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Auschwitz: True Tales From a Grotesque Land
"From the moment I got to Auschwitz I was completely detached. I disconnected my heart and intellect in an act of self-defense, despair, and hopelessness."
With these words Sara Nomberg-Przytyk begins this painful and compelling account of her experiences while imprisoned for two years in the infamous death camp. Writing twenty years after her liberation, she recreates the events of a dark past which, in her own words, would have driven her mad had she tried to relive it sooner. But while she records unimaginable atrocities, she also richly describes the human compassion that stubbornly survived despite the backdrop of camp depersonalization and imminent extermination.
Commemorative in spirit and artistic in form, Auschwitz convincingly portrays the paradoxes of human nature in extreme circumstances. With consummate understatement Nomberg-Przytyk describes the behavior of concentration camp inmates as she relentlessly and pitilessly examines her own motives and feelings. In this world unmitigated cruelty coexisted with nobility, rapacity with self-sacrifice, indifference with selfless compassion. This book offers a chilling view of the human drama that existed in Auschwitz.
From her portraits of camp personalities, an extraordinary and horrifying profile emerges of Dr. Josef Mengele, whose medical experiments resulted in the slaughter of nearly half a million Jews. Nomberg-Przytyk's job as an attendant in Mengle's hospital allowed her to observe this Angel of Death firsthand and to provide us with the most complete description to date of his monstrous activities.
The original Polish manuscript was discovered by Eli Pfefferkorn in 1980 in the Yad Vashem Archive in Jerusalem. Not knowing the fate of the journal's author, Pfefferkorn spent two years searching and finally located Nomberg-Przytyk in Canada. Subsequent interviews revealed the history of the manuscript, the author's background, and brought the journal into perspective.
With these words Sara Nomberg-Przytyk begins this painful and compelling account of her experiences while imprisoned for two years in the infamous death camp. Writing twenty years after her liberation, she recreates the events of a dark past which, in her own words, would have driven her mad had she tried to relive it sooner. But while she records unimaginable atrocities, she also richly describes the human compassion that stubbornly survived despite the backdrop of camp depersonalization and imminent extermination.
Commemorative in spirit and artistic in form, Auschwitz convincingly portrays the paradoxes of human nature in extreme circumstances. With consummate understatement Nomberg-Przytyk describes the behavior of concentration camp inmates as she relentlessly and pitilessly examines her own motives and feelings. In this world unmitigated cruelty coexisted with nobility, rapacity with self-sacrifice, indifference with selfless compassion. This book offers a chilling view of the human drama that existed in Auschwitz.
From her portraits of camp personalities, an extraordinary and horrifying profile emerges of Dr. Josef Mengele, whose medical experiments resulted in the slaughter of nearly half a million Jews. Nomberg-Przytyk's job as an attendant in Mengle's hospital allowed her to observe this Angel of Death firsthand and to provide us with the most complete description to date of his monstrous activities.
The original Polish manuscript was discovered by Eli Pfefferkorn in 1980 in the Yad Vashem Archive in Jerusalem. Not knowing the fate of the journal's author, Pfefferkorn spent two years searching and finally located Nomberg-Przytyk in Canada. Subsequent interviews revealed the history of the manuscript, the author's background, and brought the journal into perspective.
197 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
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4973 people want to read
About the author
Sara Nomberg-Przytyk
8 books4 followersBorn in Lublin, Poland, on 10 September 1915, Sara Nomberg grew up in a Hasidic family. Her grandfather was renowned throughout Poland as a Talmudist and for several years was the headmaster of a yeshiva in Warsaw. He later moved to a small town near Lublin, where he served as the rabbi for the community. Many of her other relatives were also rabbis. Living in the Jewish area of Lublin, she came to know the meaning of poverty at an early age. The sight of Jewish children dying of malnutrition and of Jewish women growing old before their time made a deep impression upon her. Her experience of Polish anti-Semitism was equally powerful, and she came to associate Jewish poverty with Polish anti-Semitism.
