Rare Auschwitz account with reference to Edith Frank

An early and important account of the Holocaust by Roosje de Winter-Levy (1905-1985), who survived Concentration Camp Auschwitz.

In Auschwitz she befriended Edith Frank, Anne’s mother, and witnessed her death, which makes this memoir particularly poignant: 

"One morning new patients arrived. Suddenly I recognized Edith, she came from another sick ward. She was but a shadow. A few days later she died, totally exhausted." (Dutch: “Op een morgen komen nieuwe patiënten binnen. Ineens herken ik Edith, zij komt uit een andere ziekenafdeling. Zij is nog maar een schim. Enkele dagen nadien sterft zij, totaal uitgeput”), p. 29.

Before the war, Roosje lived in Zutphen together with her husband Emanuel de Winter (1889-1944) and their daughter Judik. In April 1943, the family went into hiding. However, on 16 July 1944 they were discovered and arrested. From Westerbork they were deported to Auschwitz. Upon arrival, Roosje and her daughter were selected for forced labour, whereas Emmanuel was murdered that same day.

In October 1944, Judik was deported to Kratzau, leaving her mother behind in Auschwitz. With her husband killed and her daughter deported, Roosje found comfort with Edith Frank, whose daughters had suffered a similar fate.

Miraculously, Roosje survived Auschwitz and was liberated by the Sovjets on 27 January 1945. On her way back, she met Otto Frank, to whom she broke the news about the death of his wife Edith.

Back in The Netherlands, Roosje was reunited with her daughter Judik (or "Hetty", as she's called in the memoir). And in September 1945 she was one of the firsts to publish an account of the horrors of the Holocaust. Despite its historical significance, her haunting memoir rarely comes on the market.