The Tenth Circle of Hell: A Memoir of Life in the Death Camps of Bosnia (A New Republic Book) [Hardcover]

Rezak Hukanovic (Author), Ammiel Alcalay (Editor), Colleen London (Translator), Midhat Ridjanovic (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1996 | Series: A New Republic Book

A Bosnian journalist describes his experiences as a prisoner in a Serbian death camp, chronicling the crimes against humanity that he witnessed and the terror, torture, and murder to which he, friends, colleagues, and neighbors were subjected. 20,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In The Tenth Circle of Hell, Rezak Hukanovic takes us inside the Bosnian prison camps to document the hell of war in the former Yugoslavia. Although he writes in the third person, Hukanovic's knowledge of the camps is firsthand; a radio announcer and journalist, he was taken from his home at gunpoint and placed in the Omarska and Manjaca camps, places where people were beaten solely because of their ethnic background. What's so chilling about this book is not only the brutality of the camps, but also that such a situation occurred so very recently.

From Publishers Weekly

The horrors undergone by narrator Djemo (actually journalist Hukanovic, who inexplicably chooses to write in the third person here), a Muslim resident of Prijedor, in the death camps of Omarska and Manjaca, where Serbians carried out part of their "ethnic cleansing" of Bosnia, make for harrowing reading. But the sadism was the more unbearable for the victims, he writes, because it came at the hands of those they knew, people with whom they had worked and played soccer, drunk at neighborhood bars and in wedding parties. Even more depressing to Hukanovic was the realization that the torturers and murderers enjoyed their work. After almost a year, Hukanovic was released, went to Norway and now is headquartered in Germany. He sums up his experiences thus: "Oh Lord, may you never forgive them!"
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (October 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465084087
• ISBN-13: 978-0465084081
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,233,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Holocaust of the '90s, April 25, 2005

By 

Justin Summers "music guru (HA!)" (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tenth Circle of Hell: A Memoir of Life in the Death Camps of Bosnia (A New Republic Book) (Hardcover)

I am no learned professional. I am no literary master. I am an average guy, with average intelligence, average imagination - just an average joe. I have however taken an interest in the history of humanity's crimes against itself and it fills me with dread.

And so I read this book. If anyone ever wondered if humanity has learnt its lessons from the horrors of WW1 and WW2, then they are sorely mistaken. We haven't even learnt from the brutalities of the dark ages yet. The crimes committed against completely innocent people by these Serb monsters draw back to the times of Ivan the Terrible and his Oprichnia. It is barbaric and horrific to its most base level. The sufferings of these innocent people are like nothing you would witness from the most vile horror movie - in fact, many of these Serb paramilitaries (ie average joes with guns, imaginations and complete & total immunity from justice) waltzed around like the Rambos and Terminators of our film world.

Back to the book. Mr Hukanovic's story tells of a civilian, caught up in onslaught of enemy forces, captured and taken to concentration camps to 'suffer their fate'. The fact this hero to humanity survived when his family and friends were butchered is a testament to his strength. I wonder if many other people would have the strength to relive their nightmares and put their stories to print. I hope for humanity's sake, they can.

Now there is a school of thought that suggests that personal memoirs can be tainted by the writers emotions, could be exaggerated and distorted. And when witness to such horrors, one could see how easily someone could be emotive on this subject. However, Rezak, as much as he can, keeps his levelheadedness thoughout this book. He doesn't stray into emotive hyperbole, he doesn't try to stir the heart strings, he just tells it how it was. The fantastic thing is that unlike most memoirists, he describes each detail as it occured. Similar to 'Man is Wolf to Man' by Joseph Bardach, he explains it matter of factly. Obviously, there will be emotion, there has to be, but it is tempered with excellence by his journalistic reporting intuition.

Rezak Hukanovic lived through the most horrific torture any human being could live through. He has written a book so shattering to humanity that it must be read, it must be consumed by EVERYBODY.

These events, if we do not learn from them, will happen again. And don't give me this rubbish that 'certain' ethnicities are 'fated' to brutalise each other. That is just an excuse for us to turn a blind eye. Please, let us not repeat the ineptitude of the UN security forces in Bosnia, please let us not give up repairing Iraq and Afghanistan after our 'intrusions'.

Like respondants have said before, we should not turn our back on the suffering of innocents. Our governments SHOULD be doing something valid and worthwhile, but they must tell us so. If we have to send troops to foreign nations for humanitarian reasons, to stop genocidal murder, then tell us so. Humanity cannot stand idley by while murderous governments stir up their populations with unbridled hatred of their neighbours.

Mr Hukanovic is a hero. Let his book be never forgotten. Let the slaughter of Bosnia never be forgotton. I do not care what religion anyone adhere's to, every SINGLE human being has a right NOT to be subjected to these horrors.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book about Heroes:, July 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tenth Circle of Hell: A Memoir of Life in the Death Camps of Bosnia (A New Republic Book) (Hardcover)

I would urge others to read this short yet insightful book.

The shorter books on the Balkans conflicts such as Slavenka Drakulic's "The Balkans Express" or even books aimed towards pre-teens such as Eric Black's book on Bosnia are very helpful in seeking and obtaining an understanding of the region.

But Rezak Hukanovic's book is more than that, it helps one understand the very evils present that was in the Bosnian War, even if in this case, it is mainly that of the prison camps. As he writes in the closing part of the book, after Djemo, the subject of the book (and Rezak himself I believe) finally is freed as a prisoner and makes it back to his hometown with his family "He took a deep breath, wiped the tears from his cheek, raised his head, and clinching his hands in supplication, cried out: `Lord, may you never forgive them!'" We come to feel a lot for Djemo and his fellow prisoners, people we seemingly can empathize with, coming from such backgrounds as being soccer players, singers, businessmen, hairdressers, not criminal backgrounds, not even necessarily being involved in politics either, but being the victim of prejudices and that of the horrible "ethnic cleansing."

Hukanovic's book, is not only cross collaborated by other accounts and descriptions of these camps such as is found in likewise important books on the Balkans such as Ed Vulliamy's "Seasons in Hell: Understanding Bosnia's War," "Love Thy Neighbor" by Peter Maas and from Court TV's programming and websites, it is also backed up with trials that have taken place in the International Tribunal on War Crimes in Yugoslavia.

Mr. Rezak Hukanovic's account of the concentration "death" camps of Omarska and to a lesser extent Manjaca compare to other accounts of oppressive prison systems such as described in Armando Valladares' "Against All Hope", where he was a prisoner in Cuba for over 20 years under Fidel Castro, I am sure there are others too.

Yes, once again, the book does talk about the indomitable human spirit, but likewise, it is about common men and their families. It is a book about heroes!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shocking, sickening, and heart-wrenching!, September 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Tenth Circle of Hell: A Memoir of Life in the Death Camps of Bosnia (A New Republic Book) (Hardcover)

I have read books about the holocaust of the Jews and been totally amazed at the depravity of man. However, this book renewed the incredulity which I felt: Bosnians suffered fates equally as horrifying as the Jews in WWII. No one can read this book and not be alarmed at the fact that these concentration camps existed in 1992-1995. One is utterly floored by the atrocities committed against Bosnian Muslims. Not for the faint of heart, this book tells it all.