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A very detailed description of day-to-day life, if we can call it that, in Hell's inmost circle...jammed with infernal information too terrible to be taken all at once. (Terrence Des Pres )
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A memoir is a memoir......,
By "efoff" (Ecotopia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers (Paperback)
[...] This book is an essential eyewitness view of life as a sonderkommando, and how the Nazi establishment in Auschwitz killed three and & half million people, all in a historically unprecidented short period of time. Muller describes the "shower" facade, and the mechanics of destroying that many bodies.David Irving, the notorious holocaust denier, contends that the Nazis could not have killed eleven million, simply because of the amount of coke/charcoal needed to burn that many bodies. How did that happen in Auschwitz? Muller describes how Master Sergeant Otto Moll (who was in charge of the gas chambers) had the prisoners build large pits to burn an anticipated influx of Hungarians. These pits included brick "channels," which funneled the melted body fat from the fire into large cauldrens. The melted fat was then dumped back on top of the bodies, to encourage the fire & save on coal, fuel oil, and fire wood. There are dozens--if not hundreds--of books about Auschwitz. Many are better written than "Eyewitness." Just off the top of my head, Borowski's collection of short stories "This Way for the Gas, Ladies & Gentlemen," Wiesel's "Night," Levi's "Survival"--they have better writing. But none of those books grasp the enormity of the sonderkommando experience, because none of those three were in the sonderkommandos like Muller. Similarly, Steiner's "Treblinka" is a more complete picture of the origin and evolution of the gas chambers. But Muller writes what he saw--what he lived--in a way that is unbearably moving. If you want to get a picture of Auschwitz, read this book--and Sara Nomberg-Przuytyk's "Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land." All that said--let me get down from my high horse. Simply because a book is a holocaust memoir does not automatically make the book worth reading. For example, I found Frister's "The Cap: The Price of a Life" to be completely unreadable. I enjoyed it, but many people will also not care for Glazar's "Trap with a Green Fence: Survival in Treblinka." In fact (taking a deep breath & cringing a little) aside from "Night," I am not wild about Wiesel. I think for historical analysis, Simon Wiesenthal is more informative, and from a moral philosophy perspective, nothing Wiesel wrote can touch Primo Levi's "The Drowned & the Saved." This is a long way of my saying that while this book is not Shakespeare in its language, it is very readable--and very moving. This book is an important part of the history of the 20th century, and not one that can be replaced....even by a book as good as "Survival in Auschwitz."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good first read on the Holocaust.,
By
This review is from: Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers (Paperback)
I first read this book in the spring of 1982 when I was 16. I was overwhelmed by the content and the author's description of the gas chambers at Auswitz, as well as the fine detail of the burning pits that were constructed to minimize fuel consumption as well as maximize the diposal of murdered persons. Later when I was 30 I read it again and wept for mr Muller and all those who did suffer so within the dark machinery of the SS. What I found fascinating was that the author became numb to the Horrors around him with the passage of time. This too happened to me while I read his words. He portrayed what he saw in a very vivid manner. I recommend this personal narrative very highly to those who wish to get a first hand look into the Holocaust.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Read a better written memoir...,
By Elisabeth (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers (Paperback)
While Muller's account is an emotional portrayal of the horrors of Auschwitz, his excessive use of adjectives and repetitive narration makes his account somewhat difficult to get through. He talks us through many of the horrid details of the selections and gassings, but his redundancy ends up slightly immuning you to the plight of the victims. I liken this immunity to that which much of the world has acquired toward violence. The one excellent aspect of this book is the inside look into the actions of the Sonderkammando squad and the events of the uprising that led to the burning of crematiorium 4.A much better written memoir is Primo Levi's "Survival in Auschwitz," a truly chilling account of the Auschwitz experience. Every word carries a weight that drives home the inhumanity of the concentration/death camps without overdoing it.
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