: You are referring to this quote, “I am not just a number. Please be so kind as to remember my name.” Giving people numbers instead of names dehumanizes them. I think Born Survivors is so successful because people cannot identify with the number six million, but they can identify with three young mothers.  I feel the same way with Fredy.  They can identify how he focused not on himself, but on everyone else. Referring to himself and others by name made them more human.

EC: What was Block 31?

WH: In Auschwitz, Fredy persuaded the Nazis that the children should be kept together and kept clean. He was quick on his feet and saw how disrupted the children were during the German roll calls. They caused havoc. He told the SS he would oversee the children in this special block where he would count them and give the SS the numbers. It was an empty barrack where only the children stayed. He also got the block next door.  Within those blocks they were protected where they sang and played. People taught them by storytelling.  Fredy masterminded everything.  Even the walls were painted with “Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs” and even put on a play that Mengele and SS officers watched. These blocks were destroyed but the wall was recreated for Yad Vashem.

EC: What about Zuzana and Fredy’s relationship?

WH: She was a terrified teenager when she arrived. She collapsed after seeing what was going on.  He helped her and became like an older brother.  He gave her a purpose to help with the children. She felt with Fredy there she was going to be safe and that he saved her life.

EC: Next book?

WH: I just completed the first authorized biography of Audrey Hepburn that will come out next spring. I like to write about inspirational people. 

THANK YOU!!

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About the Author

Elise Cooper

Elise writes book reviews that always include a short author interview.