Questions I Am Asked About the Holocaust
Description
'There are no stupid questions, nor any forbidden ones, but there are some questions that have no answer.'
Hédi Fried was nineteen when the Nazis snatched her family from their home in Eastern Europe and transported them to Auschwitz, where her parents were murdered and she and her sister were forced into hard labour until the end of the war.
Now ninety-eight, she has spent her life educating young people about the Holocaust and answering their questions about one of the darkest periods in human history. Questions like, 'How was it to live in the camps?', 'Did you dream at night?', 'Why did Hitler hate the Jews?', and 'Can you forgive?'.
With sensitivity and complete candour, Fried answers these questions and more in this deeply human book that urges us never to forget and never to repeat.
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Persons
Hédi Fried (b. 1924) is an author and psychologist. She is deeply committed to working for democratic values and against racism. She was born in the town of Sighet, in Romania, was transported to Auschwitz in 1944, and worked in several labour camps, eventually ending up in Bergen-Belsen. After liberation, she came to Sweden with her sister, and has lived there ever since.
Her bestselling autobiography, Fragments of a Life: the road to Auschwitz, was published in English and Swedish in the 1990s.
Content
- Intro
- About the Author
- Dedication
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface
- 'What is the worst thing that has happened to you?'
- 'Why did Hitler hate the Jews?'
- 'What was your life like before the war?'
- 'When did you realise that your family was in danger?'
- 'How could an entire people get behind Hitler?'
- 'Why did you not fight back?'
- 'What do you remember from your arrival in Auschwitz?'
- 'What did it mean to have your sister with you in the camps?'
- 'What was it like to live in the camps?'
- 'Were you always hungry?'
- 'What languages were spoken in Auschwitz?'
- 'What helped you to survive?'
- 'Was there solidarity in the camp?'
- 'What was it like to be a woman in the camps?'
- 'What was it like to have your period?'
- 'Were you raped?'
- 'Were you afraid of death?'
- 'How were you dressed?'
- 'Did you get ill?'
- 'Were there kind SS soldiers?'
- 'Did you dream at night?'
- 'What was the best?'
- 'When did you realise that there was a genocide happening?'
- 'How did you picture your life after the war?'
- 'What happened to your sister?'
- 'How many people from your hometown survived the war?'
- 'Were you jubilant when you were liberated?'
- 'Why did you choose Sweden?'
- 'How were you received in Sweden?'
- 'How did you deal with your trauma?'
- 'What made you start lecturing?'
- 'Do you feel Swedish?'
- 'Do you see yourself in today's refugees?'
- 'Have you ever been threatened by neo-Nazis?'
- 'Do you hate the Germans?'
- 'Have you met a perpetrator?'
- 'Are you able to forgive?'
- 'Have you travelled back to your hometown?'
- 'How often do you think about your time in the camps?'
- 'How does it feel to grow old?'
- 'After everything, do you believe in God?'
- 'What is your view of the future?'
- 'What can we learn from the Holocaust?'
- 'Could it happen again?'
- Acknowledgements