Nomberg attended gymnasium in Lublin and then enrolled at the University of Warsaw. While living in Warsaw, her strong sense of social justice led her to become involved in the communist movement; she simply could not see how the religious tradition of her upbringing had made life any better for the Jews and others suffering from injustice. As a result of her political activities, she was incarcerated for five years as a political prisoner. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, she fled to the Soviet-occupied East, to Białystok, where she had taught school before the war. Shortly after Germany's move against the Soviets on 22 June 1941, she was rounded up with the rest of the Jews of Białystok and confined to a ghetto. She remained in the Białystok ghetto until August 1943; when the ghetto was liquidated, she was sent to the concentration camp at Stutthof. On 13 January 1944 she was transported from Stutthof to Auschwitz.
With the help of fellow communists, Nomberg managed to get assigned to work in the infirmary in Auschwitz. There she came to know the Angel of Death, Josef Mengele, well. In January 1945, as the Russians approached Auschwitz, she was sent with hundreds of others on the death march to Ravensbrück. From Ravensbrück she was transported to Rostock. On 1 May 1945, the Germans fled from the Soviets, who were advancing on Rostock, and she was free.
After her liberation Nomberg returned to Lublin. There she married a magistrate by the name of Andrzej Przytyk and worked as a journalist until October 1968, when she was forced to leave Poland. Before leaving, however, Nomberg-Przytyk had written two books. The first was Kolumny Samsona (The Pillars of Samson), which was published in Poland in 1966; it relates the story of the Białystok ghetto up to the time of its liquidation. Her second book was the volume for which she is best known, Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land (1985), translated from an unpublished Polish manuscript titled Lydzi w Oswiecim. She had an offer to publish her Holocaust memoir in Poland on the condition that she remove all references to Jews, but she refused.
When she was forced to leave Poland in 1968, Nomberg-Przytyk went to Israel, where she placed the manuscript of her unpublished work in the care of the archives at Yad Vashem. In 1975 she left Israel to settle in Canada with her two sons. She died in Canada in 1996.
Nomberg attended gymnasium in Lublin and then enrolled at the University of Warsaw. While living in Warsaw, her strong sense of social justice led her to become involved in the communist movement; she simply could not see how the religious tradition of her upbringing had made life any better for the Jews and others suffering from injustice. As a result of her political activities, she was incarcerated for five years as a political prisoner. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, she fled to the Soviet-occupied East, to Białystok, where she had taught school before the war. Shortly after Germany's move against the Soviets on 22 June 1941, she was rounded up with the rest of the Jews of Białystok and confined to a ghetto. She remained in the Białystok ghetto until August 1943; when the ghetto was liquidated, she was sent to the concentration camp at Stutthof. On 13 January 1944 she was transported from Stutthof to Auschwitz.
With the help of fellow communists, Nomberg managed to get assigned to work in the infirmary in Auschwitz. There she came to know the Angel of Death, Josef Mengele, well. In January 1945, as the Russians approached Auschwitz, she was sent with hundreds of others on the death march to Ravensbrück. From Ravensbrück she was transported to Rostock. On 1 May 1945, the Germans fled from the Soviets, who were advancing on Rostock, and she was free.
After her liberation Nomberg returned to Lublin. There she married a magistrate by the name of Andrzej Przytyk and worked as a journalist until October 1968, when she was forced to leave Poland. Before leaving, however, Nomberg-Przytyk had written two books. The first was Kolumny Samsona (The Pillars of Samson), which was published in Poland in 1966; it relates the story of the Białystok ghetto up to the time of its liquidation. Her second book was the volume for which she is best known, Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land (1985), translated from an unpublished Polish manuscript titled Lydzi w Oswiecim. She had an offer to publish her Holocaust memoir in Poland on the condition that she remove all references to Jews, but she refused.
