Jock Heidenstein. Anita Lasker. Chana Zumerkorn, Regina Feldman.
What did these young women have in common?
They did not know each other. They never met—not before or after their respective experiences during the Holocaust.
What connects their stories of resilience, strength and generosity? A red sweater.
A sweater might seem like a mundane, ordinary garment.
But the red sweater for Jock, Anita, Chana, and Regina—in the context of the Holocaust—became something significant.
A red sweater held memories of a loving mother. It connected sisters to each other. It connected a sister and a brother, too. It was protection from bitter cold in inhospitable places. It was a hidden layer. And—later—something exhibited for all to see, to understand, remember—and never forget—what occurred with the persecution of European Jews that occurred during World War II—from the Kindertransport and ghettos to the pogroms of Kristallnacht, the killing centers and death camps of Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen, the Sobibor extermination camp.
From Lucy Adlington, author of the acclaimed The Dressmakers of Auschwitz, Four Red Sweaters immortalizes these young women—and their families. Their resilience, strength, and generosity accompanied them in these very darkest of events in human history.
Lucy Adlington is the author of Four Red Sweaters: Powerful True Stories of Women and the Holocaust.
Lucy Adlington is a British novelist and clothes historian with more than twenty years’ experience researching social history and writing fiction and nonfiction. She is also the author of The Dressmakers of Auschwitz.
Read more about Lucy Adlington here.
