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Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chamber

Author: Filip Muller
Publisher: Ivan R Dee, Inc
Category: Book

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Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

30 reviews
Sales Rank: 1651

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5 x 0.7

ISBN: 1566632714
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.547243094386
EAN: 9781566632713
ASIN: 1566632714

Publication Date: October 1999
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Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers
•	Paperback - Eyewitness Auschwitz

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Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...

1 out of 5 stars

Disappointing July 15, 2008
Truly the worst holocaust testimony ever written.So many mistakes throughout the whole text.Two examples of which were when Mr Muller mentions the camp orchestra in Birkenau,there was none.He also quotes that Kramer was in Birkenau and had came from Auschwitz 2.Both are one and the same place But important errors like these were repeated in every chapter and the worry for me is that Holocaust deniers may pick up on these simple blunders.Mr Mullers over use of adjectives and repetition of statements at times resulted in the book bordering on being boring.It read more like a students written essay who wasnt fully informed ,rather than an actual Holocaust survivors memoirs.Ive read many more imformative Holocaust testimonies and even Mr Muller must have been disappointed with the finished article.I tend to believe that the foreword said it all.

5 out of 5 stars

ochmister June 6, 2008
Simple, one of the best books I have ever read. Very sad, sometimes un believable. But believe, this really happened and should not be forgotton. My respect goes to the author.

5 out of 5 stars

An account by somebody who witnessed everything first hand. May 16, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

There have been countless books written about Hitlers Final solution mostly by historians and occasionally by eyewitness survivors.

You can read account after account of conditions in the final months leading to the Russians eventual entry into the camp but few books will be as informative as this one written by camp Sonderkommando Filip Muller whose actual job was to operate the crematoria and dispose of the thousands of corpses.

During the latter half of 1944 an incredible 10,000+ were liquidated on a daily basis.This may appear too far fetched to comprehend at first but when you realise that those in command from Hitler right down to Himmlers eventual realisation that the war was turning against them a dramatic escelation in gassing took place until mass shootings were the norm and corpses were burnt round the clock in open pits.

At the height of the liquidation Berkenhau had over ten ovens working night and day resulting in a massive escalation of gassings.In early 1944,10,000 prisoners were murdered every day and there were sufficient ovens to cope with the huge number of bodies.

Filip was there as all this was going on and later as the mass of bodies became too overwhelming to cope with it was the Sonderkommandos duty to remove the rotting corpses for disposal in the ovens.

There are certain passages that will really make one think momentarily on the question of mans inhumanity towards his fellow man.

The arrival and first trial of mass gassings where under extream brutality men women and children were forced to undress knowingly they were facing certain death.

Possibly the most heart rending extracts are to be found on page 48 where Filip having discovered the arrival of his father at the camp has to cremate his body after his death from tythus.Fellow workmen working alongside him at the blazing ovens recite a prayer.

The book really brings the true barbarity of camp life to the reader.

The inhumanity of certain Kapos or team leaders given trusted duties by the SS who were extreamly sadistic beating fellow prisoners to death due to anger against what the SS were doing to his fellow countrymen.

Whilst reading the first two chapters one clearly realises these are the genuine testimony of somebody who lived on a daily basis where systematic murder was common place.Unless you witnessed at first hand you couldnot make up such testimony such as these.

As i have already said you can write about this highly documented period in history but unless you were physically there in person to witness these events no amount of research will reveal the actual truth.

This is why Filip Mullers book is so important,as less than a handfull of Sonderkommandos at Auschwitz actually lived to bear witness to their testimony.

Unless you were actually there in person you cannot envisage the horrors and brutality of camp guards and SS officers.Muller recounts day to day life within the confines of Auschwitz-Berkenhau like only a fellow prisoner could relate.

His matter of fact account of unimaginable horrors makes compelling reading if not unpleasant reading.He has not withheld any of the material that will disgust or distress us,everything has been accounted for right up to his amazing survival.

As a Sonderkommando he was to some extent safe as his services were of great importance to the camps efficient running.Without him and other workers the mass murder couldnot have taken place at such a large scale.

A book that is extreamly well written by somebody who actually knows what went on within the camp.Few books can bring home the true meaning of genocide as can this one.

If you are looking for great detail on events and life within Hitlers largest death camp then this book will not disappoint.

5 out of 5 stars

Brings the Reality of what went on home ! May 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I visited Auschwitz earlier this year. I wish I had read this book before I had gone as it really brought home the terrible crimes that went on in this place. If you are interested in Auschwitz then this is a must read !

5 out of 5 stars

Gripping April 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

What an amazing account of the holocaust and believe me I have read a few!
This book gives a gripping account of one mans survival in the death factory that can only be described as hell on earth.
The author is a testimony to courage and mans desire to stay alive at all costs.
Buy this now!