Hell Was My Home

by Donald Grey Brownlow

Genres: Holocaust

152 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1983

Reviews

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book re: the Holocaust. I've read a fair amount about WWII, Nazis, and the Holocaust, but this book contained some absolutely horrific details which just turned my stomach. We all know that Dr. Mengele and his minion conducted vile experiments, but, bloody hell, special place in Hell for them and Holocaust deniers.

It wasn't brilliantly written, and glossed over his rescue and his search for his siblings which I would have liked to have read about. I think it took 3 pages tops, so that was a little disappointing.

[Meaghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although it tells a compelling story, this book was pretty amateurishly written. I kept finding jarring errors in syntax or sentences that just sounded awkward or wrong. For example, on page 28: "He took pride in taking a small velvet patch of cloth in his pocket, and wiping his shoes until he could see his face in the gloss reflecting from the shoes." A better way of putting that might have been something like: "He took pride in keeping a small patch of velvet in his pocket and using it to polish his shoes until he could see his reflection in them." There was also a lot of background information about Hitler and the Third Reich and Polish anti-semitism that didn't quite mesh with the narrative.

However, if you want to read about a Holocaust survivor and Auschwitz veteran from Poland, this story is as good as any of the others.