Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land [Hardcover]

Sara Nomberg-Przytyk (Author), R. Hirsch (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1985

"From the moment I got to Auschwitz I was completely detached. I disconnected my heart and intellect in an act of self-defense, despair, and hopelessness." With these words Sara Nomberg-Przytyk begins this painful and compelling account of her experiences while imprisoned for two years in the infamous death camp. Writing twenty years after her liberation, she recreates the events of a dark past which, in her own words, would have driven her mad had she tried to relive it sooner. But while she records unimaginable atrocities, she also richly describes the human compassion that stubbornly survived despite the backdrop of camp depersonalization and imminent extermination.

Commemorative in spirit and artistic in form, Auschwitz convincingly portrays the paradoxes of human nature in extreme circumstances. With consummate understatement Nomberg-Przytyk describes the behavior of concentration camp inmates as she relentlessly and pitilessly examines her own motives and feelings. In this world unmitigated cruelty coexisted with nobility, rapacity with self-sacrifice, indifference with selfless compassion. This book offers a chilling view of the human drama that existed in Auschwitz.

From her portraits of camp personalities, an extraordinary and horrifying profile emerges of Dr. Josef Mengele, whose medical experiments resulted in the slaughter of nearly half a million Jews. Nomberg-Przytyk's job as an attendant in Mengle's hospital allowed her to observe this Angel of Death firsthand and to provide us with the most complete description to date of his monstrous activities.

The original Polish manuscript was discovered by Eli Pfefferkorn in 1980 in the Yad Vashem Archive in Jerusalem. Not knowing the fate of the journal's author, Pfefferkorn spent two years searching and finally located Nomberg-Przytyk in Canada. Subsequent interviews revealed the history of the manuscript, the author's background, and brought the journal into perspective.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

[The] unusual attention to the details of human character . . . sets [this book] apart.

New York Times Book Review

There is much to learn here, about Auschwitz and the range of human behavior.

Ruth R. Wisse, McGill University

Astonishing.

Robert McAfee Brown, author of Elie Wiesel: Messenger to All Humanity --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English, Polish (translation)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 190 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press; First Edition edition (July 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807816299
• ISBN-13: 978-0807816295
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,422,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short chapters with great depth., June 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Auschwitz: True Tales From a Grotesque Land (Paperback)

I cannot say that any of the eyewitness accounts from people that experienced the Holocaust are better than the other. They are all important and valuable. But some stand out due to their use of language or analytic insight.True tales is one of them that stands out. Sara paints pictures with her words for us to see.Sometimes it is very disturbing pictures we see like in the chapter "The living torch" where the SS throws living babies into the burning pits at Birkenau. But also pictures of hope emerge from the pages of this highly recomended book.

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This memoir is so real, February 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Auschwitz: True Tales From a Grotesque Land (Paperback)

The images in this memoir are extremely powerful. You will not forget them. The language is clear and concise. The writing is so alive that it takes you right there, to the camp experiences, to Auschwitz. This memoir is particularly poignent for those interested in women's experiences in the camps. The author's retelling of the resistance movement in the women's camp, the children born there, the medical experiments and other similar events are unique to women. It stirred my emotions and made me think about the Holocaust and this period of history in ways I had not before. I found myself taking time between each chapter, just to "sit" with the experience, feel it and process. It is an intense read. It will change your perspective and enhance your knowledge. Read this memoir.

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It was so moving I literally read it four times., August 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Auschwitz: True Tales From a Grotesque Land (Paperback)

The way Nomberg-Przytyk captured the horror, sadness, courage, and extreme endourance which she and her fellow friends and prisioners displayed was extremely moving. The way she expressed her shock, horror, compassion, and sheer humanity is amazing. Showing how it was impossible to hide and focused on the importance of the ability to "organize" shows the will to live and the brutality of the nazis and thier camps.The book was simply amazing.