Publisher's Synopsis
My name is Fredy Hirsch. I am an athlete. I am a teacher. I am not a number, stabbed in ink into the flesh of my forearm. Nor am I identified by the pink triangle I'm forced to wear within these barbed wire walls. In Auschwitz-Birkenau, the heart of the Nazi's deadliest camp, there was a mural-covered building where hundreds of Jewish children gathered daily to sing, dance, and play. They left the overcrowded barracks each morning for Block 31, where they received an unconventional education, including history and even self-hypnosis. Fredy Hirsch, a respected Jewish youth leader and gay prisoner, created this oasis amidst the horror. He risked his life daily for extra food for the children under his care. Dubbed the 'Prince of Auschwitz' after starring in a camp production of Snow White, Fredy was a former athlete who prematurely aged, enduring frequent beatings and the constant threat of death. Condemned for his sexuality and perceived 'collaboration' with the Nazis, Fredy Hirsch's name was nearly erased from history after the war. In this fictional account, drawing from thorough research and survivor testimonies, World War Two historian and biographer, Wendy Holden, finally sheds light on this remarkable man who inspired a generation of the children he protected. His lessons remain poignant even eighty years later.
