Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been drawn to the Holocaust ever since a school project in the tenth grade. Later, as I worked to become a professional musician, the passion to learn more about the topic never left me. When I was first asked to perform some music of the Holocaust, the reaction of the audience (tears) and my own realization that through the power of this music, I could return a voice to so many who had their own voices so cruelly silenced changed my life. To date, I have interviewed multiple survivors of the Holocaust. Many became very dear friends, and my life has been infinitely enriched by knowing them. 


I wrote

Mistress Of Life And Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

By Susan J. Eischeid,

Book cover of Mistress Of Life And Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

What is my book about?

A gripping, unflinching biography of SS Overseer Maria Mandl, one of the most notorious and contradictory figures at the heart…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of War and Remembrance

Susan J. Eischeid Why did I love this book?

I love this book because, long ago, it was one of the books that sparked my initial interest in the Second World War and the Holocaust. Through Wouk’s vivid and wonderful story of a fictional family living through the period, he also unexpectedly provided me with a terrific foundation of well-researched historical knowledge.

I had read the prequel a few years earlier and when I discovered this book was coming out (as a poor student, I couldn’t afford it), I eagerly asked for it for Christmas. When the big day arrived, I gleefully tore open the present and spent the next two days reading it nonstop, ignoring all else.

By Herman Wouk,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked War and Remembrance as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 13.

What is this book about?

A masterpiece of historical fiction and "a journey of extraordinary riches" (New York Times Book Review), War and Remembrance stands as perhaps the great novel of America's "Greatest Generation."

These two classic works capture the tide of world events even as they unfold the compelling tale of a single American family drawn into the very center of the war's maelstrom.

The multimillion-copy bestsellers that capture all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of the Second World War -- and that constitute Wouk's crowning achievement -- are available for the first time in trade paperback.


Book cover of The Mascot: Unraveling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood

Susan J. Eischeid Why did I love this book?

This book, based on a true story, absolutely blew my mind when I first read it, and I have re-read it multiple times since!

I am still overwhelmed by the sheer fact of survival of the main character, a young Jewish boy who survived a massacre in the Holocaust and then went into hiding as a mascot in the SS. I also identified strongly with his son, who researched and wrote the book and encountered frequent naysayers who questioned the validity of his father’s memories. As someone who has approached the Holocaust as a non-traditional writer, I have struggled with similar challenges.

This book, for me, remains an unforgettable and remarkable read.

By Mark Kurzem,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Mascot as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The "spellbinding" (The New York Times) true story of a Jewish boy who became the darling of the Nazis

When a Nazi death squad massacred his mother and fellow villagers, five-year-old Alex Kurzem escaped, hiding in the freezing Russian forest until he was picked up by a group of Latvian SS soldiers. Alex was able to hide his Jewish identity and win over the soldiers, becoming their mascot and an honorary "corporal" in the SS with his own uniform. But what began as a desperate bid for survival became a performance that delighted the highest ranks of the Nazi elite.…


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Book cover of Honeymoon at Sea: How I Found Myself Living on a Small Boat

Honeymoon at Sea by Jennifer Silva Redmond,

When Jennifer Shea married Russel Redmond, they made a decision to spend their honeymoon at sea, sailing in Mexico. The voyage tested their new relationship, not just through rocky waters and unexpected weather, but in all the ways that living on a twenty-six-foot sailboat make one reconsider what's truly important.…

Book cover of One of the Girls in the Band: The Memoirs of a Violinist from Birkenau

Susan J. Eischeid Why did I love this book?

I love this memoir because the author was a very dear and cherished friend.

I first met Helena, already quite elderly, when I was interviewing former members of the Auschwitz-Birkenau women’s orchestra. Over the next several years, we built a warm friendship, with Helena helping me every step of the way with her discerning criticisms and fierce quest for remembrance and truth.

Years later, I was desperate for her to remain alive long enough to see publication of the book we were working on. Literally, on her deathbed, I was sending parts of the manuscript to the hospital in Poland. Miraculously, she rallied to give feedback and corrections. Helena lived another two years and died at the age of 102. This is the autobiography of my dear friend.

By Helena Dunicz Niwińska,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked One of the Girls in the Band as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Helena Dunicz Niwińska was born in Vienna in 1915. She lived with her parents and brothers in her hometown of Lwów until 1943. At the age of 10, she began learning to play the violin at the conservatory of the Polish Musical Society. She studied pedagogy from 1934 to 1939, continuing her musical education the whole time. After their arrest in January 1943 and incarceration in Łącki Prison, she and her mother were deported to Auschwitz in October 1943. In Birkenau, she was a member of the women's orchestra—as a violinist—until January 1945. After being evacuated to the Ravensbrück and…


Book cover of RavensbrĂźck: Life and Death in Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women

Susan J. Eischeid Why did I love this book?

