Customer Reviews

The Survivor: An Anatomy of Life in the Death Camps

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A close and penetrating look at how the survivors of the Nazi and Stalinist death camps came through such horror in human ways. Des Pres explodes the myths about the Jews going to their deaths "like sheep;" of survivors saving their own lives by becoming amoral; of those who lived suffering from "survivor's guilt." Rather, says Des Pres, survivors felt an obligation to the dead to bear witness; survivors lived by maintaining their moral sensibilities and by cooperating with one another and sharing in each other's tribulations and successes; to survive in the conditions of extremity found in the death camps was, in itself, an act of resistance. Humans are social by nature of their very biology, says Des Pres, and this is perhaps our main hope in this century. His depiction of survivor as "hero" is a welcome contrast to the numerous dead heroes of Western literature -- and a necessary one in this century of atrocities. Des Pres also wrote _Praises and Dispraises: Poetry and Politics, the 20th Century_ and _Writing Into the World: Essays 1973-1987_ -- both important books about the social and political role of the poet (and other writers). It's unfortunate that these two volumes are currently out of print.

I have never read a more important or more accurate account of life in a concentration camp. Des Pres gives a new and important meaning to the word 'courage.' Des Pres' analysis of courage provides the lie to the depiction of Jews succumbing like sheep to the Nazi horror. He clearly demonstrates the courage it took to stay alive, to bear witness, to resist. Furthermore, he provides a base for understanding the meaning of the courage it took for Jews to survive 1,000 years of Christian efforts to debase Jews in their European diaspora- the courage to survive and live as Jews. I am only sorry that I did not discover this book earlier in my life.

Few historians have the stomach to tackle an in-depth historical survey of the Nazi Holocaust. Even fewer have the depth and intelligence to look deep into its many figures and faces to create a work of literature which deals with the ontological essence of humankind. Such an effort would seem like an unreachable and naive goal if it weren't so beautifully examined in Des Pres' book, in which he uses a wealth of haunting voices from the Holocaust to introduce his readers to a new chapter of the human spirit: the Survivor.

I read this book many years ago, when it was newly published. It still resonates in my memory as the most acute, most gripping, most honest and above all most honorable account of why human beings survived the Holocaust and the Gulags. It is my belief that this gentleman, who was an English professor, not a historian, did more to change what I have always thought were negative, hurtful and incorrect ideas ---see Bruno Bettleheim et al ---of what constitutes a survivor. He also makes it clear that all the survivors did not survivors. An immense accomplishment.

Granted, the book was most interesting up to about 85% of it until the author's explanation of WHY, progressed into some disasterous baboon theory. It is understandable that it is very difficult to consider the existence of God after such a horrific decade. It does not give the author an entitlement to this broad analysis of a "scream theory", or "the biosocial roots of human existence" and better yet that "behavior specific to man exists within a continuum of life-activities so fundamental and essential to existence that, in one form or another, they may be found throughout the biological realm" or to "extopulate a human biogrammer from the activities of PRIMATES ??????????" And lets not forget the reunion of Darwin with genetics creating some unified theory. Dear Jesus, speak to this man if hopefully he has ears to hear. Otherwise, I couldn't put the book down.

This is a good book and very interesting. Also, very heart breaking. It's stories of the people under Hitler and Stalin and what they went through during the holocaust with direct quotes from survivors. This book was enlightening to say the least. For instance, it never occurred to me that people would be wallowing in their own urine and exrement and the horror that involved. Going potty in your cooking utensils because if you dared to try to go to the latrine, you were severely punished or killed. Making them drink out of toilets that were unflushed, etc. These psychopaths that ran the Gestapo, etc. were so cruel that I sometimes had to put the book down and just think about what I had just read. I never thought about them having to go to the bathroom while riding in the cattle cars, but they had to and then had to wallow in theirs and everyone else vomit, excrement and urine. These are just a couple of the horrors you read about in this book. The book also made me really think about what the Christians in the near future are going to go through when the mark of the beast goes out, since they cannot take the mark. (The powers that be are already manufacturing and working on a chip that goes into everyone's hand). But that's another subject. This book is worth the money.

Length:: 0:44 Mins

Nothing really new or groundbreaking. The author mostly seems to be quoting other holocaust sources and making comments about them. He doesn't seem to present any material he himself has gathered. It would seem more beneficial to just hunt down the books the author is quoting (Weinstock, Kessel, etc.) and read them instead.