Onstage at the Reagan Library with Nechama Birnbaum

As part of the programming for our Auschwitz: Not long ago. Not far away. exhibition, please join us for a conversation and book signing with Nechama Birnbaum, the granddaughter of a holocaust survivor, for her book The Redhead of Auschwitz: A True Story (Publish Date: November 25, 2021).

For tickets and pre-purchase books, please click here.

Rosie was always told her red hair was a curse, but she never believed it. However, her life takes a harrowing turn in 1944 when she is forced out of her home and sent to the most gruesome of places: Auschwitz, where, upon arrival, her head is shaved and along with the loss of her beautiful hair, she loses the life she once cherished. Among the chaos and surrounded by hopelessness, Rosie realizes the only thing the Nazis cannot take away from her is the fierce redhead resilience in her spirit.

This victorious biography, written by Nechama Birnbaum in honor of her grandmother, is as full of life as it is of death. It is about the intricacies of Jewish culture that still exist today and the tender experiences that are universal to all humanity: family, coming of age, and first love. It is a story that celebrates believing in yourself no matter the odds. This is a story about the little redheaded girl who thought she could, and so she did.