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i suppose that with the advent of the internet, and information being much more freely available than it was, say, 25 years ago, we have as a rule become numb to stories and images of hate and violence.
The reson for this preamble is because of a book i have just finished,by the author laurence rees, it was titled,
"auschwitz,the nazi's and the final solution".
it isnt a tale of fiction but a very well referenced work of ...well...reference (i believe there was a tv series a few years ago).The author speaks authoritatively about the plans conception and operation of not just auschwitz, but bergen-belsen,dachau and majdanek.It didnt attempt to trivialise or sensationalise the subject matter, but presented all the facts in a cohesive and matter of fact way.there were plenty of hard luck stories,and several times during the reading of this tome, i had to stop, put the book down,compose myself over a coffee and cigarette, then pick it up and carry on.It would have been easy to ignore the book but it was so compelling ......and as per the introduction fascinating yet at times horrific.I managed to control my emotions till the very end of this book ,till i read about a set of twin sisters, who had managed to survive the atrocious experiments of josef mengele,who survived the deadly living conditions of auschwitz yet were separated by their british liberators,as one of the twins had typhoid and was close to death. she was taken to a british field hospital,and for he next 53 years the remaining sister searched for her,every time the phone rang or the door was knocked she hoped it would be her sister........till one fateful day, she found out her twin had died in the british hospital a few days after she was admitted.i freely admit the tears were running down my face reading this,and my 3 year old came to my rescue with a hug.
if you only read one book for the rest of your life read this........
The reson for this preamble is because of a book i have just finished,by the author laurence rees, it was titled,
"auschwitz,the nazi's and the final solution".
it isnt a tale of fiction but a very well referenced work of ...well...reference (i believe there was a tv series a few years ago).The author speaks authoritatively about the plans conception and operation of not just auschwitz, but bergen-belsen,dachau and majdanek.It didnt attempt to trivialise or sensationalise the subject matter, but presented all the facts in a cohesive and matter of fact way.there were plenty of hard luck stories,and several times during the reading of this tome, i had to stop, put the book down,compose myself over a coffee and cigarette, then pick it up and carry on.It would have been easy to ignore the book but it was so compelling ......and as per the introduction fascinating yet at times horrific.I managed to control my emotions till the very end of this book ,till i read about a set of twin sisters, who had managed to survive the atrocious experiments of josef mengele,who survived the deadly living conditions of auschwitz yet were separated by their british liberators,as one of the twins had typhoid and was close to death. she was taken to a british field hospital,and for he next 53 years the remaining sister searched for her,every time the phone rang or the door was knocked she hoped it would be her sister........till one fateful day, she found out her twin had died in the british hospital a few days after she was admitted.i freely admit the tears were running down my face reading this,and my 3 year old came to my rescue with a hug.
if you only read one book for the rest of your life read this........
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