Shivitti: A Vision [Hardcover]

Ka-Tzetnik 135633 (Author), Eliyah Nike De-Nur (Translator), Lisa Herman (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1989

Though the author survived two years in Auschwitz, the memories of the horrors he experienced gripped him mercilessly for years until he found relief through psychotherapy. This book is the author's unforgettable memoir of that experience.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ka-Tzetnik 135633 ( House of Dolls ) is the pen name of Yehiel De-Nur, a pseudonym derived from the tattoo branded on his arm in Auschwitz. In an unusual footnote to the large body of Holocaust literature, the Israeli author describes the LSD treatments he underwent in 1976 under the supervision of a Dutch psychiatrist and specialist in the so-called Concentration Camp Syndrome. The hallucinogen incongruously prettifies some memories (in his European heder "our rabbi's sidecurls are a bouncing phosphorescence, while we little ones are translucent, ethereal, floating"). But, for the most part, the drug allows De-Nur to combat his demons as it intensifies his recollection of grotesqueries that were the order of the day in Auschwitz, the "planet of death." From the fragmented, impressionistic account emerge trenchant images of martyrs: De-Nur's naked mother en route to the gas chamber; his sister branded between her breasts with the words "field whore"; a Dutch Jew covered in marmalade by Nazis and bitten to death in mass frenzy by fellow prisoners.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

No collection of World War II titles would be complete without a volume on the Holocaust. Unlike many such books, this 1989 remembrance focuses on the lasting psychological effects of the experience of the death camps. Though the author survived two years in Auschwitz, his torment hardly ended with the liberation. The memories of the horrors he experienced gripped him mercilessly for years until he found relief through psychotherapy.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 135 pages
• Publisher: Harper & Row; 1st edition (December 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062508709
• ISBN-13: 978-0062508706
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,501,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars haunting good book, June 27, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shivitti: A Vision (Hardcover)

This book is not for the faint hearted or for the person whio is interested in history. The premise of the book is that the author relives his Aschiwitz experence through LSD treatment by a psychogist. Some things he remembers are likley to have happened to him, and some are a nightmare of things he cannot escape. If you want to read any of this authors books you need to have a strong stomach, It is a very rewarding and powerfull book if you are up for it

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Auschwitz Viewed from a Distance, September 12, 2010

By 

Sheila H. Mclaren "Sheila McLaren" (Tasmania, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Shivitti: A Vision (Gateways Consciousness Classics) (Paperback)

For 30 years after his release from Auschwitz death camp, Yehiel De-Nur suffered nightmares but their specific content eluded him. His worst memories escaped him. He wrote books during this period, always signing them with the number tattooed on his left arm (Ka-Tzetnik 135633) at Auschwitz. Ka-Tzet are the initials K.Z., standing for the German "Konzentration Zenter" (Concentration Camp), and every prisoner was known as "Ka-Tzetnik Number so-and-so." Yehiel De-Nur's suffering was so severe during those 30 years that he eventually allowed himself to be persuaded to undergo therapy with LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) at the hands of a Dutch Professor skilled and experienced in the use of this powerful drug. The treatments were mentally and emotionally agonizing; the hallucinations they produced need to be read to be believed and understood - and one needs mental and emotional strength to continue with the reading. After a number of treatments, Yehiel De-Nur saw and remembered what his mind had allowed him to forget since Auschwitz. This is harrowing for the reader, and the memory for Mr De-Nur causes him such suffering that he wonders for a long time afterwards about the wisdom of forcing oneself to recall what the mind kindly allows one to forget. This book is a translation from the Hebrew, one of the translators being Eliyah Nike De-Nur, the writer's wife who gave him constant, loving support. The reader is left with the stark horror of hallucinations and memories wide awake within her, and a strong reminder of the evil that human beings can, and do, perpetrate upon one another. To be read with an open mind and a strong heart. Sheila McLaren.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a witness to the greatest atrocity in history, January 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Shivitti: A Vision (Gateways Consciousness Classics) (Paperback)

This book is a great insight into the personality of the author Yehiel Dinur a.k.a Katzetik. The book stands on its own as a powerful recording of the events that took place in the life of the author during the holocaust. As with all of Katzetnik's books the events are heart wrentching. Particulary worth recalling in this book is when he for the first time goes to a beach in Europe during his medical treatment of the 1970s and exposes his arm that was tatooed in Aushwitz with his inmate number 135633. The scene is chilling and unforgetable. The premise of the use of LSD to come to terms with his lifelong nighmares about his experiences of the holocaust is secondary except for the fact that it is through this means that the author comes to terms with his pain caused by the cruel germans and their helpers. Overall, this book is an important read and is even more stunning if you read Katzetnik's other books. Katzetmik is one of the most powerful and important authors on the subject of the holocaust and his books are a must read for everyone lest the world forget what happened.