Waubonsee Community College

Auschwitz, true tales from a grotesque land, Sara Nomberg-Przytyk ; translated by Roslyn Hirsch ; edited by Eli Pfefferkorn and David H. Hirsch

eng

Includes bibliographical references

autobiography

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

no index present

non fiction

Auschwitz

bibliography

11091450

Sara Nomberg-Przytyk ; translated by Roslyn Hirsch ; edited by Eli Pfefferkorn and David H. Hirsch

true tales from a grotesque land

"From the moment I got to Auschwitz I was completely detached. I disconnected my heart and intellect in an act of self-defense, despair, and hopelessness." With these words Sara Nomberg-Przytyk begins this painful and compelling account of her experiences while imprisoned for two years in the infamous death camp. Writing twenty years after her liberation, she recreates the events of a dark past which, in her own words, would have driven her mad had she tried to relive it sooner. But while she records unimaginable atrocities, she also richly describes the human compassion that stubbornly survived despite the backdrop of camp depersonalization and imminent extermination. Commemorative in spirit and artistic in form, Auschwitz convincingly portrays the paradoxes of human nature in extreme circumstances. With consummate understatement Nomberg-Przytyk describes the behavior of concentration camp inmates as she relentlessly and pitilessly examines her own motives and feelings. In this world unmitigated cruelty coexisted with nobility, rapacity with self-sacrifice, indifference with selfless compassion. This book offers a chilling view of the human drama that existed in Auschwitz. From her portraits of camp personalities, an extraordinary and horrifying profile emerges of Dr. Josef Mengele, whose medical experiments resulted in the slaughter of nearly half a million Jews. Nomberg-Przytyk's job as an attendant in Mengle's hospital allowed her to observe this Angel of Death firsthand and to provide us with the most complete description to date of his monstrous activities. The original Polish manuscript was discovered by Eli Pfefferkorn in 1980 in the Yad Vashem Archive in Jerusalem. Not knowing the fate of the journal's author, Pfefferkorn spent two years searching and finally located Nomberg-Przytyk in Canada. Subsequent interviews revealed the history of the manuscript, the author's background, and brought the journal into perspective

Alienation -- Exchange -- New arrivals -- Without pity -- Death of the Zugang -- Salvation -- The roar of the beast -- The infirmary -- What kind of a person was Orli Reichert? -- The fight for Masha's life -- A plate of soup -- Erika's red triangle -- A peculiar roll call -- The block of death -- Morituri te salutant -- Marie and Odette -- Esther's first born -- Old words- new meanings -- Children -- A living torch -- The little gypsy -- Taut as a string -- The extermination of the midgets -- Natasha's triumph -- The price of life -- The lovers of Auschwitz -- The dance of the rabbis -- Revenge of a dancer -- The verdict -- Friendly meetings -- Old women -- Ilya Ehrenburg addresses us -- The new year's celebration -- The bewitched sleigh -- The camp blanket -- In pursuit of life -- The plagues of Egypt -- Without the escorts -- The first days of freedom -- The road back