Hadassah X MJM Book Group – May 2024

Hadassah X MJM Book Group
Tuesday, May 14
10:00 am – 11:30 am

For the last book group session of the season, we will be meeting to discuss Susan J. Eischeid’s Mistress of Life and Death: The Dark Journey of Maria Mandl, Head Overseer of the Women’s Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau… and the author will be on-site to join the discussion and answer your questions! As an additional bonus, accomplished Maine singer and musician, Susan Storey Frank, will join us to sing two songs that Eischeid (herself a renowned oboist) discovered in her research for the book.

Mistress of Life and Death is a riveting biography in which Eischeid explores how Maria Mandl, regarded locally as “a nice girl from a good family,” came to embody the very worst of humanity. Rising through the Nazi system to become one of the most powerful women in the Party, Mandl founded the notable women’s orchestra at Auschwitz-Birkenau and “adopted” several children from the transports – only to lead them to the gas chambers when her interest waned. After the war, Mandl was arrested, tried, and hanged for crimes against humanity.

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 an ordinary citizen chose the path of evil in a climate of hate and fear.

Join fellow bibliophiles for lively discourse and warm camaraderie. You are welcome to participate even if you have not yet had time to read the book – you can use our discussion to decide if it is something you want to add to your reading list!

RSVP to to confirm attendance and obtain the address of our meeting place..