The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive

A compelling account of the ladies who stitched their way out of one of the most infamous WWII death camps, creating exquisite garments at an extraordinary fashion workshop, and using their sewing abilities to survive the Holocaust.

During the height of the Holocaust, twenty-five young prisoners, mostly Jewish women and girls from the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, were chosen to create, cut, and make exquisite gowns for the upper class of Nazi women in a special salon. They believed that by working on it, they would be saved from the gas chambers.

The wives of SS officials and guards supported this fashion enterprise, known as the Upper Tailoring Studio, which was founded by Hedwig Höss, the camp commandant's wife. Here, the dressmakers created exquisite clothing for ladies from Nazi Berlin's upper class as well as for SS social events held at Auschwitz.

The Dressmakers of Auschwitz explores the life stories of these courageous women by drawing on a variety of sources, such as conversations with the final surviving seamstress. Their familial and friendship ties not only enabled them to withstand persecution but also to contribute to the resistance within the camp. Historian Lucy Adlington illuminates the cruelty, duplicity, and greed of the Third Reich while presenting the extraordinary experiences of the dressmakers within the framework of Nazi plans for exploitation and pillage. This provides a novel perspective on a little-known aspect of World War II and the Holocaust.