Tagged: auschwitz
Night by Elie Wiesel
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Night is a work by Elie Wiesel about his experience with his father in the Nazi German concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–1945, at the height of the Holocaust and toward the end of the Second World War. In just over 100 pages of sparse and fragmented narrative, Wiesel writes about the death of God and his own increasing disgust with humanity, reflected in the inversion of the father–child relationship as his father declines to a helpless state and Wiesel becomes his resentful teenage caregiver.
Penetrating and powerful, as personal as The Diary Of Anne Frank, Night awakens the shocking memory of evil at its absolute and carries with it the unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again.
When you read about the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel is one of those survivor names that keeps cropping up again and again because of the amazing things he went on to do later in life. While I was researching his story I noticed that there are actually two versions of Night: one from 1982, translated by his publisher at the time and another one from 2006 that was translated by his wife (who translated most of his fictional novels). I decided to read the most recent one because of the introduction where he mentioned that he was now able to correct and revise some of the details that had gotten lost in translation in the first edition. Because of that introduction I believe this one is the more faithful translation when compared to the original Yiddish manuscript and decided to read this 2006 version.
One of the things that really struck me about Night when I started reading it is the sparse but beautiful prose Elie Wiesel uses. He describes things in a way that ensures they’re ingrained in your memory but never really gets flowery about it. I can still picture the scene of the ghetto emptying day by day until Elie’s street is called for transport. I can picture the horrific burning ditch that greeted Elie and his father when they arrived at Auschwitz and learned the truth: their denial of the horrors a fellow townsman had warned them of might very well be their undoing. It’s really stark prose and it drives home the horrors of all that he witnessed in his months-long stay at various concentration and work camps, first at Auschwitz, then Buna and then to Buchenwald where he and the rest of the prisoners were liberated in 1945.
While the prose and descriptions are stark, you really do get a good sense of his mindset as he adjusts psychologically to his situation. At first he’s still pretty naive and horrified by what he witnesses but by the end you can tell that he’s lost some of that humanity, that sense of the importance of every single life. And who wouldn’t, given the circumstances? He takes his readers on a journey through the loss of his faith in a benevolent, almighty God and how his father kept him alive for so long despite Elie’s lack of will to live at times. It really does hit you hard; this little book of just 115 pages packs one heck of a punch and it does leave you wondering what sort of humans could carry out such horrible deeds. There aren’t really any adequate words to describe my feelings after reading this book but it’s a combination of sadness, happiness, numbness, despair, confusion and hope. I think every reader will have a different emotional experience.
If you’re the sort of person who is interested in history in general, but particularly in survivors’ accounts of the Holocaust, Night is definitely a must-read. Elie Wiesel is a master writer who can pack such an emotional punch in so few words that sometimes his story will leave you breathless. I can’t recommend this book enough.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Surviving the Angel of Death by Eva Mozes Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri
(Cover picture courtesy of My Shelf Confessions.)
Eva Mozes Kor was just 10 years old when she arrived in Auschwitz. While her parents and two older sisters were taken to the gas chambers, she and her twin, Miriam, were herded into the care of the man known as the Angel of Death, Dr. Josef Mengele. Subjected to sadistic medical experiments, she was forced to fight daily for her and her twin’s survival. In this incredible true story written for young adults, readers will learn of a child’s endurance and survival in the face of truly extraordinary evil.
The book also includes an epilogue on Eva’s recovery from this experience and her remarkable decision to publicly forgive the Nazis.Through her museum and her lectures, she has dedicated her life to giving testimony on the Holocaust, providing a message of hope for people who have suffered, and working for causes of human rights and peace.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
Just so we’re all on the same page here I want you to know that this a review of Eva Mozes Kor’s YA version of her memoir Echoes From Auschwitz. Surviving the Angel of Death is meant for a teen or more sensitive audience because it does not go into as much graphic detail as her full memoir does. There are still nightmarish scenes considering the subject matter, but keep in mind that this particular version is more YA-friendly.
