Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz

First published in 1947, 'Five Chimneys' by Olga Lengyel, a Hungarian Jewish prisoner at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, who later wrote about her experiences in this book.

Olga Lengyel recounts, honestly and without compromise, one of the most frightening stories of all time. This authentic, registered chronicle is the personal, day-to-day journal of a beautiful woman who endured the nightmare of Auschwitz and Birkenau. This book is a critical reminder of one of the most unappealing chapters in the history of human civilization. It was a shocking experience.

"... Thank you for your very frank, very well-written book. You have done a real service by letting the ones who are now silent and most forgotten speak ...With best regards and wishes."— A. Einstein
"This book is a horrifying, but necessary, reminder of one of the ugliest chapters in the history of human civilization. Passionate, tormenting."—New York Herald-Tribune
"It is a picture of utter hell."—Saturday Review of Literature

Olga Lengyel was a Hungarian author and Holocaust survivor best known for her memoir Five Chimneys, which provides a harrowing account of her experiences in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War II. Born in 1908 in Cluj, Hungary (now Romania), she was the wife of Dr. Miklós Lengyel, a respected surgeon. When Nazi forces occupied Hungary in 1944, Olga, along with her husband, two sons, and her parents, were deported to Auschwitz. She lost her entire family to the horrors of the Holocaust.

In Auschwitz, Olga was subjected to unimaginable suffering and witnessed the brutalities inflicted upon thousands of prisoners. After surviving the camp, she emigrated to the United States, where she dedicated her life to educating the world about the atrocities of the Holocaust. Her memoir, published in 1947, was one of the earliest survivor accounts to be widely read and remains a crucial document for understanding the human cost of the Holocaust. Lengyel's work not only serves as a personal testimony but also as a historical record of the systematic genocide perpetrated by the Nazis. She passed away in 2001, leaving behind a legacy of courage and a commitment to never forget the atrocities of the past.