Five Chimneys: The Story of Auschwitz by Olga Lengyel
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Book Reviews of Five Chimneys: The Story of Auschwitz
Book Review: Remembrance is an Active, Living Thing
Summary: 5 Stars
*Five Chimneys: The Story of Auschwitz* should be in every library -- private and public. Out-of-print for many years, many younger people read it only in short quotes hidden deep within other books about the Holocaust. Now, however, it's available in this fine edition. Finally! Olga Lengyel's writing is so expressive, it seems to *pull* one back into that horrible time. It demands that we, the readers, be witnesses, too. Ms. Lengyel made it clear that one of her most important jobs was to Remember. In this, she succeeds admirably.
*5 Chimneys* is also a book of Names -- real ones that we know today. The references I find most impressive are those of the relationship between Auschwitz and Bayer -- yep THAT Bayer, the one who makes all those Aspirins and worm medicines and flea preparations. One jarring story centers around a certain " Capezius," who was not only an officer at Auschwitz, he also headed the pharmaceutical depots in the region around the extermination camp. The before the war, he was one of the directors of the Bayer Company in Transylvania. Before she was a prisoner in Auschwitz, Ms. Lengyel worked in her husband's sanitarium in Cluj, Transylvania -- she knew of what she spake. (pg 165) The author also makes very clear that Bayer also routinely sent medicines in unmarked vials that were used on human guinea pigs in the experimental block. These medicines often killed horribly. And even if/when they cured, the test subjects were often sent to the gas chambers. (pg 187) She *saw* this and she Remembered.
We've all heard or read the stories about Mengele, Klein, and Irma Griese. Lengyel's descriptions of these monsters were written in 1947, when her memories were still new. They're terrifying in their matter-of-factness. She writes of Irma Griese as a powerful beauty -- powerful being the operative word. In pictures circulated after WW II and published since, Ms. Griese appears *fat* to the modern eye and even flabby -- a dangerous blonde blob of a woman with no soul. But one must take a step back and remember that in those pictures, Irma was a captive and no longer had the power to kill or select or spew evil. Lengyel reminds us that power is seductive and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In Auschwitz, the prisoners were all starving, so a woman who had curves -- literal meat on her bones -- was considered the ultimate in beauty. And beauty combined with membership in the SS gave such a woman free reign to kill... This the author Remembered well, too.
Ms. Lengyel's writing is well-crafted and frank. She faced hell straight on and demands the same of the reader. I've studied the Holocaust nearly all of my life. As a result, I've read many memoirs and histories about both extermination camps and work camps. Frankly, I consider *5 Chimneys* one of the very best written. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Book Review: "Life" in Auschwitz; Nazi Genocidal Ambitions beyond Jews and Gypsies
Summary: 5 Stars
This review is based on the original (1947) edition. Let's focus on some seldom-developed issues.
Large numbers of Polish clergy were sent to Auschwitz in the early years of the camp. However, Lengyel reports many more arriving in 1944 (pp. 108-110). They were often put to death immediately; the remainder being subject to degrading humiliations and tortures. Polish children were frozen to death (p. 210) and mostly Polish women were used by the Germans for vivisection experiments. (p. 176) Ironically, the Germans forgot their racism when they included the use of Jewish blood for transfusions to save the lives of wounded German soldiers. (p. 176)
Recent claims that Jews and homosexuals were consistently treated the most harshly are fallacious. Lengyel says: "It would be difficult to say which of the internees were treated worst. Most of us, whether political, racial, or criminal prisoners, were reduced to existence on the animal level. But the Jews and the Russians were treated cruelly. On the other hand, the German internees, whether common-law criminals, perverts, or political prisoners, benefited from certain privileges. They provided large numbers of the camp functionaries; and, no matter what their duties, were never chosen in the dreaded `selection'." (p. 44) In fact, homosexuals were also victimizers: "The prisoners, men or women, were frequently abused by the German barrack leaders, among whom was a high percentage of homosexuals and other perverts." (p. 185) The camp "beasts" included Irma Griese, an SS woman (p. 40) and bisexual, who forced her way on female inmates and then disposed of them when she got tired of them. (pp. 185-186)
Lengyel describes the Sonderkommando revolt, as well as the escape of a Polish inmate with his Jewess lover (pp. 124). Unfortunately, the SS uniforms that they had stolen fooled the Germans for only a few weeks.
