A Documentary Novel
Dieter SchlesakJohn Hargraves
(translator)
Picador; Reprint edition
January 31, 2012 / ISBN 1250002370
Nonfiction Documentary
Amazon
Reviewed
by Nicole Merritt
What an amazing and enlightening book! There are so many books
on the horrors of Auschwitz, but this one far exceeds anyone's expectation
or anticipated interest in this piece of history.
Being the daughter of Russian immigrants, I am familiar with stories
of trial and tribulation of European life even though I am living
it through another generation.
Brilliantly written and a true masterpiece! Schlesak tells this
story uniquely through interviews woven into narratives. The way
this information was collected and presented in the book makes it
read like a novel. He tells the story through a collective narrator
he calls Adam Salmen. He is an unwilling camp worker whose duty
it is to report on the gassings to the regime, but in doing so he
keeps notes that he hides as a record of the true evils being committed
at Auschwitz.
Former pharmacist and SS officer Viktor Capesius shares his Nazi
experience through interviews after the war. He was in charge of
the Zyklon B used in the gas chambers. Between Adam and Viktor the
totality of the concentration camp crimes is incorporated into one
fascinating account.
A documentary novel means there is a shred of fiction in the story.
It did not read like fiction, unless it was in the reconstructed
testimony or the author's own commentary.
This book, with its photographs and detailed accounts of the horror
and heartbreak experienced through the eyes of innocent victims,
is almost too much to read about and not be forever affected. I
found this book most compelling and literally could not put it down.
It is haunting in its detail. The photos stayed with me long after
I completed the book. It is not for the faint of heart. It is very
difficult to digest, so be prepared to be awed.
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