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Reviews (151)

vgmani
I dont know how to rate this!! The book... I am yet to read! But I received collectorS edition within a collector edition! The book is printed upside down while the cover page is printed straight!

The Life of Vladek
The combination of volume one and volume two of Maus instills emotion, unfelt by any Holocaust story.Spiegelman (hey that's me; so of coarse it's a must read) implements humor, details, and characters that allow for a stunning plot of the life of his father Vladek. The relationship between Mala and Vladek, is humorous and tragic at the same time. I don't want to reveal too much plot, but would like to end writing the animals characterizations of personalities is ingenious.

Excellent Book
I am ordinarily very uninterested in graphic novels. Just seems like a stupid format to me. BUT, this was a great book. It is just the right story and right presentation for someone like me to enjoy. I highly recommend it and will probably give other graphic novels a chance ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Children of Holocaust survivors    6. Comic books, strips, etc    7. General    8. Historical - General    9. Holocaust    10. Holocaust survivors    11. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    12. Poland    13. United States    14. Biography & Autobiography / Literary    15. Biography: general    16. Jewish studies    17. The Holocaust   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (58)

100% Recommended
It recounts the hellish 12 months that Primo Levi, an Italian jew, spent as Haftling 174517, at the notorious Deathcamp (during 1939 and 1944 2 million people were murdered there). He was captured by the Fascist Militia in December 1943 and wished to be charged based on his religious beliefs rather than his political ones in the view that he would be treated more leniently. After a period in a detention camp at Fossili, Modena, he along with the rest of the Jews are transferred to the concentration camps. The opening chapters describe the horrific conditions of the transfer and the hasty selection process used to determine who would go to the camp and who would go to the gas chambers at Birkenau; all the women, children and infirm were sent to cremation without question. In some ways he was fortunate to have avoided arrest until the latter stages of the war as the Germans decided that the prisoners in the lagers would be of more use to them alive than dead, at Auschwitz they were detailed to build a Buna - a synthetic rubber processing plant which never saw a day of production. Prior to this the prisoners were killed without recourse.
Primo Levi enthusiasts: This is a re-issue of 'If this is a man'
It's a great book. But if you've already got 'If this is a man', don't buy this.

Brutual & Clinical Look of Survival
I stopped reading books of the Holocaust several years ago simply because the stories that come out of the Holocaust are heart-wrenching, bitter, courgaeous, guilt-ridden .... all of the emotions and thoughts that we human have produced can be a lot to digest at one time.
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Subjects:  1. Auschwitz (Concentration camp)    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Historical - Holocaust    4. History: World    5. Holocaust    6. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    7. Italy    8. Jewish Holocaust Personal Narratives    9. Levi, Primo    10. Levi, Primo - Prose & Criticism    11. Literary    12. Personal narratives    13. Personal narratives, Italian    14. World War, 1939-1945    15. European history: Second World War    16. History / Jewish    17. Poland    18. The Holocaust   

Reviews (26)

Answers the What Happened, But WHY?
The whole idea of the Holocaust is so abhorrent to many of us that we find it difficult to understand or believe as many otherwise 'normal' people participated either directly or indirectly. In France, in most of the occupied countries, and of course in Germany itself Jews were regularly turned over to the authorities. (Although I must add that in Denmark, Italy and Hungary the Governments at least resisted with more or less success.) So many people find it so unbelievable that they simply have re-written history to pretend that it really didn't happen.
Well written but with the unforgivable bias
This book is well written and starts with an excellent review of the context of Polish history after the World War 2 (Chapter 1). Unfortunately, following chapters go downhill from there, to end up with the incredibly biased conclusion. Shattering, factual crime descriptions (such as the description of the Kielce pogrom) are getting more and more intertwined with the one sided anecdotal evidence, author's opinions, as well as clear omissions of important facts, not to mention some clearly misleading and untruthful statements.
Another Case Study In Polish Savagery!
In pondering this disturbing and provocative tome by Jan T. Gross, one is reminded not only of his previous shocking entry, "Neighbors" (see my review) but also of the increasing evidence of a shockingly resurgent and quite virulent anti- Semitism across Europe as well as throughout the Middle East. With horrific detail, Mr. Gross describes the almost indescribable violence and murder systematically visited against returning Jews to Poland in the aftermath of the Second World War. This current work indicates just how typical the previous study ("Neighbors") he had conducted concerning the events in one particular rural town (Jedwabne) had been. In that account he detailed how the local inhabitantsintentionally clubbed, murdered, and mutilated its local indigenous Jews in 1941 under the urgent ministrations of a cruel Nazi occupation. Since many stood to gain materially from the Jews' demise in the way of money, farms, houses, furniture, and other earthly possessions, they were seemingly encouraged by local German occupying forces to engage in the bludgeoning murders of as many as 1,000 of their Jewish fellow villagers; men, women, and children.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Antisemitism    3. Discrimination & Racism    4. Eastern Europe - General    5. Eastern Europe - Poland    6. History    7. History - General History    8. History: World    9. Jewish - General    10. Jews    11. Kielce    12. Persecutions    13. Pogroms    14. Poland    15. Poland - History    16. History / Europe / Eastern   

