Book review: Dancing With The Enemy: My Family’s Holocaust Secret

Raised as Roman Catholic, Paul Glaser is shocked to discover a suitcase with his name on it, during a visit to Auschwitz, and he uncovers his father’s Jewish roots and learns about his estranged Aunt Rosie during World War II.

Paul Glaser

OneWorld, €20.55; ebook, €15.73

A strong, cunning and resourceful woman, Rosie defied convention and toured Western Europe, teaching ballroom dancing.

When the Nazis seized power, she was betrayed by her ex-husband and by her lover and sent to a number of concentration camps, including Auschwitz, where, as punishment, she was put working at the gas chambers.

Of the 1,200 people who arrived at Auschwitz with her, only eight survived. Pieced together from diaries, letters, archive material and stories from family friends, this book depicts Rosie as fearless, passionate and unconventional.

This is not an easy read and there are jarring interludes from the author, but this book is compelling, riveting and another achingly human insight into the tragedy of the Holocaust.