Feature

By Vittoria Caroli / Matthew staff | Edited by Kayla Muller 

Il Vero Nome di Rosamund Fischer (The Real Name of Rosamund Fischer) is Simona Dolce’ s newest book. Before being the writer of this novel, she is my aunt, and what better opportunity to interview her on her new work, launched on May 7^th, 2024.  

This novel is based on the story of Rosamund Fischer, Rudolf Hoss’ s daughter – the Auschwitz Commander – who, once and for all, in 2013, has been put in front of her past, in front of Inge Brigitte Hoss. She is obliged to travel back in 1940, when her childhood underwent a sudden change. World War II was right around the corner and Inge Brigitte, together with the whole family, moved next to the concentration camps. Yet, she did not understand what was going on until she turned seventeen years old and decided to run away from her real name to live a new life, adopting a new identity: the identity of Rosamund Fisher.  

In the other interviews you have done, you said that you decided to write this book after having read the one and only interview that Inge Brigitte did in 2013 when she was 80 years old; but what really made you think “I feel I need to write this book”?

The first thing that caught my attention was how interesting Inge Brigitte’s life was: from the happiest childhood lived in Auschwitz, to the joyful relationship she had with her father and how she talks, still at 80 years old, about how lovely he was. She has been called by a journalist and in 2013, she still speaks about her story with a vivid emotional involvement. This appeared to me to be a significant aspect of her personality. Moreover, the few elements she tells in the interview already gives a hint about how unique her life has been. On the other hand, there is a more human discourse, regarding the fact that this interview holds certain absolute universal values, even though any of the events she narrates are in common between the two of us. These elements space from the idyllic relation she had with her parents during her childhood, or the educational journey she took by escaping from the surname full of history she used to carry heavily on her shoulders. Her relationship with violence, with the war, and with the concept of identity emerged already from the few words she spoke during the interview that became fundamental for me, as it happens when you read something that, for any unsuspected reason that fascinates you, and after a few years I started doing some research to comprehend how to narrate this story. 

Reading the book, I noted a peculiarity in your way of writing: the precision with which you describe the house where Inge Brigitte lived, but most importantly the emotional status of the protagonist. Which emotions did you feel while writing to obtain such a concise and touching description? 

It is a real story, therefore my approach to it had to be as rigorous as possible. The analysis of all the documents regarded only questions connected to Nazism, to the relationship of her father with the Nazi soldiers and to the material objects around her. The context had to be well-documented. However, since the historical sources did not talk about Inge Brigitte, to me, she represented the space to explore a complex humanity, trying only to imagine what a child could feel, being the daughter of the Auschwitz Commander, being completely unaware of everything. The discoveries of her functions became my literature journey. What I felt was, on one hand this innocence, purity and idyllic childhood; on the other hand, I felt a sentiment of suspect that becomes fear, because I, as a writer, know what the truth is. And towards this truth I felt tenderness, while following the actions of that tiny girl immersed in her innocence, and fear because there is something dreadful that constantly threatens her life. 

Which one, out of the whole book, has represented for you the most challenging part to write? 

The most challenging one was finding a balance in the voice of my protagonist, so that I could narrate that lost innocence without judging Inge Brigitte neither as a liar nor as an innocent, trying to leave to the readers the job of creating their own idea. 

What do you think has convinced, only in 2013, the 80-year-old Inge Brigitte to confront reality and to face Rosamund Fischer, once and for all? 

This is the same question I asked myself and it as well represents the question at the basis of the book. It is hard to find a univocal answer because I believe there are multiple and changing answers. In the book, Inge Brigitte herself first proposed one reason why she decided to speak out, then as the book continues as a sort of confession, the reasons change, as her own attitude towards her memory does. 

At a certain point in the book, Inge Brigitte mentions her son, explaining they are not close at all. Do you believe that the relationship she had with her son has any sort of connection to the relationship she had with her parents? 

Yes, of course. In my creation of Inge Brigitte Rosamund, I imagined everything that was not in the interview or in the historical documentation. I concluded that she has not been able to be a mother because of her childhood. She was mentally stuck still in 1940 and, at 80 years old, remembers her cheerful childhood; therefore, she could not maintain the solid identity needed to be a mother. In my point of view, she has never been a mother, because she has always remained a daughter. 

If you were asked to describe your Inge Brigitte Rosamund with three adjectives, what would they be? 

Wow! Controversial, childish and unreliable. 

Is there any specific value that you wanted to transmit to the readers writing this book? 

More than a value, an interest. That is mine. And that then I hope will be shared. The interest for controversial and complex humanities for their position toward history, just like Inge Brigitte’s. An ambiguous position since, on one side she negates her father’s crimes, on the other she shows herself completely unaware and innocent or even not wanting to remember, being guilty of not telling the truth. Generically, my interest regards the complex aspects of humanities. In the case of Inge Brigitte, there is the ambiguity that at the same time she is the child who loved her father and a woman who has not been able to remember what happened, something that still appears in her memories.