Reviews (81)

The One Book
This was the second book I read in my Holocaust Literature class and it's excellent! Gerda describes everything perferctly, taking you back in time. She remembers both the good and the bad with extreme clarity, something I wish I had (I have a horrible memory). The actual story being told is extremely sad though and I almost feel that it's wrong to tell of something like Gerda went through and saw, but the courage and strength she has gained in life is unbelievable (an epiloge is included in the back showing this). Gerda is such an inspiration and I hope that there are more people like her in the future. If I could only bring 1 holocaust book with me to a desert island, this would be it! Highly recommended.

Amazing
I read this book for an eigth grade English project last year.It is truely touching and amazing to think how the world once was, and still is in some areas of the world.When I read this book, I could hardly put it down.Even now, it makes me remember the pain the war caused.This is a good read that speaks the truth.

Life, Hope, Survival
It may have been serendipity that the author survived the German labor camps.This book, however, is about more than serendipity--it's about character, and the ability of a survivor to heal and find beauty, purpose and love in the aftermath of great personal tragedy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1924-    2. Bielsko-Biaa    3. Bielsko-Bia±a    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Biography/Autobiography    8. Conscript labor    9. Germany    10. Historical - Holocaust    11. Holocaust    12. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    13. Jews    14. Klein, Gerda Weissmann,    15. Personal narratives    16. Poland    17. Women    18. World War, 1939-1945   

Editorial Review

The condition of exile is an exaggeration of the process of change and loss that many people experience as they grow and mature, leaving behind the innocence of childhood. Eva Hoffman spent her early years in Cracow, among family friends who, like her parents, had escaped the Holocaust and were skeptical of the newly imposed Communist state. Hoffman's parents managed to immigrate to Canada in the 1950s, where Eva was old enough to feel like a stranger--bland food, a quieter life, and schoolmates who hardly knew where Poland was. Still, there were neighbors who knew something of Old World ways, and a piano teacher who was classically Middle European in his neurotic enthusiasm for music. Her true exile came in college in Texas, where she found herself among people who were frightened by and hostile to her foreignness. Later, at Harvard, Hoffman found herself initially alienated by her burgeoning intellectualism; her parents found it difficult to comprehend. Her sense of perpetual otherness was extended by encounters with childhood friends who had escaped Cracow to grow up in Israel, rather than Canada or the United States, and were preoccupied with soldiers, not scholars. Read more

Reviews (20)

a classic
I loved this book when it came out and I love it still many rereadings later. Thisportrait of the Wandering Jew as ayoung girl begins with Hoffman's childhood in Cracow, Poland just after the second world war; moves to Vancouver, British Columbia when she is thirteen; continues on to Texas and Massachusetts for her university years; and ends in New York, where she becomes a writer and an editor at the New York Times Book Review. It encompasses many themes: the defining power of language; the cost of changing cultures, the construction of personal identity, and the consequences, for many Jews, of the Nazi and Communist regimes. Hoffman was born in the summer of 1945. Like many Jews in post-war, Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe, the Hoffmans observed Passover and had home-baked challah, on shabbat but Eva was culturally Polish, reading Sienkiewicz's nationalistic novels, playing Chopin etudes, attending church with her friends, receiving gifts on St. Nicholas's Day. After emigration, she adapts to North American culture, first Canadian, then Texan, then New York. This is a memoir squarely in the Jewish immigrant tradition but one in which the immigrant is a graduate student at Harvard, and relates her situation not only to Mary Antin but to contexts laid out by Sartre and Nabokov, Jung and Freud. Lost in Translation contains stories and essays, phrases to ruminate on, ideas to consider. It is a demanding read that challenges its reader to consider her own autobiography, her own childhood, her own assumptions. Having compiled an internationalbibliography of Jewish women's non-fiction books with poet Irena Klepfisz (available on my website) , I can say this is one of my favorites.

