San Diego author highlights Nazi propaganda ‘show camp’ in latest novel

SAN DIEGO – Jennifer Coburn will discuss her historical fiction novel, “The Girls of the Glimmer Factory,” set in the Nazi’s Theresienstadt “show camp” during WWII, at La Jolla Riford Library on Aug. 12.

Based on the real story of the Theresienstadt concentration camp, Coburn’s talk will begin at 6 p.m. in the library’s community room at 7555 Draper Avenue.

The “Glimmer Factory” has been described as a “poignant tale of resistance, friendship, and the dangers of propaganda.” In German concentration camps, a “glimmer factory” referred to a mica-splitting factory, where female prisoners were forced to work. 

Mica, or “glimmer,” is a mineral with thin, shimmering layers that was used for electrical insulation in Luftwaffe aircraft. The work involved slicing the mica into tiny slivers, a tedious and dusty process that caused lung diseases among the workers. 

The novel, written by Coburn – who is Jewish – references the “Remember Us The Holocaust” lecture series, which is on exhibit now through June 28, 2026, on the Garth Family Reading Level of the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Annex at La Jolla/Riford Library.

RUTH is a nonprofit dedicated to documenting and preserving the legacy of Holocaust survivors. La Jolla/Riford Library’s RUTH exhibit highlights the stories of Holocaust survivors who are living in San Diego County. The exhibit also showcases important Holocaust artifacts and World War II memorabilia.

But there is a “real story” behind the story, of how Coburn researched her bestselling Holocaust novel. She wanted a deeper understanding of the German concentration camp she was writing about. After having digested everything possible about Theresienstadt, she knew she had to go even further.

Realizing some questions could only be answered by actually traveling from her Del Cerro home to the Czech Republic, Coburn spent several days at the former Theresienstadt ghetto/transit camp, which the Nazis created for propaganda films and Red Cross inspections.

What Coburn learned from her Theresienstadt experience has become her mission to share with others. “Theresienstadt was a model camp to fool the world that Jews were being treated well, when it was a propaganda camp,” Coburn said.

She noted “Glimmer Factory” is her fictional novel telling the story of two childhood best friends reuniting as adults in the camp.

“One is a prisoner,” said Coburn. “The other character is a Nazi working for the Ministry of Propaganda. I realized this camp needed a book of its own. It needed powerful characters living under increasingly devastating circumstances.”

Coburn noted the Nazis made Theresienstadt “appear” as if it were a vibrant cultural center.

“There were many artists and intellectuals, and there were concerts conducted, on average, twice a night, with 500 musical performances, some composed,” Coburn said. “The prisoners there used their creativity as a means of survival.”

About 155,000 people went through the gates of Theresienstadt during 3 ½ years, with 40,000 prisoners there at any given time, and 60,000 at the camp’s peak.

“This was not a death camp in the same way Auschwitz was,” Coburn said. “People were not working at gas chambers. It was a work camp where they worked you to death. About 34,000 people were lucky enough to have survived the camp, while 33,000 died from starvation and disease.”

In researching “Glimmer Factory,” Coburn noted she “flew 7,000 miles and spent five days at Theresienstadt,” which she added is a tourist memorial with a museum in an underdeveloped small town.

“I stayed in a hotel that was once prisoner housing,” she noted. “I walked the grounds, looked at all the pieces of art that are still on the site, and let the experience just happen.

“One thing that happened that was a great coincidence was, on my very last day there, I ran into a group of teen students doing a documentary film,” Coburn said. “They took me to an area of tunnels that were made 80 years ago by prisoners who wanted to be remembered and tell the world that their lives mattered. They had etched the names of their hometowns, and some did drawings.”

Asked what she’d like people to get out of reading “The Girls of the Glimmer Factory,” Coburn said: “I would like them to leave knowing more about [Theresienstadt] than they came in with. I want to renew or ignite their curiosity, get them to start asking questions about how the Nazis used propaganda tactics, and how those tactics can threaten our world today.”