I was immediately captivated by the depth of material and engrossing writing style of this book. Despite being a serious and challenging topic, Helm drew me in from the first page and never let up.

I also learned quite a bit of new information about a topic I thought I knew quite a lot about already. 

By Sarah Helm,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked RavensbrĂźck as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Months before the outbreak of World War II, Heinrich Himmler—prime architect of the Holocaust—designed a special concentration camp for women, located fifty miles north of Berlin. Only a small number of the prisoners were Jewish. RavensbrĂźck was primarily a place for the Nazis to hold other inferior beings: Jehovah’s Witnesses, Resistance fighters, lesbians, prostitutes, and aristocrats—even the sister of New York’s Mayor LaGuardia. Over six years the prisoners endured forced labor, torture, starvation, and random execution. In the final months of the war, RavensbrĂźck became an extermination camp. Estimates of the final death toll have ranged from 30,000 to 90,000.…


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Book cover of Love and War in the Jewish Quarter

Love and War in the Jewish Quarter by Dora Levy Mossanen,

A breathtaking journey across Iran where war and superstition, jealousy and betrayal, and passion and loyalty rage behind the impenetrable walls of mansions and the crumbling houses of the Jewish Quarter.

Against the tumultuous background of World War II, Dr. Yaran will find himself caught in the thrall of the…

Book cover of The Auschwitz Album: The Story of a Transport

Susan J. Eischeid Why did I love this book?

I am anguished by and drawn to this book because the many photographs are so compelling and unique.

Discovered after the war, this collection of images from a Nazi’s photo album detailing the killing process at Auschwitz is, quite simply, extraordinary. Nothing else I have seen illustrates the casualness and ‘normality’ with which the persons who administered Hitler’s policies in the camps viewed their jobs and the sheer mechanization of the killing process.

I knew these things existed better than most, but seeing the visual evidence is, for me, revelatory.

By Israel Guttman (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Auschwitz Album as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This album, an extraordinary find, was originally discovered during the tumult of the first days after the liberation. It reveals how two SS photographers documented the arrival of shipments of Jews to the platform in the Birkenau concentration camp, the selection process, and their path to the gas chambers and the crematoria. The photographs also memorialize the piles of possessions left by the Jews which were sorted in the 'Canada' Barracks. They are accompanied by three articles that describe the development of the camp, the Holocaust of Hungarian Jewry, and the story of how the album was found; a fourth…


Explore my book 😀

Mistress Of Life And Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

By Susan J. Eischeid,

Book cover of Mistress Of Life And Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau

What is my book about?

A gripping, unflinching biography of SS Overseer Maria Mandl, one of the most notorious and contradictory figures at the heart of the Nazi regime and her transformation from engaging small town girl to hardened killer. By the time of her execution at the age of thirty-six, Maria Mandl had achieved the highest rank possible for a woman in the Third Reich. As Head Overseer of the women’s camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, she was personally responsible for the murders of thousands, and for the torture and suffering of countless more.

In this riveting biography, Susan J. Eischeid explores how Maria Mandl, a “nice girl from a good family,” came to embody the very worst of humanity. Born in 1912 in the beautiful, rural Austrian village of Münzkirchen, Maria enjoyed a happy childhood with loving parents—who later watched in anguish as their grown daughter rose through the Nazi system. Mandl’s life mirrors the period in which she lived: turbulent, violent, and suffused with paradox. At Auschwitz-Birkenau, she founded the notable women’s orchestra and “adopted” several children from the transports—later sending them to the gas chambers. After the war, Maria was arrested for crimes against humanity. Following a public trial attended by the international press, she was hanged in 1948.

For two decades, Eischeid has excavated the details of Mandl’s life story, drawing on archival testimonies, speaking to dozens of witnesses, and spending time with Mandl’s community of friends and neighbors who shared their memories as well as those handed down in their families. The result is a chilling and complex exploration of how easily even the unlikeliest of candidates can be turned toward evil in a climate of hate and fear.

Book cover of War and Remembrance
Book cover of The Mascot: Unraveling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood
Book cover of One of the Girls in the Band: The Memoirs of a Violinist from Birkenau

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