When she was forced to leave Poland in 1968, Nomberg-Przytyk went to Israel, where she placed the manuscript of her unpublished work in the care of the archives at Yad Vashem. In 1975 she left Israel to settle in Canada with her two sons. She died in Canada in 1996.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
January 3, 2013
If you are only going to read one book about Auschwitz, let this be the one. Sara Nomberg-Przytyk did an excellent job of conveying the atmosphere of the place, all those people trying to live surrounded by death and the deepest despair imaginable. It's the stuff of nightmares. I could see everything she wrote about, like on a grainy black and white film (for how can there be color in Auschwitz?) in my head.
I do, however, dearly wish it had been subject to fact-checking before publishing. I am sure the book is the truth in the sense that the author told the events as she remembered them. But her memory is not always accurate, and one entire chapter is devoted to describing an event which I know for a fact did not happen and could not have happened. That's the kind of thing Holocaust deniers like to grab onto and use to bolster their so-called position.
I do, however, dearly wish it had been subject to fact-checking before publishing. I am sure the book is the truth in the sense that the author told the events as she remembered them. But her memory is not always accurate, and one entire chapter is devoted to describing an event which I know for a fact did not happen and could not have happened. That's the kind of thing Holocaust deniers like to grab onto and use to bolster their so-called position.
June 28, 2010
Again, seeing that this is apparently targeting the YA audience, I just can't agree. He/She would have to be a very mature young adult before I handed them this book. Maybe I'm not giving young people enough credit but the stories included here I wouldn't want my daughter reading at a young age. I'm 100% for knowledge, most especially of anything like this, but one has to be able to process the information being learned or no good will come from it, only pain, if anything.
That being said, this is outstanding. It really is. The reason I'm giving it four stars instead of five is personal. I'm not much of a short story person. I think, as much as I "liked" reading this, that I'd have much more enjoyed a whole sequencial book by Nomberg-Przytyk.
One thing I did not like - the afterword. I felt like I was being sold the author, her writing, and this book. Anyone that read the book before the afterword (as it should be) would already be sold on all three things IMO. And if not, the afterword isn't going to change anything. I don't like anything being pushed on me and the afterword really should be cut out of here. Scratch that - it shouldn't be cut out. There are a number of good points brought up, a lot of which a reader may not think about on their own. What should be cut out are the selling points. It takes away from the book in a horrible, horrible way.
I can't even recommend skipping this afterword altogether because of the parts I mentioned above. I would only suggest to be aware and not fall into the sales pitch. If you got something from the book it won't be because of the afterword.
It is said, in the afterword no less, that Nomberg-Przytyk writes without absolute memory on some subjects. This had be skeptical at first but after reading one of the "good parts" in the afterword I changed my mind. I do believe that there is a good arguement for this type of writing. In one story the author writes about the first time she hears the word "organize" in the "Aushwitz term". Instead of organize meaning 'forming as or into a whole', in the Aushwitz sense organize means to steal to survive. Whether that means stealing food to trade for cigarettes to trade for a "good" job or something else, there is a new meaning for an old word.
The point of bringing this up is because it's said that it's unlikely this was the first time she heard the word. After all, that one word was probably spoken dozens and dozens of times in a day since "organizing" was so very important to survival.
Now, when I'm reading non-fiction I tend to want it exactly as it happened. I want to believe in that because without, is it really non-fiction in the strictest sense? Here I think yes. I don't think I'd care for this in many books but it works here and that's a great feat for Nomberg-Przytyk.
That being said, this is outstanding. It really is. The reason I'm giving it four stars instead of five is personal. I'm not much of a short story person. I think, as much as I "liked" reading this, that I'd have much more enjoyed a whole sequencial book by Nomberg-Przytyk.
One thing I did not like - the afterword. I felt like I was being sold the author, her writing, and this book. Anyone that read the book before the afterword (as it should be) would already be sold on all three things IMO. And if not, the afterword isn't going to change anything. I don't like anything being pushed on me and the afterword really should be cut out of here. Scratch that - it shouldn't be cut out. There are a number of good points brought up, a lot of which a reader may not think about on their own. What should be cut out are the selling points. It takes away from the book in a horrible, horrible way.
I can't even recommend skipping this afterword altogether because of the parts I mentioned above. I would only suggest to be aware and not fall into the sales pitch. If you got something from the book it won't be because of the afterword.
It is said, in the afterword no less, that Nomberg-Przytyk writes without absolute memory on some subjects. This had be skeptical at first but after reading one of the "good parts" in the afterword I changed my mind. I do believe that there is a good arguement for this type of writing. In one story the author writes about the first time she hears the word "organize" in the "Aushwitz term". Instead of organize meaning 'forming as or into a whole', in the Aushwitz sense organize means to steal to survive. Whether that means stealing food to trade for cigarettes to trade for a "good" job or something else, there is a new meaning for an old word.
The point of bringing this up is because it's said that it's unlikely this was the first time she heard the word. After all, that one word was probably spoken dozens and dozens of times in a day since "organizing" was so very important to survival.
Now, when I'm reading non-fiction I tend to want it exactly as it happened. I want to believe in that because without, is it really non-fiction in the strictest sense? Here I think yes. I don't think I'd care for this in many books but it works here and that's a great feat for Nomberg-Przytyk.
May 23, 2014
Whenever I am reading or finish a book about the Holocaust written by a survivor, I struggle deeply with "rating" such a book. My moral compass goes wild as I try to give honest feedback on a piece existing because of such extreme conditions, yet I don't want to entirely misrepresent my thoughts on the book's content based on my empathetic and ethical reasoning.
But that being said, I will always take into consideration where these books are coming from and how, as readers and writers, we should be compassionate to the material we read. Basically, we need to be less harsh with our criticism due to the origin of all of these books.
Sara Nomberg-Przytyk wrote this book from her memories years after the war ended. She recounts her story by painting portraits of events she witnessed and people she interacted with. What I really loved about reading this book was learning about the mindsets of prisoners and how they struggled with what was morally right and wrong for them even though they were living and breathing within a vessel of death. It is humbling to read her firsthand narratives about the inner struggle she was going through - not only the physical conditions she was restrained - but also the mental trap she found herself in. Wanting to do the right thing in a place that exists to completely annihilate an entire population is incredibly emotional to read, let alone experience.
I found her individual stories of resistance inspiring. The tale of the dancer on her way to her execution opened a door to the immense will to prevail over the terrible and her fight to try and save a thread of dignity at her imminent death, something I always wondered about regarding the march to the chambers. I learned a lot from this book about the internal hierarchy of the prison population and how some people were brainwashed to a pulp and how others refused to give the SS any of there pride even at death.
You can't judge these stories you read, yet as the audience we like to imagine how we would react in similar situations. By reading this book you begin to understand how the Nazis completely ravaged a people with mind games, deceit, abuse, and every other terrible beast of manipulation. Sara is a very earnest and detailed writer and her experience at Auschwitz spotlights individual people and their personal battles.
I recommend this book to people interested in learning more about this particular death camp and WWII, and to anyone who never wants to forget this awful time in history. It's definitely a page-turner (harrowing, descriptive, and humbling are words that come to mind) but it breathes the truth.
But that being said, I will always take into consideration where these books are coming from and how, as readers and writers, we should be compassionate to the material we read. Basically, we need to be less harsh with our criticism due to the origin of all of these books.
Sara Nomberg-Przytyk wrote this book from her memories years after the war ended. She recounts her story by painting portraits of events she witnessed and people she interacted with. What I really loved about reading this book was learning about the mindsets of prisoners and how they struggled with what was morally right and wrong for them even though they were living and breathing within a vessel of death. It is humbling to read her firsthand narratives about the inner struggle she was going through - not only the physical conditions she was restrained - but also the mental trap she found herself in. Wanting to do the right thing in a place that exists to completely annihilate an entire population is incredibly emotional to read, let alone experience.
