Praise for Mistress Of Life And Death "This is a chilling account of how an ordinary Austrian woman from a good family became one of the most brutal and sadistic concentration camp guards at Auschwitz and Ravensbrück. Brilliantly researched, revealing new material and interviews with those who knew her family, and grippingly written with insight and understanding, Eischeid's book never shies away from stating with clarity and calm detail the unimaginable acts of cruelty Mandl was capable of inflicting. That agony sits deep on the page. While it will always be hard to understand and impossible to sympathise, it feels more important than ever to have clear sighted books like this to shine a powerful light on how such destruction took hold in the heart of apparently civilised Europe. This searing biography of a complex individual should be compulsory reading." --Anne Sebba, New York Times bestselling author of Les Parisiennes "Music, mass murder, Mandl--Eischeid's reckoning with those factors offers page-turning insight about the Holocaust and humanity." --John K. Roth , author of The Failures of Ethics and Sources of Holocaust Insight ; Edward J.

Sexton Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Claremont McKenna College "Eischeid's biography of the chief female guard of the Women's Camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau is an important contribution to Holocaust studies and affords the reader a glimpse of how the Nazi female perpetrators participated in that 'terror state.' Dr. Eischeid has scoured so much archival documentation to support her analysis that little concerning Mandl's life and crimes has been left out.This biography also provides the reader with an insight into the convoluted and polluted mind of a true believer." --Daniel Patrick Brown , author of The Camp Women: Female Auxiliaries Who Assisted the SS in Running the Nazi Concentration Camp System , Enduring Entanglements , and The Beautiful Beast: The Life and Crimes of SS-Aufseherin Irma Grese ; Professor Emeritus, Moorpark College (CA) "While breakthrough books such as Wiesel's Night and Haley's Roots opened my generation's eyes and hearts and souls to unimaginable inhumanity, Eischeid's book will take you deep into one woman's life, personalizing the fragility we share with her." --Sara Lambert Bloom , recording artist, social justice advocate, and teacher.