Intriguing, brilliant read
As a senior Literature major, there are many things I am required to read that make my college experience rather painful. This book, however, was not only relevant to the class I was taking but was also the most intriguing book I have read in years, maybe ever. Eva Hoffman's memoir is beautifully written and constructed, and is a must-read for anyone who appreciates great literature.

What a great book
This book was in excellent condition.It was a really good read and I read it straight through.I would recommend this book and any related material such as biography and autobiography of Eva Hoffman. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1945-    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Children of Holocaust survivors    7. Historical - Holocaust    8. Hoffman, Eva,    9. Immigrants    10. Jewish Studies    11. Jews    12. Personal Memoirs    13. Poland    14. United States    15. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs    16. Hoffman, Eva   

Subjects:  1. Conscript labor    2. Counterfeit money    3. Great Britain    4. History    5. History - Military / War    6. History: World    7. Military - World War II    8. Modern - 20th Century    9. Operation Bernhard, Germany, 1940-1945    10. Oâswiñecim    11. Poland    12. World War, 1939-1945    13. History / Modern / 20th Century   

Reviews (16)

Unbelievably heart stopping
I bought this book when I went to the Holocaust museum in D.C. This book is unbelievably heart stopping. This book takes you into a world of pain and terror. To be able to read about every momment of torture this man witnessed and partook in, is extremely moving. This book takes you deep inside the morbid ways of Hitler.

Amazing!!!
I loved this book but I find it hard to say that because of the sheer fact of what the people in this book went through.Muller's account of his years in auschwitz as a prisoner forced to work in the gas chambers is graffic and upsetting yet you wont want to put it down.It's hard to imagine what these people went through but reading this book is almost like you are right there seeing it with your own eyes.If you are interested in the subject i recommend this book to you, and if you arent interested in the subject i recommend this book anyways.

So difficult to read...
when you know every word is true.The hell this man went through is unimaginable.There isn't a lot you can say,really.The fact that the writer survived is a testimony to his will to keep living and tell the world what he saw and endured.The fact that he can relate his unfathomable experiences at Auschwitz without sliding in to self-pity is remarkable.
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Subjects:  1. Auschwitz (Concentration camp)    2. Biography    3. Czechoslovakia    4. General    5. History    6. History - Military / War    7. History: World    8. Holocaust    9. Jewish - General    10. Jewish Holocaust    11. Military - World War II    12. Muller, Filip    13. Personal narratives, Czech    14. Poland    15. Prisoners of war    16. World War, 1939-1945    17. Biography: historical    18. History / Jewish    19. History / Military / World War II    20. The Holocaust    21. World history: Second World War    22. Judaica   

Editorial Review

Shocking as it is, this book--a crucial source of original research used for the bestseller Read more

Reviews (48)

Shocking reading
This complete study of an ordinary security unit which perpetrated a shocking attrocity give the reader dark insights into the minds of the murderers who perpetrated Hitler's nightmare upon Jews and others. No pack of nazi fanatics or even anti-semites. Not a group of habitual criminals like Dirlewanger's gang. Just oridnary men who one day murdered thousands of men women and children while sending others to the death camp of Treblinka.
HOW DO ORDINARY MEN BECOME COLD-BLOODED KILLERS?
"Ordinary Men" chronicles the rise and fall of Reserve Police Battalion 101, one of several units that took part in the Final Solution to the Jewish Question while in Poland. During the course of their stay, they were responsible for the shooting of 38,000 Jews, while also deporting 45,200 to the Treblinka Concentration Camp. The book argues that the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101, and other units like it, were comprised of ordinary men. It begs the question: How did ordinary men become the cold-blooded killers of the Holocaust?
Must read.
Rather than try offer a magazine style critique on the book, I'll simply recommend, fellow reader, that you get it. I'll assume that, like me, you are interested in learning about this aspect of WW2 history. I found it to be the best (non-contemporary) book I have read on the subject. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Europe - Germany    2. Germany    3. History - General History    4. History: World    5. Holocaust    6. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    7. Military - World War II    8. Personal narratives, German    9. Poland    10. War criminals    11. World War, 1939-1945    12. European history: Second World War    13. History / General    14. Inter-war period, 1918-1939    15. Popular psychology    16. Second World War, 1939-1945    17. Social, group or collective psychology    18. The Holocaust   

