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

As war ensued, Jews in Slovakia were required to obtain new identification cards. Coupled with the mandatory wearing of the Star of David, this made it increasingly difficult to pass for a non-Jew. Irene and her family had been living in the Jewish Quarter of Bratislava since September 1941, while Hunya Volkmann continued to work as a dressmaker in Leipzig and sent valuables underground to allies in Germany. In February 1942, notifications appeared throughout Slovakia, declaring, “unmarried Jewish girls over the age of sixteen were to report at certain assembly points for service in a work camp” (91). Unbeknownst to these women, Germany had demanded that Slovakia supply 120,000 laborers (9). Irene and others like her had to decide whether to attempt to flee the country or go into hiding to avoid deportation. Hiding carried many risks, and in the end Irene and her sister, Edith, were summoned for work. They joined Renée Ungar at Patrónka, a munitions factory at the edge of Bratislava. Bracha Berkovič voluntarily turned herself in after learning her sister, Katka, had been arrested and sent to a holding camp—Poprad. Within four months, Slovakia deported 53,000 Jews from these and other detainment camps (100).