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My Hometown Concentration Camp: A Survivor's Account of Life in the Krakow Ghetto and Plaszow Concentration Camp (Library of Holocaust Testimonies)

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Authors: Bernard Offen, Norman Jacobs
Publisher: Vallentine Mitchell & Co Ltd
Category: Book

List Price: ~~Ł13.50~~
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Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

3 reviews
Sales Rank: 253311

Media: Paperback
Pages: 133
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.6

ISBN: 0853036365
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5318092
EAN: 9780853036364
ASIN: 0853036365

Publication Date: April 4, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
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Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

A generous book. August 20, 2008
I was hoping to experience, through Bernard Offen's words, something candid, direct and real about a life that has been lived under such utterly different circumstances to mine. In fact, I have received much more. Bernard Offen's story has brought alive for me not only the details of the horrors of his survival in Poland, but also something of what it is like to grapple with that experience years on. It has brought alive the process of healing that brought Mr. Offen to write the book.

It has been a privilege to have Mr Offen let me walk by his side while he remembers, and to let me see so tangibly places such as the house where he and his family first lived, and later Krzemionki Cemetery where he hid after escaping Plaszow concentration camp. The significance of these places was underpinned by having read the preface, by Norman Jacobs, which was original, informative and drew me into the stark reality of Polish life at the time Bernard Offen was growing up.

I enjoyed the uncomplicated, natural and gentle tone of Mr Offen's voice. Above all, I feel the whole book comes together as a great demonstration of courage in all ways. I am left feeling inspired and humbled by Bernard Offen's story and hopeful that the 'journey of healing', which Mr. Offen refers to in his introduction, is possible, for all individuals and humanity as a whole.

5 out of 5 stars

About 'My Hometown Concentration Camp' August 17, 2008
My most striking impression is that this book reads as though it is written by an 11-year-old, with an innocence of timeless recall, as if of a memory of that age.
It is without any sense of hysteria that one might expect of the experience, however, any thoughts about the irreplacable loss of vitality of community life, would be so unbearable that one abides in the remaining silence, the presence of silence, stillness, as one follows the walk woven into a stream of recall, as the story is told in the silence of the walk. By reading the book I would like to return to Krakow and follow the walk, in memorium. Towards the end of the book (the third section) a maturity in the writing emerges, as written in the present day, by someone older looking back, about trauma and healing, as if the work has been done.

5 out of 5 stars

Excellent, informative and deeply touching account of one man's experience of the Holocaust July 7, 2008
Bernard Offen's account of the years he spent as a child in the Krakow Ghetto and in a hideous run of concentration camps is all the more astonishing for the quiet, colloquial manner in which it is recounted. It is as if the author is standing by your side sharing his memories with you, encouraging you to accompany him on this most painful and extraordinary journey, talking you through some of the most unimaginable experiences in his simple and direct style.

Throughout the journey he acts as what feels like your very own guide on a tour of the Krakow Ghetto, the camps and a period of history that I have always tried to avoid reading about for fear of being `exposed' to horrors I would rather not contemplate. It is certainly true that parts of the book left me shaking my head in revulsion and near-disbelief. However, having just finished it, my overall feeling is that it is as inspiring as it is devastating.

Bernard Offen's reflections on the long journey of healing that he has undertaken since the war are deeply moving and inspiring and are a testament to the power of the human spirit at its most admirable. This is in stark contrast to the dark testament to its extreme opposite contained elsewhere within these pages.

The book includes an excellent preface by Norman G. Jacobs which sketches a backdrop to the events of WWII in Poland and provides an informative account of Jewish life in the country both before and after the war. At 117 pages it is very manageable in terms of length and I believe it would act as a fine accompaniment to secondary-level school history courses.

I would recommend the book to anyone interested in WWII, the Holocaust, or in questions about war, survival and healing. I would also recommend it to anyone like myself who has hitherto been reluctant to delve into this area of history. I can't think of a better introduction.