Editorial Review

"One day, in July 1941, half of the population of a small east European town murdered the other half--some 1,600 men, women and children." This short sentence summarizes the subject of Read more

Reviews (59)

Parallels with Iraq?
I read this book a oouple of years ago, and haven't stopped thinking of it as secretarian violence in Iraq intensifies and our efforts to deomocratize that country seem obviously futile. I remember that the author sought to understand how people who previously lived in peaceful coexistence with the Jews in thisPolish town, could turn on their neighbors with such viciousness and evil. Arn't we seeing the same phenomenon occur in Iraq and the Shiites, Sunni, and Kurds inflict such horrific violence against each other? I think the author's only explanation for the violence was that when a nation's people are repressed for decades, and their personal freedoms sacrificed in an unjust society, that violence and hatred can intensity once some restraints are lifted and the "genie is out of the bottle". Is it possible that the violence we are seeing in Iraq is partly a symptom of the severe repression the Iraqi people suffered under Saddam Hussein? And didn't we see the same sort of phenomenon occur in South Africa and Bosnia during the last part of the 20th Century? Doesn't this have lessons for America the next time it contemplates "liberating" by force a country with a history of repression and tyranny?

Truly shocking but...
"He was cringing, fighting the straps with amazing strength. His hands turned red and then white and the cords of the neck stood out like steel bands. The force of the electrical current was so powerful that his eyeballs popped out and rested on cheeks.Finally, he caught the fire. His brain was boiling."
Interesting & Disturbing
This is the second of the set of books that my dad's secretary's daughter lent us ~~ and it's sad and confusing to read. In some ways, it's a muddled reading since the author was definitely not organized in his thoughts as he wrote out his arguments. He jumped back and forth between too many theories and too many documents. Maybe it's the way the translator translated it ~~ but it was a difficult read at best.
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Subjects:  1. Collaborationists    2. Eastern Europe - Poland    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History: World    6. Holocaust    7. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    8. Jedwabne    9. Jewish - General    10. Jews    11. Poland    12. World War, 1939-1945    13. History / Jewish   

Reviews (39)

A Treasure for Avaition and History Buffs. A Great as well as an Emotional Read!!
Thank you Lynn Olson and Stanley Cloud for a clearly written and insightful book about the "Forgotten Heroes of WWII." The fearless and talented Polish pilots of the 303rd, that downed more German aircraft then any other squadron during the Battle of Britain, was wonderfully researched and truthfully told.
A very big question
This book raises some very difficult questions about the true commitment and loyalty of the Allies, especially The USA and England, toward the people of Poland. It is a very interesting and informative story and carries with it some disappointing truths about the BIG 3. A must read for anyone not clear on why World War II begun in Europe and how it turned out so dishonorably.

Great read on little known chapter in the Battle of Britain
This is a wonderful book giving an account of the unsung heroes of the Battle of Britain...Polish pilots who had fled their native country when occupied by Nazi Germany and went to England to continue the fight.The story is written in a narrative style that features great insight on both the personalities and battles of these brave men.The book includes footnotes and useful tables, photos and charts including aerial victories/losses.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Aerial operations, Polish    3. Air And Space Forces    4. Air pilots, Military    5. Eastern Europe - Poland    6. Great Britain    7. History    8. History - Military / War    9. History: World    10. Military - Aviation    11. Military - World War II    12. Military History - World War II    13. Poland    14. Regimental histories    15. World War, 1939-1945    16. History / Europe / Eastern   

Reviews (2)

Best concise history so far-Better than the usual myths
In contrast to the usual myths, it is such a pleasure to read a more honest historical account written by two ethnic Polish writers, now, after many decades of war propagandas. As the authors of this book state: 'The 20th century has added its own myths ...after the Second World War, Polish historiography was want to depict a 'Piast Poland' whose boundaries were curiously congruent with those of the post 1945 state'. James Michener's book 'Poland' (claiming that Poland should have rightfully conquered Prussia), is also one of those myths perpetuating fictions. Michener, a fiction travel writer gentlemen, was taken in by his charming hosts, during the Communist Polish government, while writing his book. Some people take his fantasy book 'Poland' as factual history of Poland. In contrast the two authors of this book, Jerzy Lukowski and Hubert Zawadzki have done some factual research. High time that this 'Concise History of Poland' was written and published.

