In time for the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Rees has penned a devastating and surprising account of the most infamous death camp the world has ever known.
How reluctantly I open such a title! Reading how all the parts came together to carry out the (re)solution of one mad man and his accomplices and thugs, it is hard to shrug off despair at man's capacity for self delusion (that he is equal to god).
I felt so torn on Monday when I saw this week's selection. My first reaction was to not read it. Shouldn't we refuse to have anything to do with this whole nightmare? Luckily, I didn't delete it becaue this morning (Tuesday) I decided that the only way to avoid such horrors is to understand what caused them.
I just read the first two excerpts and think they are very well written. Whether I will want to read the whole book remains to be seen. It is not easy reading by any means.
I thought the name of the Nazi party leader in this book was spelled Rudolf Hess, not Hoss as in the book preview. Maybe Hoss is a German spelling of Hess.
I initially thought the exact same thing, but after checking a few sources, such as the following "Rudolph Hoss is a different person than the more famous Nazi Rudolph Hess, who was fourth in command of the Nazis behind Hitler, Himmler, and Goering" http://remembranceandhope.freeservers.com/catalog.html
I've seen Hoss also spelled Hoess and Hoss (with two dots above o = unlaut)
Their pictures look different too:
Hoss http://www.verzet.org/content/view/407/32/
Today's read reminded me of visiting Dachau over 35 years ago -- it had been turned into a museum. School children came in great numbers via bus to view it. One eerie matter concerned the large b/w (high up on walls) photographs of Nazi leaders. Their faces had all been scratched out, as if each could be "Everyman." Another room was a wall of books that had been banned. A convent of Carmelites was based there, praying 24 hours for expiation. Being wildflower/nature lovers, we were struck by the tansies growing in the outer yard; this plant in colonial New England signified death.
Not far away, Hitler's Eagle Nest could also be viewed. A small cafe there served food, all profits going to UNICEF. We balked over going there -- just the idea of tea & sandwiches in such a place was creepy.
I, too, visited Daucha about 30 years ago as a teenager. I have absolutely no memory of the place itself, but have vivid memories of my feelings at being there . . . horror, sadness, and yet a very peaceful feeling, as if I were in a church. I had read the story of Anne Frank, and I remember thinking about her a lot, and offering up a prayer for the soul of Anne and others like her.
With feelings similar to what this book causes, I wondered why they didn't just bulldoze the place under, but I also felt it was important to honor the people who died there by keeping the place as it was so people could remember.
I was at Dachau in May of this year with my husband and son. I have always been interested in the attrocities of the holocaust because it seems so unreal that so many people could so blindly and calously turn their backs to the suffering of others. Being at Dachau was incredibly eery and yet calm at the same time. I felt my heart in my throat from my first step into the camp through the gate, "Arbeit macht frei." However, for me, the most horrifying moment was when I discovered the name of one of my family members on a roll call log that was left behind. I would like to continue to learn more now that I have an extremely personal tie to such a horrific event. However, I think the more important matter is that we are all family. The entire human race is simply one family and yet we continue to kill each other in countries all around the world. When will we ever learn?
The perpetrators of the Holocaust WERE everyman. We need to find the humility to admit that under the right circumstances, any of us could be capable of equally heinous behaviour.
I think this book is extremely important in illustrating just how ordinary evil really is. It's not "other"..... it's us, and we need to be constantly vigilant to not allow it's cancer into our own lives, communities and society.
Thank you for this selection, Suzanne. I must admit that I don't read most of them....just too busy. But I couldn't ignore this one and intend to read the entire book.
Although I have not visited Auschwitz, I did visit Mathausen in Austria which was a "working death camp" - they worked the prisoners until they died. I am not trying to belittle what Dachu is or was, but it was Hitler's "show" camp - the camp he would use to show other countries an example of Prison camps in his territories. The prisoners there were treated well in comparison. Mathausen was the most oppressive soil I have ever stepped foot on. They put you inside the gas chambers and close the doors, to give you an idea of what it was like. After seeing the film at the end I left in tears. If people want to not forget, and learn about what really happened, visit a death camp. It is much much worse than Dachu.
The worst part about it is most of the older Austrian people deny that it ever happened. They still believe that it was a big Hollywood movie stunt put on by Americans to make them look evil. We can only hope the younger generation in all parts of the world has learned from all of this.
This kind of thing still goes on today. Everybody says we should never forget, but the same type of thing's happened in Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur, and it will continue. god doesn't intervene in such atrocities, so I don't know how superior he/she is ... according to the bible we were made in his likeness. If you examine god's acts in the old testament, I'd say that's pretty accurate.
I am going to read this book. Not because it is something to be remembered. But because, every so often, the author presents a statement that sounds oh so very rational. I find myself thinking that if I accepted that one statement as not only rational but true would I not accept the next. And the next.
It is horrible to think of such a collaborative,orchestration of evil occuring in our lifetime:(It is estimated that some two million World WarII vets are still alive in this country).To have a list of names and deeds as well as the begining of the seeds of these ideas of hatred and mass manipulation is invaluable. NEVER AGAIN.Mr Rees does an eccellent job in pre senting the facts and the climate of post WWI Germany. Although we have all probably heard and read this all before, it is written so consisely and simply as to completely hold one's attention. I was unable to stop reading the excerpts and could not help but to think what all of this means ( The brutallty and injustices of the past) to the future of mankind.Thank you for this selection.
As hard as it is to read books like this, it's so important for us to do so to be reminded that things like this can, and do, happen and it's not just fanatics that are capable of unspeakable cruelty. Just this week I received a review of a book on the situation in Poland AFTER the liberation. It's called FEAR: Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz by Jan Gross. The book is reviewed by Elie Wiesel on Washington Post's website (under Arts - books) and it explains the cruelty perpetrated on the Jews who, surviving the war, returned home poor, sick, orphaned and were still subject to brutality from the Polish people who seemed disgusted that any Jews survived. Just reading the review was chilling and Wiesel himself tells that reading the book:
"You read it breathlessly, all human reason telling you it can't be so ... Bitterness, envy, murderous rage: Everything that is low, primitive, vile and ugly in the human animal is laid bare and analyzed on these pages. Reading this book -- repugnant and revolting as it can be -- one is seized by an impulse to close it and say: No. It is not possible for so many human beings to have loosed their savage hounds on fellow human beings -- men, women, children, all of them innocent and defenseless in a place that was just waking from a long nightmare."
We must not give in to our desire to close the book or our eyes, to that which is abhorrent and makes us uncomfortable. We need to read books like these and watch movies that expose hate and intolerance perpetrated by "any man (or woman)" on those who are different, weaker, and without power. Closing our eyes won't make it stop. Only by studying the past can we try to make changes for the future. Thanks for a difficult but important selection Suzanne.
A couple of years ago, I read an article (I don't remember the source though) that reported 50% of high school students don't know what the Holocaust is and some thought that it occurred during the 17th century. I couldn't believe it! Very scary.
Does any one know of a good book about the camps we had here in the US?
If any one goes to Washington D.C., I highly recommend the Holocaust Museum.
