When the Nazis arrest her Romany husband and children, Helene Hanneman accompanies them to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she records in her diary the horrors she sees as she runs a nursery and attempts to protect children from Mengele In the tradition of novels such as The Women in the Castle that illuminate the strong women who fought for their families and others during WWII comes the story of Helene Hanneman, a German nurse married to a Gypsy man who lived for sixteen months in Auschwitz under Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele.