The Journey Back From Hell: Conversations with Concentration Camp Survivors

by Anton Gill

All these years on, how do the survivors of the most horrific episode in world history regard their wartime experiences, and how have they come to terms with their memories?

How did their experience of the Nazi concentration camps change them emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, and politically?

And what are their feelings about their former tormentors today?

In talking to some 120 survivors in 14 different countries — including political prisoners and resistance fighters — Anton Gill has produced a masterpiece of oral history that is both an account of the survivors’ lives after liberation and a testament to their courage.

First published in 1988, each experience of the ‘journey back from hell’ is unique, and readers are free to draw their own conclusions from what the survivors tell them.

But the combined effect of the stories is so poignant and important to the core experience of the 20th century that nobody can afford to turn away — or to forget.

‘A thoughtful, caring book, full of sociological and psychological insight’ – Sunday Times

‘Brilliant, compelling...an inspiration’ – Mail on Sunday

‘Excellent’ – Dirk Bogarde, Daily Telegraph

Anton Gill has been a freelance writer since 1984, specialising in European contemporary history but latterly branching out into historical fiction. He is the winner of the H H Wingate Award for non-fiction for ‘The Journey Back From Hell’. He is also the author of ‘Into Darkness’, ‘Dance Between the Flames’ and ‘An Honourable Defeat’.

Endeavour Press is the UK’s leading independent publisher of digital books.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Holocaust, War, Judaism, Biography, World War II

690 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Anton Gill worked for the English Stage Company, the Arts Council of Great Britain, and the BBC before becoming a full-time writer in 1984. He has written more than twenty books, mainly in the field of contemporary history.

aka Oliver Bowden

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I was more than a bit irked by the author's assertation in the introductory section of this book that even modern Germans who were born after the war and therefore had absolutely nothing to do with it should still feel some kind of cultural guilt about the holocaust, this book is still definitely worth reading for the firsthand accounts from concentration camp survivors.

It's not even all negative and depressing, as this book is as much about these people's lives after the war as it is about their time in the camps. Some of the stories are actually quite inspirational. I'm glad I read it, even though it was hard going at times.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read several books on genocide and the Holocaust and this one was unique for focusing on the psychological and physiological aftereffects of the time spent in concentration camps (primarily Auschwitz). This book should be required reading for anyone working with survivors of genocide or even certain types of severe mental and/or physical trauma.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first section was a psychological analysis of the results of captivity followed by a second section which included the conversations, numerous interviews with individuals in the camps. The first section was not of much interest, but several of the interviews were very interesting. The interviews consisted of Jews, political prisoners (mainly from the left) and a few resistance fighters. It would have been more interesting if there had been input from other groups that were persecuted such as the Roma, Homosexuals, Jehova Witnesses, etc.

There was as expected a heavy Zionist perspective from many of the interviewees and only one mentioned the incongruity of Jews displacing Arabs for their new homeland, or the use of terrorism such as the killing of Count Folke Bernadotte, who had ironically been responsible for saving the lives of several of the Dutch survivors interviewed.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many books about the Holocaust and found this one to be enlightening in new ways. Not just a collection of survivors' concentration camp experiences, it dealt with survivors' stories of adapting to life after the war, where they chose to live and why, and how their attitudes and occupations were shaped by their traumatic experiences. For me it has added another layer of knowledge to the unceasing questions about how genocide on this scale could have occurred in a civilized country. Also it is a remarkable testament to the resilience and strength of the human character. You cannot help but be awed by it - and by the real people in this book who lived to tell their tale.

[Graham Catt · Rating 5 out of 5]

While there are descriptions of camp life, this volume concentrates on the lives of those who survived the Nazi concentration camps. It’s a fascinating, often harrowing, read.

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a slightly gruelling but moving read, published in 1988 with accounts from both Jewish and non-Jewish survivors. Many of the post liberation experiences were very difficult.

[Richard van Balen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A huge book with a big story. It is all about survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. They tell their about their past and each one is as diverse as one can imagine. Usually I am nog really interested autobiographical stories but the point of view in this book grabbed me. I rate it 'just' three stars because the quality of the different stories varies greatly. It is written as people told their stories to the writer and it turns out not everyone is a good story teller.
The main focus isof the book is what people did to survive and the prices they paid after the war. No heroic stories, just survival. Nobody gets to win but everybody loses.

[Randi Daeger · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was hard to take in large doses so I took my time reading it. No matter how much I read about the Holocaust I still cannot get my mind around it. Reading what actual survivors have gone through is hard, but needs to be heard.

[Ann Larrabee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important realizations.

I had to read 3 or 4 books while reading this one. Individual accounts made this easier. Here's to survivors. It definitely taught me to ask the questions of people, and make sure they are not isolated, in any capacity.

[Deena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oral histories of concentration camp survivors, primarily focusing on how survivors have dealt with their experience (as opposed to being exclusively details about the camp experiences).

[Jr Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The journey back from Hell

Very detailed coverage of people who suffered and came back to tell others. All aspects of the issue are well covered. Interesting reading.

[Fleeno · Rating 5 out of 5]

First published in 1988 this book is as relevant now as it was then. Anton Gill collected an oral history of over 100 concentration camp survivors, many Jewish victims but also "career criminals", resistance fighters, Romani, and homosexuals, who survived the camps. As you would expect many of the stories are harrowing, depressing and awful, but some are also uplifting and hopeful, and some of Kafkaesque behaviours and rules of the Nazis bizarre. Whilst the experiences are are all awful they are all very unique. Some saying there was no comradery, others saying they only survived due to the bonds they formed, some blaming all Germans, others holding no resentment, some refusing to speak German, others adamant that they wouldn't allow yet another thing to be taken from them. What struck me is the way the world truly failed these victims literally every step of the way. The world - or at least the leaders - knew about the restrictions on Jews early in Hitler's reign. They knew about the camps and their true purpose. Countries refused to accept Jews when they were allowed to leave and refused to take them after the war. Even if they did take them they didn't really help them and people often struggled to find support within their own families and communities. It was quite sad that so many people said they had never spoken to their spouse or children about their experiences, and they had never been asked. Some said they wouldn't have wanted to speak whilst others said they needed to but no one wanted to hear it. Others still have made it their life's work to speak about it and many gave witness at the Nuremberg and Frankfurt trials. This wasn't a pleasant read, but I do think it was an important one and these stories should not be forgotten. 

[Janet Eshenroder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A masterful study and compilation of survivors’s stories. The author, himself a survivor and later a therapist, has collected a wide range of stories: Jews, other target groups, political prisoners from varied countries, those who survived in jobs that the Nazis found helpful to the German cause or their entertainment, children who left the camp still in their teens, etc.
The author explains in the beginning how the camps ran and terms that helped considerably as he interviewed survivors.
Each story has a pre-life and entrance to the camps, survival experience, post-camp recovery, and present day life. These mini portions of each survivor’s story varied in length to demonstrate the more important elements.
It was surprising to realize how many survivors found it emotionally harder after liberation. While in camp, emotions are walled off, the focus simply on survival. Afterward, many were left without the support needed. People didn’t want to listen. Different countries offered different levels of help (some helped very little). There was tremendous loneliness after liberation. In the camps most survived because of tight knit groups.
Memories and floods of emotion emerged decades after liberation.
It was fascinating and instructive to understand what factors helped one to survive inside the camps, how people dealt with the experience later, why some people found healing through art or by helping educate future generations and some insist on remaining silent.

[David Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle is "Conversations with Concentration Camp Survivors". I'm not sure that "conversations" is the best way to describe it. I have little doubt that the book was derived mostly from conversations, but the stories told here are more like little autobiographies. There are about thirty of them, and they're told mostly in the subject's own words.

This book is presented in two parts. The first part, about a hundred pages, is background on the subject: the organization of the camps, who was subjugated, a bit about displaced persons camps, reparations, and psychological effects on the victims.

The meat of the book is the second part, where we meet our 30 or so survivors. These autobiographies run five or ten or twenty pages each. They tend to cover the person's whole life: a few paragraphs describing who they were, where they came from, what they did before the camps. Events in the camps are described but not gone into in great detail. The focus of these stories is on what these people did after the camps: how they coped (or failed to cope), their attitudes toward the perpetrators, other victims, and those who had nothing to do with their ordeals.

Some of the people we meet knew each other. Some had encounters with Himmler or Mengele. Some wrote books telling the stories of their time in the camps.

Includes notes, a nice bibliography, an index, and a few maps.

[Prooost Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gives the reader a chance to see Holocaust survivors as individuals, to hear the stories of their internment, their liberation, and the lives they forged for themselves afterwards. There is plenty of variety in the stories, but there are some similarities, of course. No matter how else the survivors were affected, all of them express a feeling of isolation from anyone who did not experience what they did. In the immediate aftermath of the war, when many of the survivors wanted to tell their stories, they found that most people didn't want to listen, even members of their own families.

Another similarity his that many survivors underwent some kind of mental breakdown, usually during the 1960s and 1970s. This seems to have come about after they had accomplished the rebuilding of their lives, and had a chance to breathe. With the ability to "relax" a little, the sometimes-suppressed memories flooded back.

The Journey Back From Hell is not the depressing book one might expect, although it's quite sobering. There is a lot of inspiration in these stories, and even occasional humor.

[Jane Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Holocaust Story

An interesting book; it is interesting because it tries to tell the whole story. The author tells of all the people who were incarcerated in concentration camps during the War, including, for example, French resistance members. What is fascinating is to read them talk of their reactions to the camps. Nearly all had the same feelings and behaviors after the camps

[Joy Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memoirs of Concentration camp Survivors

Goodness, never thought I could read it all, one can purchase a book and in no time your at the end, But this book went on and on, just so sad, everything is just so sad, I went to Auschwitz a few years ago to pay my respects, glad I went but never want to go again, everything lost, how can that have happened ,Joy Page England

[John H. Warren III · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, but disturbing read. Very informative and enlightening.

[Kanmanir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Test good for

Rest of us in a bit late for you and your baby is a great way for me and my dad

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 4 out of 5]

The camps have a fascination in their revoltingness. 1.

The memories are so strong that they annihilate the present, and that is of grave danger. 456.

All suffering is relative to experience, and life while it is everything is also not much at all. 457.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author interviewed several survivors of Nazi concentration camps and this is their stories. His primary interest was in their lives after the camps and how adjusted and managed their experiences as they continued on in their lives.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, but shocking of course. Tells what happened to victims in the years after their ordeals it was very eye opening and i learned a lot. We must never forget this awful period in history and pray nothing like it happens ever again. Brilliant book.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable collection of first-hand accounts of the Holocaust.