Customer Reviews

We Were In Auschwitz

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I say worst not because it was poorly written or translated but because the descriptions of the events and the people are *almost* too horrible to believe. At times I was too sickened to continue reading but I desired to know how they survived the sights, the smells, the screams, the smoke. When I finished the book, I found inspiration-- if anyone could survive Auschwitz, then the small trivial problems that we sometimes let control our lives can be overcome. The book, unfortunately, ends abruptly as if the authors in recounting these horrible memories could stand them no more. I would have liked to have read about their liberation and their lives after the war, but I thank them for having the courage and the strength to give us their account of this inhuman history.

Survivors did not triumph, they were just lucky or resourceful... Since there is no description at this time for this book, let me add one. In 1945, three Polish survivors of Auschwitz (non-Jewish political prisoners) wrote their memories. These are graphic, unsparing memories that are fresh, since they were written right after liberation. They honestly discuss the inhumane, unspeakable conditions of starvation and daily deaths, and even murders among prisoners (kapos). This is the first time this book has ever been translated into English. in 1951, Tadeusz Borowski (#119198) previously authored a collection of memories in "This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman". He then committed suicide. This is an essential addition to anyone interested in Holocaust studies, but be warned that it is devastating. By the way, Janusz Nel Siedlecki was Number 6643, and Krystyn Olszewski was Number 7587.

The reviewers of this book have done a masterful job. However, the paragraph on p.141 beginning, "We work beneath the earth and above it, under a roof and in the rain, with spade, the pickaxe and the crowbar." ... and ending with "Antiquity--the conspiracy of free men against slaves!" deserves reading and rereading, after which the next six paragraphs should be read slowly and thoughtfully.

I have read a decent amount of literature related to the Holocaust. Each book has been difficult, in its own right, to finish. However, an observation I realized with this particular book was that it is, in one word, choppy. The book was written by three different survivors of the Holocaust. Each of their stories well deserves to be read. However, the way it was formulated into this book makes it not flow. Each chapter has a different style of writing to it, since it was written by one of the three authors. Hence, that aspect made this book more difficult to get through. Once I got used to one man's style of writing, the next chapter was someone else's. I am not saying this is a bad book. On the contrare: what was written deserves to be read. However, this is not one book that you can just easily read to pass time. It needs to be sat down with and read carefully.

This book voices a strong opinion that I disagree with completely. It seems to exclaim that good cannot survive where evil is so overwhelming. There were, according to these survivors, no heroes at Auschwitz; those who did not die became "totally familiar with the inexplicable and the abnormal" and "learned to live on intimate terms with the crematoria." This book is not for those who choose to see survival in Auschwitz as a triumph of the human spirit. Anyone who claims that there were no heros of this tragedy has not read "Facing the Lion: Memoirs of a Young Girl in Nazi Germany", in my opinion a much better written book and FAR more uplifting.