Eyewitness Auschwitz: three years in the gas chambers. A review.

Filip Muller, Helmut Freitag, Susanne Flatauer

Ivan R. Dee, 1 Sep 1999 - History - 180 pages

Filip Muller came to Auschwitz with one of the earliest transports from Slovakia in April 1942 and began working in the gassing installations and crematoria in May. He was still alive when the gassings ceased in November 1944. He saw millions come and disappear; by sheer luck he survived. Muller is neither a historian nor a psychologist; he is a source one of the few prisoners who saw the Jewish people die and lived to tell about it. Eyewitness Auschwitz is one of the key documents of the Holocaust. Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "A shattering, centrally important testimony." from the Foreword by Yehuda Bauer. "A very detailed description of day-to-day life, if we can call it that, in Hell s inmost circle...Having read other books of this kind, I had expected to read this one straight through. But no, Eyewitness Auschwitz is jammed with infernal information too terrible to be taken all at once." Terrence Des Pres, New Republic. "Riveting...It is a tale of unprecedented, incomparable horror. Profoundly, intensely painful; but it is essential reading." Jewish Press Features.

I bought this book when I visited the Auschwitz camps at the end of January, and found it almost impossible to put it down. I finished it in 2 days. The eyewitness account and unimaginable experiences that lye in this book are hard to comprehend. I've researched this topic for a fair few months now, but nothing could've prepared me for the intricate and horrendous detail Filip goes into about his experiences. His time in the camp consisted of him working in the crematoria, in which he would burn and prepare the bodies of his fellow family members, friends and inmates. The extent to the SS' evil and brutality can only be understood upon reflection of this book. The sad thing is that there are hundreds more similar books of other prisoners, that wanted the world to know their story and that the SS cruelty was not just a myth - these things did happen. I've always found that hard to comprehend, as watching films and documentaries makes you feel that it didn't really happen, but is just there for entertainment purposes only. The harrowing truth is that this did happen, and we need to learn and educate younger generations about it so that it does not happen again.  

Looking at all of the reviews that people have posted about this book - each reader seems to find it difficult to understand or imagine what it was like for these poor people.