Eva and Miriam are twins in Hungary when the Second World War breaks out. Since they’re Jewish, Eva shows us how things steadily got worse for her family before they were finally rounded up and eventually sent to Auschwitz. Being twins, they heard the cry of “Zwillinge!” (Twins!) as the soldiers selected who would live and who would die. They were the ‘lucky’ ones, the ones chosen by Dr. Joseph Mengele for his twin experiments at Auschwitz.
We learn about the horrible conditions the twins were kept in even though they were ‘special’ and the experiments they were subjected to during their stay at Auschwitz. What really struck me about this memoir is the description of Dr. Mengele: “My first thought was how handsome he was, like a movie star.” It really brings home the fact that these atrocities were not committed by movie villain caricatures, but by real people. For a young adult first learning about the Holocaust, I dare say that would be a rude awakening. But it really drives home the point that the Holocaust did happen and that the atrocities we all hear about now were committed by people just like us.
What I found the best about Surviving the Angel of Death was that Eva Mozes Kor wrote about the liberation of Auschwitz and included information about where she and Miriam ended up later on. She includes snippets of later on in her life where she started campaigning for Holocaust awareness and how she came to publicly forgive the Nazis. It’s an intense personal journey and it’s one I’m glad she’s sharing in a more young adult friendly manner. Obviously I’m not saying teens can’t read her full memoir, but rather that I think this is a good book if teens are just starting to learn about the Holocaust.
The formatting on my Kindle was a little weird at times, but that didn’t even register for me. The fact is that this is an extremely emotional, honest memoir about one of the darkest periods in human history. It’s well-written and informative, which is what it should be. I would highly recommend it to teens who are just starting to learn about the Holocaust or sensitive people who don’t feel they’re ready for the full version.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
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***A note on comment moderation: I know the Holocaust is an extremely sensitive topic, especially on the internet. It’s also one that I personally am extremely sensitive about, for reasons I don’t want to discuss. Therefore, I will be moderating all comments on this post with a heavy hand and will forewarn you that any Holocaust denying comments will be deleted for sheer ignorance. Yes, this is censorship and no, I don’t care in this particular case.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
(Cover picture courtesy of Kids Book Review.)
If you start to read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy named Bruno. (Though this isn’t a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence.
Fences like this exist all over the world.
We hope you never have to encounter one.
I wanted to like this book. I really, really did. I mean, it’s practically a classic. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is studied in classrooms all over the world and it’s even been made into quite a popular movie. It’s supposed to be a touching take on the Holocaust through the naive eyes of a nine-year-old boy. This should be a book I loved.
Obviously it wasn’t if I’m rambling on like this. Throughout the novel, the words ‘trying too hard’ came to mind because of John Boyne’s writing style. He tries to portray an incredibly naive nine-year-old boy but ends up portraying a spoiled, unaware brat. He tries to put an ironic, tragic twist at the end, but it feels contrived. John Boyne just tried too hard instead of letting the story speak for itself. His constant interjections and observations make it seem more like he’s telling the story than truly showing it through innocent Bruno’s eyes. It makes it feel like he expects his readers are idiots who couldn’t infer some of the more subtle themes from the story itself.
I’ve read thousand page books that are less tedious than The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. John Boyne repeats things over and over and over again until it feels like he’s beating you over the head with a stick. Readers are not idiots; they will not forget that Bruno’s father was visited by the ‘Fury’ over only 215 pages. They will also not forget that Bruno is a spoiled brat who matures very, very little by the end of the novel. In the end, he’s still essentially the same ridiculously naive child who seems to lack even basic understanding of the world around him. There’s also the issue of whether Bruno could have even gotten near the fence at Auschwitz without getting spotted by the numerous guards or getting zapped by the electrified fence.
In short, what was supposed to be a touching novel was not. It was patronizing and tedious, just to use two words that come to mind. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas should have been a tribute to those who lost their lives, but ended up feeling like John Boyne wanted a literary award badly.
I give this book 1/5 stars.