The Dentist of Auschwitz: A Memoir [Hardcover]

Benjamin Jacobs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1994

The personal story of a Jewish dental student recounts his harrowing experiences as a prisoner of the Nazis, where he encountered Josef Mengele, witnessed his father's murder, and was forced to work on his fellow inmates. UP.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jacobs, a Polish Jew, was a first-year dental student before he spent five years in Nazi extermination camps, including Auschwitz. Here, he vividly recalls that time, during which his elementary professional skills enabled him to practice primitive dentistry on inmates and SS officers alike, as well as to obey orders to extract gold teeth from corpses after gassing. Jacobs's understated tone conveys all the more forcefully the daily horror of camp life: bitter cold, near starvation, the smell of burning human flesh. Worst of all, notes the author, born Berek Jakubowicz, Auschwitz became a perverted "way of life" as he tried to survive it. Jacobs, who now practices dentistry in Boston, is a compelling witness. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Benjamin Jacobs was a Jewish dental student who in 1941 was deported from the Polish village of Dobra--along with 166 other Jewish men, including his father--to a Nazi labor camp. Jacobs was 22, and what followed was four years of horror in two labor camps and in Auschwitz, where his father died and his brother survived. (His mother and sister were murdered in Chelmno.) The author survived because of his elementary dental skills; he worked on the teeth of inmates and later on those of 55 officers. In simple, straightforward prose, Jacobs reveals the relentless and senseless brutality of concentration camp existence and--finally--the miracle of survival. Jacobs' book is another solid addition to the ever-growing body of Holocaust literature. George Cohen

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky; illustrated edition edition (December 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813118735
• ISBN-13: 978-0813118734
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,434,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This would make a good "first book" of Holocaust reading., December 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dentist of Auschwitz: A Memoir (Hardcover)

"The Dentist of Auschwitz" may sound like it is about a dentist who worked for the Nazis, but it is not. This is a very personal story about a boy who struggled to keep his dentistry tools with him as he entered the prison camps. It could just possibly be that the tools saved his life. His services were offered to the other prisoners, though he did have to do some unpleasant dentistry as well. This story is much more than a story of dentistry. In fact, his dental services are a very small part of a story about a young boy and his father who were taken from their home. Later he located his younger brother in a nearby camp. Eventually, all three were together. The book tells of a romance between Jew and non-Jew,(a few sentences a bit personal) which is rare in the survivor books. I will not divulge more story, because, if you are like me, I do not want to "know the show before I see it." I will say that this young man was not as concerned for his own life as he was for others. He does not speak in detail about the horrific behavior of the Nazis as many other books do, (not to say that the truth should be hidden). This is a book of hardships but not gore. I have read at least fifty personal survivor accounts of the Holocaust, because I am a Jew in spirit. I am particular about the honesty in the books that I read. The writer of this book was not overly flowery; but on the contrary, with few words, he made you feel that you were there. In my view, he is a very good writer. This book was pleasant and inspiring reading for me. Larry

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly compelling read. I literaly could'nt put it down., August 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dentist of Auschwitz: A Memoir (Hardcover)

One of the best books I've read in years, I started it to kill time until the family returned from shopping, with every intention of spending the remainder of the day at the lake enjoying the magnificent 76 degree sunny saturday.

However it hooked me and I ended up sitting in my study well into the evening until I'd finished it. The authors prose is truly compelling, he breathes life into the pages of this book, his timing is impecable, the readers interest never falters.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Survivor's Story, July 23, 2001

By 

Stephen M. Zielinski (Depew, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Dentist of Auschwitz: A Memoir (Hardcover)

In Holocaust literature, this testimony is far and above one of the best I've read. The author's desire to preserve his family at all costs is gripping, yet the finality of their humanity is inevitable. One shocking exposure was the author's experience with ss-sargeant Otto Moll, one of the Holocaust's bloodiest executioners. His kindness portrayed here is in direct contrast to the testimony of Filip Muller, in "Eyewitness Auschwitz", another must read for the serious student of history. I would recommend this book for its human interest value.