THE SISTERS OF AUSCHWITZ

1943, The Nether­lands. A safe­house in the woods, just below Ams­ter­dam, in the mid­dle of Nazi ter­ri­to­ry. Under the reign of two Jew­ish sis­ters in their twen­ties, Jan­ny and Lien Brillesli­jper, the house becomes a large cen­tre of resis­tance where Jew­ish cul­ture flour­ish­es, polit­i­cal debate takes place and Yid­dish music res­onates. After eigh­teen months they are betrayed. All res­i­dents are tak­en away and Jan­ny is tor­tured for infor­ma­tion – with­out result. The Brillesli­jper fam­i­ly is deport­ed on the very last train to Auschwitz, togeth­er with the Anne Frank fam­i­ly. By the time they arrive in Bergen-Belsen, both sis­ter cou­ples have no-one left and Jan­ny and Lien watch over young teenag­er girls Anne and Mar­got. In the chaos of dis­ease and star­va­tion, they man­age to nurse and save many peo­ple, but the Frank sis­ters suc­cumb to Typhus. When the Brits lib­er­ate Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945, they find 13,000 corpses and 60,000 pris­on­ers, bare­ly alive. Jan­ny and Lien are amongst them. A remark­able sto­ry of Jew­ish resis­tance, recon­struct­ed after years of research and with the coop­er­a­tion of fam­i­ly members.

Rox­ane van Iperen (1976), is a for­mer lawyer, inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ist and author. Her debut nov­el was award­ed a lit­er­ary prize. Her sec­ond book is based on the sto­ry of two Jew­ish sis­ters head­ing a safe­house dur­ing WWII: The High Nest. In 2012, Rox­ane moved into The High Nest, and embarked on a six-year inves­ti­ga­tion, lead­ing to The Sis­ters of Auschwitz.

You may order The Sisters of Auschwitz by Roxane van Iperen from: 

• Flashlight Books in Walnut Creek: https://flashlightbooks.handseller.com/home/bookdetailsin/0063097621
• Rakestraw Books in Danville: https://www.rakestrawbooks.com/book/9780063097629
• Mrs. Dalloway's in Berkeley: https://www.mrsdalloways.com/book/9780063097629
• Your preferred bookstore and online retailer

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Sponsors: CCJCC, Congregation B'nai Shalom in partnership with the Jewish Book Council.