The Last Stop Auschwitz. A True Story of the Strength of the Spirit and What Helps You Survive When There is No Hope

In 1943, at the height of the German occupation of the Netherlands, the Nazis took Eddie de Vinda's mother to a transit camp for Jews in Westerbork. To save her, he agreed to work there as a doctor – the Jewish council promised Eddie they would free his mother in exchange for his labor. But he was unable to save his mother: she had already been transferred to Auschwitz, and a year later Eddie himself found himself there with his young wife Friedel.

In Auschwitz, they were separated: Eddie was forced to work as a paramedic in one of the men's barracks, while Friedel fell into the hands of Nazi experimental doctors in the neighboring women's block. Approaching the women's barrack and talking to its inhabitants was strictly forbidden. The penalty for violation was execution. But Eddie could not be stopped – the fear of losing Friedel was stronger than the fear of death. In their rare moments together, they dreamed of freedom.

De Vinda's memoirs are not only a testimony to a crime against humanity; they are a story about the strength of the spirit and what saves a person when there is no hope.