Las 999 Mujeres de Auschwitz / 999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz

An incredible story of friendship, sorority and survival. The story of the first 999 Jewish women who were sent to the extermination camp. It all started with the girls, says Giora Amir, 91. On March 25, 1942, hundreds of young Jewish and single women left their homes to get on a train. They were impeccably dressed and combed, dragging their suitcases full of hand-woven clothing and homemade food. Most of these women and girls had never spent a night away from home, but had volunteered to work for three months during wartime. Three months of work? It couldn't be something so bad. Neither of her parents would have guessed that the government had just sold their daughters to the Nazis to work as slaves. None knew they were destined for Auschwitz. History books have been able to ignore this fact, but the truth is that the first group of Jews deported to Auschwitz to work as slaves did not include resistance fighters or prisoners of war. There was not a single male prisoner in those cattle cars. It was a train of 999 single girls, sold to Nazi Germany for a dowry of 500 Reich Marks, the equivalent of 200 euros. Almost all the powerful figures on both sides of this conflict were men. These 999 young women were considered unworthy and insignificant, not only because they were Jewish, but also because they were women. These girls were pawns in a great plan of human destruction, but they thwarted that plan by surviving and leaving their testimonies to their families. This book gives voice to those women and girls that history forgot.

Heather Dune Macadam's is the acclaimed author of 999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz and Rena's Promise: A Story of Sisters in Auschwitz. A board member of the Cities of Peace: Auschwitz and the director and president of the Rena's Promise Foundation, her work in the battle against Holocaust denial have been recognized by Yad Vashem in the UK and Israel, the USC Shoah Foundation, the National Museum of Jewish History in Bratislava, Slovakia, and the Panstowe Museum of Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland. Ms. Macadam has a master's degree in creative writing and received a Presidential Grant for Research from Savannah College of Art and Design, and a PEN American stipend. She is the Producer and Director of the documentary film, 999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz and her work has been featured in National Geographic, on PBS, and other major media outlets. Visit Heather Dune Macadam online at HeatherDune.com or find more information on 999 at 999TheMovie.com.