Laura
asked
Ellie Midwood:
Emilia is an excellent read. I have a question since there were no author's notes. To what extent was this story factual? Are the events in Emilia's life specially based on any one person or persons?
Ellie Midwood
Hi Laura! Thank you so much for reading it! I'm so glad you enjoyed Emilia's story!
Even though it's technically a novel most of the events described in it are based on experiences of real Holocaust survivors, and namely women who were subjected to sexual violence in German concentration camps. I mostly based my research on articles written about them and a few books, such as "Sexual Violence against Jewish Women during the Holocaust" and "Jewish Women of Ravensbrück." Ruth Elias testified that sexual violence against women was common in concentration camps, and she wrote of her experience in Auschwitz: "Drunken SS men sometimes made unexpected appearances in our block... young Jewish women would be pulled from their bunks, taken away somewhere, and raped." I combined most of the described instances and put them together into a single character, Emilia. So, even though she is a fictional character, everything she had to go through is, unfortunately, based on true events.
Again, thank you so much for reading it! I really appreciate it:)
Even though it's technically a novel most of the events described in it are based on experiences of real Holocaust survivors, and namely women who were subjected to sexual violence in German concentration camps. I mostly based my research on articles written about them and a few books, such as "Sexual Violence against Jewish Women during the Holocaust" and "Jewish Women of Ravensbrück." Ruth Elias testified that sexual violence against women was common in concentration camps, and she wrote of her experience in Auschwitz: "Drunken SS men sometimes made unexpected appearances in our block... young Jewish women would be pulled from their bunks, taken away somewhere, and raped." I combined most of the described instances and put them together into a single character, Emilia. So, even though she is a fictional character, everything she had to go through is, unfortunately, based on true events.
Again, thank you so much for reading it! I really appreciate it:)
More Answered Questions
Ty Campos
asked
Ellie Midwood:
Hi Ellie! So after much anticipation I read your third book and I have one word for you: WOW!!!! It was so well written, unpredictable and emotionally intense!! I fell in love with Kaltenbruuner (as disturbing as this may sound! LOL) I can't wait until "The Austrian" comes out! But could you please do all of your loyal female readers a favor and give us more of his love scenes?
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