L' ordine del terrore: Il campo di concentramento

by Wolfgang Sofsky

Questo libro intende descrivere e interpretare il funzionamento dei lager anche attraverso le testimonianze dei sopravvissuti e analizzare le forme di potere che governavano la vita quotidiana nei campi, attraverso l'esercizio del terrore organizzato. Tesi portante del saggio è il dimostrare come la logica del terrore nei lager non sia una temporanea caduta nella barbarie, ma un esito possibile della società moderna.

Genres: Holocaust, History, World War II, Nonfiction, Germany

507 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Wolfgang Sofsky, geboren 1952, lehrte als Professor für Soziologie an den Universitäten Göttingen und Erfurt. Seit 2001 arbeitet er als Privatgelehrter, Autor und politischer Kommentator. 1993 erhielt er den Geschwister-Scholl-Preis für »Die Ordnung des Terrors. Seine Essays sind regelmäßig in der deutschsprachigen Presse zu lesen und im Rundfunk zu hören.

Reviews

[alicja :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

We had the opportunity of reading the majority of this book in a University class on the sociology of power, and I need to say it is one of the best ones I’ve ever read on WW2 and Holocaust in general. Excellently researched, the data and schemes are not overused and serve as an illustration of depicted theories. The book offers a sociological view on the emotionally discussed topic, distancing itself at the same time from pop cultural discourses – thanks to that, the readers become a glance into the complex structures of dependences and relationships inside the total institution of a concentration camp.

[Yupa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro denso, ma come ammette lo stesso autore a un certo punto in uno degli ultimi capitoli, ambisce sì a spiegare, anche nel dettaglio più minuto, la meccanica del lager nazista, ma resta del tutto fuori come ai lager ci si è arrivati e cosa ha permesso che, da centri di prigionia, alla fine siano diventati centri di sterminio di massa.
In queste pagine si impara molto sul come, ma quasi nulla sul perché, che forse è l'interrogativo più importante da fare, ma anche quello a cui è più arduo rispondere, forse anche perché le rispose sono poco piacevoli.

[Gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Sobering Good Read.

[Christel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Standardwerk

[Nicho God's Good Country · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complesso

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books presents a sociological study of the system of the camps. The style is quite academic and without a formal background in sociology I struggled a little with some of the concepts. The central tenet of the book is the concept of absolute power and terror.

There are sections dealing with the history of the camps, the ordering of space and time, the social structures, labor and work, and the death factories.

There are few personal accounts, but the facts remain harrowing and disturbing to read, particularly the latter chapters on the forced labor, selection and murder of the prisoners.

I have visited Auschwitz-Birkenau - the appalling truth is hard to comprehend even when you see it with your own eyes. This is an important book, to be read and not forgotten.

"The corpses are not lying scattered around the room, but are piled high one on top of
the next. That’s easy to explain: the Zyklon B tossed in from outside develops its
deadly fumes first near the ground, spreading gradually to the higher levels of air. So
the poor victims trample over one another, one person climbs over the next. The
higher they are, the longer it takes for the gas to reach them....I can see infants,
children and the aged at the bottom, the stronger men are lying above them. There
they lie, their limbs intertwined, their bodies lacerated from scratches, bleeding from
the nose and mouth. Their heads are bloated and blue, disfigured beyond recognition.
Nonetheless, the men of the Sonderkommando often spot their relatives among the
bodies."