Last Stop Auschwitz

'How much I learned from this brave man... The ultimate Holocaust testimony.' HEATHER MORRIS, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka's Journey

Afterword by JOHN BOYNE, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas ___

Eddy de Wind, a Dutch doctor and psychiatrist, was shipped to Auschwitz with his wife Friedel, whom he had met and married at the Westerbork labour camp in the Netherlands. At Auschwitz, they made it through the brutal selection process and were put to work. Each day, each hour became a battle for survival.

For Eddy, this meant negotiating with the volatile guards in the medical barracks. For Friedel, it meant avoiding the Nazis' barbaric medical experiments. As the end of the war approached and the Russian Army drew closer, the last Nazis fled, taking many prisoners with them, including Friedel. Eddy hid under a pile of old clothes and stayed behind. Finding a notebook and pencil, he began to write with furious energy about his experiences.

Last Stop Auschwitz is an extraordinary account of life as a prisoner, a near real-time record of the daily struggle to survive but also of the flickering moments of joy Eddy and Friedel found in each other - passing notes through the fence, sometimes stealing a brief embrace. Documenting the best and the worst of humanity, it is a unique and timeless story that reminds us of what we as humans are capable of, but that there is hope, even in Hell. Thought to be the only complete book written within Auschwitz itself, it will linger with you long after the final page has been turned. ___

'Powerful and moving.' WENDY HOLDEN, author of Born Survivors

Last Stop Auschwitz, with its many details, written at speed and with all the immediacy that comes with describing events still alive and raw in the mind, is a valuable addition to the vast literature on the Holocaust. The Tablet Has an urgency and intensity which makes it unique. Irish Times An extraordinary account of De Wind's life as a prisoner Bookseller, Editor's Choice Hopeful and haunting. The i Never have I had to stop reading and sit and stare at the wall - the words of Eddy dug deep into my heart, and I felt a physical pain as I connected to his suffering and the suffering of others he described... How much I learned from this brave man. Heather Morris, author of THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ and CILKA'S JOURNEY

Eddy de Wind (1916-1987) was the last Jewish doctor to graduate from Leiden University in the Netherlands during World War Two. He volunteered to work at the Westerbork labour camp under the false impression that his mother, who had been taken by the Germans, would be saved from deportation. There, he met and married his first wife, Friedel. The couple was deported to Auschwitz in 1943.

De Wind returned to Holland in the summer of 1945 and specialized as a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. In 1949 he published 'Confrontation with Death', his famous article in which he introduced the idea of concentration-camp syndrome. Last Stop Auschwitz was published in Dutch in February 1946. As far as is known, it is the only complete book written in Auschwitz itself.

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