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harridansstew's review against another edition
5.0
This blew me away. One of the best books I’ve read about the holocaust.
prolocomotives's review against another edition
4.0
extremely engaging! i can’t believe this exists and i am alive and can read it
riseclare's review against another edition
5.0
This may be the best book I have read on the subject. She brings the characters to life. As she tells each person's story- you do not know what their fate will be. Some disappear and we never know, some are killed and some miraculously make it through the war. This book shares so many people's different experiences- it is both heartbreaking and astounding. It is a must read if you want to know the ins and outs of how they survived (or didn't) camp life during this horrific period. Almost unbelievable how people were treated worse than rats!
bella_lettore's review against another edition
4.0
This was a great book. I would recommend this to anyone.
nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition
5.0
this collection of vignettes is at the same time very stark and very rich; Sara Nomberg-Przytk tells the stories of Auschwitz simply, yet beautifully. this is a must read for anyone learning about the Holocaust — she offers such valuable insight into suffering and redemption.
jamsreadsbooks's review
5.0
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“We all crouched in our bunks, frightened, helpless in the face of the mass murder that was to take place before our very eyes. No one cried out, nobody wept.”
Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land is a powerful collection of vignettes that detail the horrible conditions of concentration camps during the Holocaust. Nomberg-Przytyk recounts her days working as a clerk in the Auschwitz hospital under the command of the infamous Josef Mengele. Each of the stories in the collection are a mix of Nomberg-Przytyk’s experiences and some stories told to her by her fellow prisoners. Readers are given a disturbingly intimate look into what daily camp life was like before, during, and at the end of the war.
I especially loved the short story format for the purposes of recounting history because it provides a multifaceted view of the Holocaust. Nomberg-Przytyk’s skill at story telling makes these stories feel like fiction, which is what makes the realities of the Holocaust that much more horrifying. It honestly borders on being so inhumane it’s unbelievable and it becomes difficult to determine what parts of the stories are fact and which parts are fiction, an issue for a non-fiction history book. Despite that this is still one of the most important books I had ever read on the subject and it’s one I can never forget.
Memoirs are one of the most important primary sources that we have for understanding and remembering the Holocaust and the gravity of it’s impact on humanity. The writing is clear and the language is simple, it is extremely easy to pick up and follow along with, something that I’ve had an issue with while reading other memoirs. Overall, for those interesting in learning more about the Holocaust or just want to feel awful in general then I highly recommend this book. It’s eye opening and jarring but is a sobering reminder of the depths of human depravity.
“We all crouched in our bunks, frightened, helpless in the face of the mass murder that was to take place before our very eyes. No one cried out, nobody wept.”
Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land is a powerful collection of vignettes that detail the horrible conditions of concentration camps during the Holocaust. Nomberg-Przytyk recounts her days working as a clerk in the Auschwitz hospital under the command of the infamous Josef Mengele. Each of the stories in the collection are a mix of Nomberg-Przytyk’s experiences and some stories told to her by her fellow prisoners. Readers are given a disturbingly intimate look into what daily camp life was like before, during, and at the end of the war.
I especially loved the short story format for the purposes of recounting history because it provides a multifaceted view of the Holocaust. Nomberg-Przytyk’s skill at story telling makes these stories feel like fiction, which is what makes the realities of the Holocaust that much more horrifying. It honestly borders on being so inhumane it’s unbelievable and it becomes difficult to determine what parts of the stories are fact and which parts are fiction, an issue for a non-fiction history book. Despite that this is still one of the most important books I had ever read on the subject and it’s one I can never forget.
Memoirs are one of the most important primary sources that we have for understanding and remembering the Holocaust and the gravity of it’s impact on humanity. The writing is clear and the language is simple, it is extremely easy to pick up and follow along with, something that I’ve had an issue with while reading other memoirs. Overall, for those interesting in learning more about the Holocaust or just want to feel awful in general then I highly recommend this book. It’s eye opening and jarring but is a sobering reminder of the depths of human depravity.
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