A great overview of Polish history
If you have no knowledge of Polish history, this book is a good place the start.The authors recommend Playground of the Gods if you are looking for a more detailed history of Poland, but I haven't read those yet so I can't "offically" recommend them.Read more

Subjects:  1. Eastern Europe - Poland    2. Europe - General    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History: World    6. Poland    7. European history: c 1500 to c 1750    8. European history: c 1750 to c 1900    9. European history: c 500 to c 1500    10. European history: from c 1900 -    11. History / Europe / General    12. Modern period, c 1500 onwards    13. Poland--History    14. c 1000 CE to c 1500   

Reviews (6)

An account from one of the survivors
A good book written by one of the few survivors of the uprising.The author tells a harrowing story about what seemed to be a hopeless situation for the Jewish fighters as the Nazis decimated the ghetto around them with bombing and fire.The Jewish resistance fighters held off the Germans longer than the Polish army did.The author freely admits that he is not a writer and the story gets a little rough in spots but overall a good book from an insider who was there and lived to tell his heroic story.

Good Account. Not a great book.
The author is sincere and spontaneous in telling his personal experience. The description of events, places and facts is also very well. But from the very beggining it is clear that the author is not a writer (or, at least, not a good one.)
The young man that survived
Kazik was a 19-year-old Jewish lad who survived the Nazi terror and systematic mass killings of Jews, the Warsaw ghetto uprising of 1943 and the Warsaw uprising of 1944.
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Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Historical - General    5. Historical - Holocaust    6. Holocaust    7. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    8. Jewish Holocaust Personal Narratives    9. Jewish resistance    10. Jews    11. Military    12. Persecutions    13. Personal narratives    14. Poland    15. Warsaw    16. World War, 1939-1945    17. Biography: historical    18. Biography: political    19. European history: Second World War    20. History / General    21. Jewish studies    22. Second World War, 1939-1945    23. The Holocaust   

Reviews (5)

Easy Read. Very Informative.
I had to read this book for a US History class and I was very impressed by the book. At no time was I bored with the book. It's actually very captivating and informative. If you really want a short book that is full of information and does not get boring read this book.

The terrible scope of the horror
Most of the previous accounts of Auschwitz that I've read have been personal accounts, most recently Rudolph Vrba's Escape from Auschwitz.While these personal accounts are quite powerful and serve to put a human face on a tragedy of almost inconceivable scope, they are only slivers of the big picture.This book provides a broad overview of the history of Auschwitz, compiled from eyewitness accounts, transcripts of war crimes trials, and the memoirs of Rudolf Hoess and other Nazi's involved in the camp.While it lacks the emotional impact of a more personal account, this book helps shed some light on the scope of the horrors of Auschwitz and Birkeneau and the holocaust in general.By itself, it is an important overview, but if read together with the stories of individual survivors, it provides context for understanding the personal accounts.

Nice and Easy
This is a good little book about Auschwitz.It is extremely thin and easy to read (128 pages).If you just want to know a little bit about Auschwitz and are not inclined to read one of the heavy books on the subject then this may be a good alternative.I found it easy to read and did not lack any of the intensity found in the bigger volumes on the subject.It is very detailed.It is also a great book to introduce yourself on the operations of the death camps.This book may spark your interest and you may want to read further on the subject.I finished it in only a few hours.Nice and easy reading. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Auschwitz (Concentration camp)    2. Auschwitz (Poland: Concentrati    3. History - General History    4. History: World    5. Holocaust    6. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    7. Jewish - General    8. Jewish Holocaust    9. Jewish holocaust (1933-1945)    10. Military - World War II    11. Personal narratives    12. Poland    13. History / Holocaust   

Reviews (41)

