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Auschwitz-Birkenau is the site of the largest mass murder in human history. Yet its story is not fully known. In Auschwitz, Laurence Rees reveals new insights from more than 100 original interviews with Auschwitz survivors and Nazi perpetrators who speak on the record for the first time. Their testimonies provide a portrait of the inner workings of the camp in unrivalled detail-from the techniques of mass murder, to the politics and gossip mill that turned between guards and prisoners, to the on-camp brothel in which the lines between those guards and prisoners became surprisingly blurred. Rees examines the strategic decisions that led the Nazi leadership to prescribe Auschwitz as its primary site for the extinction of Europe's Jews-their "Final Solution." He concludes that many of the horrors that were perpetrated in Auschwitz were driven not just by ideological inevitability but as a "practical" response to a war in the East that had begun to go wrong for Germany. A terrible immoral pragmatism characterizes many of the decisions that determined what happened at Auschwitz. Thus the story of the camp becomes a morality tale, too, in which evil is shown to proceed in a series of deft, almost noiseless incremental steps until it produces the overwhelming horror of the industrial scale slaughter that was inflicted in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Insights gleaned from more than one hundred original interviews shed new light on history's most famous death camp, with the testimonies of survivors providing a detailed and chilling portrait of the camp's inner workings, in a companion volume to the PBS documentary.… (mais)
Pretty good book about the Holocaust focusing mainly on Auschwitz that also covers a lot of rest of the so-called Final Solution too; the motivations, personnel, bureaucracy, logistics. etc. The best aspect is the mundanity of it all except for the victims. Most people like you and me, when asked say "I'd never do a thing like that," or I'd resist." Bullshit! Replace the Jew, for which you might not have a great hatred for, by Muslim, or Gay, African-American or Asian, Transgender...you get what I mean. What if your government showed up tomorrow and said: "We want you to take care of these people in resettlement camps," or "How about a nice paying job in the administration, say paying twice what your getting now, with healthcare." Or how about as they are just rounding up these folks or as they truck/bus them by your house. You'd be out in the street throwing rocks, screaming and shouting with a rake at the perpetrators even if they told you they knew where you lived or there was plenty of room for you too, or your kids. Right. Even worse, when they put up those "We're Hiring" notices at three times what your making at WalMart? You'd never do it. Or a cushy executive/manager job in "logistics" or "engineering," where you never have to see a gun, or worse; particularly if your other choice was going to Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Korea, or the Republic of Niger or Mexico. You'd be right there at the job fair, maybe I would too. That's the real scary part. Both sides of the fence were just ordinary people in a civilized modern country, not some madmen.
Look in the mirror tomorrow and seriously ask the question. It'll creep you out.
The history of the development of Auschqitz-Birkenau is one filled with horror, secrets, and often confusion, but this book does an admirable job of exploring many of the topics that get glossed over. I was very impressed particularly with the effort that the author made to examine the mindsets of many of the Nazy leaders who had direct influence over Jewish policy and the development of the death camps, as well as discusses the stories of lesser SS members who were involved in the everyday running of the camps. Much of this type of psychological speculation is just that - speculation - even though we do have many interviews, documents, and memoirs to work with, but by asking these questions we may be able to answer some of the large social questions that surround that time period, and come to realizations about why these events happenned. ( )
Loved this book. Lots of really detailed information on the history of Auschwitz and the Nazis who ran it. Also dealt briefly at the end what life was like for some of the prisoners who either escaped or who were liberated. All presented in an engaging and entertaining way by Mr Rees. Well done! ( )
Excellent tome on The Final Solution, focusing (of course) on Auschwitz, the foremost concentration camp in The Third Reich, if one counts by the number of dead. Rees has researched the subject for many years, and even facts from the 21st century are included here. Apart from the sheer chronological dealings, Rees exemplifies, factualises and explains everything in lay-person terms, going to great extent to bring out the humanity of it all, i.e. how humans are at their worst and best in a variety of ways, before, during and after WWII. A must-read, as a brilliant accommodation to the likewise brilliant BBC TV series. ( )
[...]. Leurs souvenirs n'ont pas de prix. Ils me pardonneront, je l'espère, de les remercier collectivement ici : leurs noms, comme leurs aperçus, figurent déjà ailleurs dans ce livre.
Auschwitz-Birkenau is the site of the largest mass murder in human history. Yet its story is not fully known. In Auschwitz, Laurence Rees reveals new insights from more than 100 original interviews with Auschwitz survivors and Nazi perpetrators who speak on the record for the first time. Their testimonies provide a portrait of the inner workings of the camp in unrivalled detail-from the techniques of mass murder, to the politics and gossip mill that turned between guards and prisoners, to the on-camp brothel in which the lines between those guards and prisoners became surprisingly blurred. Rees examines the strategic decisions that led the Nazi leadership to prescribe Auschwitz as its primary site for the extinction of Europe's Jews-their "Final Solution." He concludes that many of the horrors that were perpetrated in Auschwitz were driven not just by ideological inevitability but as a "practical" response to a war in the East that had begun to go wrong for Germany. A terrible immoral pragmatism characterizes many of the decisions that determined what happened at Auschwitz. Thus the story of the camp becomes a morality tale, too, in which evil is shown to proceed in a series of deft, almost noiseless incremental steps until it produces the overwhelming horror of the industrial scale slaughter that was inflicted in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Insights gleaned from more than one hundred original interviews shed new light on history's most famous death camp, with the testimonies of survivors providing a detailed and chilling portrait of the camp's inner workings, in a companion volume to the PBS documentary.
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Look in the mirror tomorrow and seriously ask the question. It'll creep you out.
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