Smoke over Birkenau

[8] Seweryna Szmaglewska was an inmate of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War II in the years 1942–1945.

[2]: 203 [8] The book was one of the first[note 1] literary accounts of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, and is considered an important early contribution to related literature and historiography.

[2]: 204 [8][9] It "quickly became one of the most widely read accounts of life and death in Auschwitz"[10]: 167  and has been argued to be the most influential literary work about that camp, significantly shaping public awareness in this context.

[8] Her work has been praised by critics and historians such as August Grodzicki [pl], Piotr Kuncewicz and Alvin Hirsch Rosenfeld.

[2]: 203–204 [8] It has been described as "one of the most evocative accounts of the grueling work done by women prisoners... as well differing camp lives of non-Jews and Jews".