The Girls of the Glimmer Factory: A Novel

“Theresienstadt was a ghetto where prisoners provided slave labor for the German war effort. They survived on starvation rations and lived in squalor. The ghetto also served as a way station to death camps in the east, primarily Auschwitz.” —Jennifer Coburn

In 1940, Hannah, a young Jewish woman in her twenties, lives a comfortable life with her family in Prague. When German troops occupy the city, Jews are forced to leave their homes and are taken prisoner. Most of Hanna’s family had already left Europe for Palestine, except Hannah and her grandfather. They, and many other Jewish people are taken by Nazi troops and local police, then sent to Theresienstadt, an ancient Czech fortress that Germany turned into a huge ghetto prison. Within this jail, prisoners of all ages are forced into slave labor on a starvation diet. They work all day in factories and workshops, surviving brutal guards, all to support the German war effort.

After years of suffering in Theresienstadt, Hannah’s childhood Christian friend Hilde arrives with a movie crew to create a Nazi propaganda film. They intend to portray Jews as living luxuriously in ghettos and concentration camps, while ordinary German families struggle. It is designed to make the world misunderstand the brutal conditions and death camps that Jews are trying to survive as prisoners of Nazi Germany.

Over the years, malnourishment and disease trim the prisoner population considerably. Yet, even as train transports filled with Jewish prisoners regularly depart Theresienstadt for Auschwitz, new Jewish prisoners arrived frequently. Over 140,000 mostly-Jewish prisoners lived under ruthless conditions at Theresienstadt, with over 90,000 transported to Auschwitz to be murdered. About 33,000 die while a prisoner at Theresienstadt.

Usually quiet and unassuming, Hannah dedicates herself to exposing the truth about the starvation, enslavement, and murder of Jews. She joins the resistance at Theresienstadt, along with many other young Jewish prisoners. They smuggle letters out of the camp because Nazi censors open every piece of mail. Eventually she helps smuggle babies out of the camp to families who can protect them. Hannah must reveal the horrific conditions at Theresienstadt to the world.

This poignant story is based on an actual Nazi propaganda film. It depicts the Red Cross at Theresienstadt as Nazi collaborators who refuse to inspect Auschwitz because an SS officer assured them it was, "Nice, just like Theresienstadt." For three days of filming, the camp is transformed from a starvation ghetto with slave labor, into a scene of happy, dancing Jews, eating, and enjoying life. The ghetto is changed into a paradise for the film, only to be swiftly dismantled again like a Hollywood set. Scenes in the film show Jewish prisoners happily eating and drinking from an abundance of expensive food, while others dance to jazz music in a make-believe coffee house. Nothing could be farther from the truth at Theresienstadt. As soon as filming ends, the food is removed and the prisoners are back to being enslaved.

Nazis did not need to fabricate a rich cultural life at Theresienstadt, because the Jewish prisoners created it themselves. This included schools, plays, theatrical presentations, lectures, and concerts led by some of Europe's most renowned musicians, playwrights, and composers—until they were sent to their deaths at Auschwitz. The Nazi film crew merely recorded scheduled events.

Hannah's childhood friend Hilde is the other protagonist in this tale. Unlike Hannah, who is adored by her family, Hilde is starved for love as a child. This drives her to lie and manipulate in vain attempts to prove her worth to Nazi leaders. She aspires to be a Nazi propaganda filmmaker, seeking recognition as a successful and talented woman for the Nazi cause. Typically, she is demoted to assistant on the crew.

As children, Hilde's family forbade her from playing with Hannah when they became Nazis. Perhaps feeling guilty about losing her best friend so many years ago, Hilde recruits Hannah as her film crew assistant. This gives Hannah a unique opportunity to deliver her message to the world.

Hannah decides to insert something so blatantly wrong into the film that it would signal to the world that Germany's "model ghetto" for the Jews of Europe is a lie. She creates a scene of Jewish men lighting Hanukkah candles while reciting the Mourner's Kaddish, a prayer for the dead. These two actions never go together. Jews have specific blessings for Hanukkah candle lighting, which is a joyous holiday, not a time to mourn. Hannah believes Nazis film editors will not notice the discrepancy, but Jews around the world will see it as a signal that something is wrong in Theresienstadt. Will Hannah be caught and punished, or can she succeed?

As time passes, Hannah engages in various acts of resistance, risking public hanging if she is caught. These acts of bravery transform her from a meek young woman into a highly motivated resistance fighter. She is assigned to work in a mica workshop, spitting her fingers open as she uses a knife to shave mica pieces. They call it, “The glimmer factory,” because mica dust sparkles in the lights. Many women work there. Unknown by others, the resistance fighters meet in the attic there.

Hannah takes on a huge responsibility, caring for a small girl whose mother was selected for transport to Auschwitz. Nothing can stop her from saving the girl from near-certain death.

While time passes at Theresienstadt, prisoners learn the truth about Nazi death camps to the east. Prisoner escapees from those camps enter Theresienstadt at their own risk to warn the Council of Elders that Auschwitz is a death factory. Most Jewish families are gassed and cremated within hours of arrival. Almost every transport from Theresienstadt goes there. No longer do the Jews of Theresienstadt believe Nazi lies about the safety of Auschwitz.

The actual Nazi propaganda film was completed in 1944. Days later, half of the prisoner population of Theresienstadt is sent to Auschwitz. On the way, several prisoners escape by jumping out of windows and fleeing into the countryside. Will Hannah and the child be among them, or are they destined to die at Auschwitz with the others?

Jennifer Coburn, an exceptional writer, has crafted a suspenseful and captivating historical fiction novel. The protagonists’ character development is excellent; and her plot, dialogue, and use of tension and release is masterful. Balanced with wise use of space, it might have been enjoyable to learn more about the personalities of some minor characters, particularly Hannah’s close friend Misa, and her grandfather.

Because of the author’s extensive research, the reader gains valuable insights into how Nazis used brutality and starvation as tools to motivate prisoners who work long hours under difficult conditions. The book also highlights the power of propaganda used by Nazis to convince the world that Jews were monsters who stole from honest people, rather than cultured, peaceful people who contribute to their communities. This is particularly relevant in today's climate of rising antisemitism.

From an editing perspective, the manuscript would benefit from the inclusion of maps, diagrams, drawings, and pictures. Visual aids help ground readers into a story, particularly with historical fiction. Given the large prison fortress of Theresienstadt, with its many barracks, factories, and workshops, readers would benefit from the ability to view it.

While this novel is generally quite accurate to historical record, it is extremely unlikely that a female would have had a job at Theresienstadt transcribing from a Torah, as Hannah does in this tale. That work is typically accomplished by a rabbi and in the time of WWII, there were virtually no female rabbis in Europe.

This is a thrilling novel about a terrible time in history, when a person’s religion determined when and where they would be murdered, including women and children. It is a signpost that warns all of us today about the dangers of prejudice, propaganda, and bigotry. The Girls of the Glimmer Factory is a warning to all of us who recognize and fear fascism, and a clear signal that we can never again stand by and do nothing when good people are enslaved and murdered.