Contains numerous factual errors
Unfortunately, there are numerous falsehoods in this book according to the most definitive book to date on gas chamber operation "Auschwitz: Technique and Operation of the Gas Chambers" by Jean-Claude Pressac.
An eyewitness to the horror
This is a brief but powerful description of the horror of Auschwitz.Dr. Nyiszli was witness to the efficiency of the Nazi killing machinery, and is one of a very few such witnesses to survive.His account is an important reminder of the magnitude of the barbarity that man is capable of inflicting on his fellows.Dr. Nyiszli was also required to work with Dr. Josef Mengele, Auschwitz's "Angel of Death," helping him collect evidence to support his pseudo-scientific beliefs in Aryan superiority.While this first-hand description of Dr. Mengele fails to shed any light on his motivations or behavior, it does show the level of attention he payed to every aspect of the horror that was Auschwitz.Taken together with other eyewitness accounts, this book helps paint a more complete picture of the enormity of the Nozi crimes and the horror they inflicted.

a different perspective
Till date I have probably read well over a hundred books about holocaust. These survivors have been able to tell their story vividly but sometimes there is guilt in their voice - it is like the guilt of survival. It is not different here but just from a different perspective. Most of the other books I have read are from Levi, Weisel etc, but this is from somebody who was not in the direct line of fire. So Dr. Nyiszli could give a different perspective which is not available in the other books. He gave us a small detour from the camp to the heart of Dr Mengele and the Nazi pseudoscience. The strange fact is that even some Nobel Prize winners took part in analyzing the results of these experiments conducted by Dr. Mengele.
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Subjects:  1. Atrocities    2. Auschwitz (Concentration camp)    3. General    4. History    5. History - General History    6. History: World    7. Holocaust    8. Human experimentation in medicine    9. Jewish Holocaust Personal Narratives    10. Nyiszli, Miklos    11. Personal narratives, Hungarian    12. World War, 1939-1945    13. History / General    14. Jewish studies    15. Mengele, Josef    16. Nyiszli, Miklós    17. Oral history    18. Poland    19. The Holocaust   

Reviews (17)

Haunting
The story of Auschwitz is often taught in today's schools as that of a concentration camp erected during the Second World War that witnessed one of the world's worst genocides - the slaughter of one million innocent Jewish souls.
Harrowing and powerful
This book is a fascinating, enlightening, and moving history of one of the most infamous of the Nazi concentration camps. Rees doesn't just explain the history of the camp itself, he frequently ties it into the "big picture," the things happening elsewhere in the world and how they affected the camp, and sometimes vice versa. This big picture focus really makes the book, showing how everything in interrelated and how even the distant Allied nations affected Auschwitz's development throughout the war.
Easily accessible and reader-friendly
This was my first attempt to learn about Auschwitz and I was very pleased with the book. The author explains the entire history of the camp without getting bogged down in any single aspect of the story. If you are a casual history buff like me, this book is a winner. The first-hand accounts of survivors and the SS men who worked at Auschwitz are amazing. I highly recommend this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Auschwitz (Concentration camp)    2. Germany    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History: World    6. Holocaust    7. Holocaust survivors    8. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)    9. International    10. Interviews    11. Jewish Holocaust    12. Poland    13. War Crimes And Criminals    14. War criminals    15. Europe    16. European history: Second World War    17. The Holocaust    18. World history   

Reviews (2)

Like nothing I have ever read before
I had the honor of hearing Mr. Salsitz speak recently.I was amazed by his story and I wanted to know more so I bought this book.He has a keen memory, and he paints a clear picture of life during his childhood in the backwards town of Kolbuszowa.The book is always interesting and the story it tells is fascinating.I encourage everyone to read this first-hand account of this little slice of life as it existed before the Holocaust.

Loved it.
I really enjoyed this book!It is an intriguing story and vivid depiction of a place that no longer exists except in memory.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Ethnic Cultures - General    4. Historical - General    5. History Of Jews    6. Judaism - General    7. Religion   

Reviews (3)

concise, low key, devastating..
There are many larger and more detailed (and perhaps, more emotional and horrifying) books about Auschwitz, but as a short, factual and accurate rendering of that gigantic horror story, this book is excellent. Sybille Steinbacher covers a surprising amount of detail in a very short space. These days, when current political events have created entire nations of holocaust deniers, this should be a required text.

A Short History of Auschwitz
In this short book, Sybille Steinbacher, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Modern and Contemporary History at Ruhr University, gives a compelling account of Auschwitz.Professor Steinbacher, and her able translator, Shaun Whiteside, writes in a concise, stark, understated, and eloquent way.She avoids the tendency to sensationalize and overdramatize and allows her material to speak for itself.The stylistic, nonsensationalistic excellence of this book adds greatly to its impact.