Once finished with the Jews, the Germans intended to do the same to the Slavs. After describing gruesome experiments designed to perfect mass-sterilization methods (pp. 177-179), Lengyel comments: "Once we asked an Aryan German inmate, a former social worker, for the basic reason for the sterilization and castration. Before his captivity he had been active in German politics and had known many eminent people. He told us that the Germans had a geopolitical reason for these experiments. If they could sterilize all non-German people still alive after their victorious war, there would be no danger of new generations of `inferior' peoples. At the same time, the living populations would be able to serve as laborers for about thirty years. After that time, the German surplus population would need all the space in these countries, and the `inferiors' would perish without descendants." (pp. 179-180)
Book Review: Words cannot describe this
Summary: 5 Stars
There is nothing to add to the reviews of this book. I will not review what is contained in its pages. It simply should be required reading for every individual on this blue planet. The events which are described, which cannot have been embellished to any degree, cannot be described in human terms. To put into words 2 years after the event what is written is a testament to the accuracy portrayed. In the United States, we literally have no idea of the potential for mans inhumanity to man. This roughly 6 year event; titled the holocaust, was inexcusable and so deterioriating to human society that at first glance one says it could not happen. Indeed it happened, to Jews, christians, Americans, gypsys, you name it. There appeared to be little discretion, simply inhumanity of man to man. If anyone guilty survives today, whether they are on life support for some age related illness or what-ever, they need to be brought to justice. There is no excuse for partaking in these atrocities. Interestingly, Olga is never guilty of writing this for her own benefit. She states early on in the book her reason, she vowed during her time in the camp that if she survived she would let the world know what happened. Again, this should be required reading in our schools, this woman should not be forgotten nor should a single person who died at the hands of the horrible state we now know as WWII era Germany. Hitler and his close confidants may have dreamed this up, but countless thousands of german men and women carried out the plan. Forgiveness is the basis of christianity. God will handle that; on a personal level, I cannot even conjure up without profound thought and prayer, a reason to forgive these crimes. Time has passed which makes reading this book all the more necessary for the inhabitants of this planet.Book Review: Gripping tale of the Holocaust!
Summary: 5 Stars
Olga Lengyel has written the most graphic, horrifying look at the holocaust I have read.
Olga was an uppermiddle class wife with a degree in the medical sciences. She was married to a doctor who was arrested by the Germans. She felt it was best to stay with her husband and was lulled by the Germans into thinking that she would be fine if she accompanied him. So she, her parents and children followed her husband only to discover that they were not to join him but were sent to a concentration camp.
At the camp an unwitting Olga made the mistake of telling the Germans her son was under 12. Though he was large and could pass for over 12, Olga thought he would be treated in a lenient manner due to his age. Little did she know older and young people were almost immediately put to death. If the loss of her parents, her children and not knowing what had happened to her husband were not enough Olga had to endure the mental and physical trials of the camp.
Those who were not put to death were put to work in the most menial tasks under the most horrible conditions.
Olga leaves nothing to the imagination. Here you will find the most graphic details of mans inhumanity to man. Naked roll calls while shivering for hours exposed to the elements, being examined everywhere when entering the camp, having all body hair clipped off, using the same bucket to eliminate in and eat from, the sex at the camp, the cruelness of the officers and of fellow campmates who were trying to save themselves, the things some women would do for a crust of bread, the smell of the camp, the beatings....Olga spares no detail.
It is not for the weak of stomach. You will feel the despair and wonder how man could ever be so cruel and pray that this never ever happens again.
Book Review: Our Children Who Are In Heaven.........
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was given to me by my mother-in-law. She had been given the book when she was just 17. The book was new and has been collecting dust in the attic since she was given the book. I found this dusty manuscript in a box of many books in her attic. When asked if I may read it, she told me I could have it. I could hardly wait until I could find time alone to read. When I started into the book and the warnings issued to the family, knowing that they went ignored, I had to find out how the average middle class family that was not Jewish happened into the world of torture and death. With each page turned fell a tear for those who had no reason to be there and anger over those that were supposed to be prisoners but were put above the "vermin" that made up the life of this most infamous camp. Whenever my children have a class in school that touches on the war, I pull out this aged volume and encourage them to read and learn. I have loaned this book to teachers of my childrens classes. I have read portions of this book to students when I am asked to speak in the class. But the story that most touches my heart is that of the "snowmen". I won't tell you about it. You have to get and read this book and read the whole book (which won't be hard) to learn their story. The one that couldn't be left untold. Mrs. Lengyel's heart broke the most over their story and she lived it. Yours will only be torn from out of your chest.