I found her individual stories of resistance inspiring. The tale of the dancer on her way to her execution opened a door to the immense will to prevail over the terrible and her fight to try and save a thread of dignity at her imminent death, something I always wondered about regarding the march to the chambers. I learned a lot from this book about the internal hierarchy of the prison population and how some people were brainwashed to a pulp and how others refused to give the SS any of there pride even at death.
You can't judge these stories you read, yet as the audience we like to imagine how we would react in similar situations. By reading this book you begin to understand how the Nazis completely ravaged a people with mind games, deceit, abuse, and every other terrible beast of manipulation. Sara is a very earnest and detailed writer and her experience at Auschwitz spotlights individual people and their personal battles.
I recommend this book to people interested in learning more about this particular death camp and WWII, and to anyone who never wants to forget this awful time in history. It's definitely a page-turner (harrowing, descriptive, and humbling are words that come to mind) but it breathes the truth.
February 14, 2018
A detailed account of the hell on earth known as Auschwitz, as told by a Holocaust survivor.
Brutal and heartbreaking.
Brutal and heartbreaking.
August 4, 2025
Some books about Auschwitz inform, others haunt. This one did both.
i've read a lot of memoirs of survivors of Auschwitz, some of them even more painful and grutesque than this one, if that's even possible (forgive me for comparing, that's not the point). but this book reached places in me I didn’t know were still raw.
Auschwitz is a horiffic maze, fascinating and an important lesson to bear witness to, but while at it, one should also be careful.
i've read a lot of memoirs of survivors of Auschwitz, some of them even more painful and grutesque than this one, if that's even possible (forgive me for comparing, that's not the point). but this book reached places in me I didn’t know were still raw.
Auschwitz is a horiffic maze, fascinating and an important lesson to bear witness to, but while at it, one should also be careful.
September 3, 2012
This may be the best book I have read on the subject. She brings the characters to life. As she tells each person's story- you do not know what their fate will be. Some disappear and we never know, some are killed and some miraculously make it through the war. This book shares so many people's different experiences- it is both heartbreaking and astounding. It is a must read if you want to know the ins and outs of how they survived (or didn't) camp life during this horrific period. Almost unbelievable how people were treated worse than rats!
January 21, 2020
Yes, I read yet another book on Auschwitz! This time it was Auschwitz: True Tales From a Grotesque Land by Sara Nomberg-Przytyk. It was written twenty years after the liberation of the camps in which the author describes her personal experiences and memories of the two years she spent incarcerated there. While the unimaginable atrocities were happening all around her she also observed cases where human compassion survived. She also had worked as an attendant in the camp hospital where she observed the evil experiments and behavior of the notorious Dr. Mengele, one of the most detailed accounts of his actions. Her manuscript written in Polish was discovered in 1980 in the Yad Vashem Archives in Jerusalem by Eli Pfefferkorn. Eli took it upon herself to try to locate the author to find out what had happened to her. After a two-year search, she finally located her in Canada. She conducted a series of interviews about the author and the history of the manuscript to help put the story in perspective. Is is at times repulsive and at others draws you into the daily camp activities from the author's perspective.
February 4, 2025
First, the writing and grammar was horrible. It was just too many errors and all over the place. Does the author not know any other word than 'beautiful'? The word was literally in every other paragraph. I pushed through, but this book definitely was not worth the 10 bucks. Save your money.
July 23, 2012
This book by Sara Nomberg-Przytyk is definitely not for the squeamish or easily upset. But I for one think it’s very important to read about the Holocaust.
We need to read about the people who died, and the people who were left behind, we need to remember the concentration camps and the horrible things that happened there.
The author, Sara Nomberg-Przytyk spent a number of years in Auschwitz, the worst concentration camp of all. In the end, she was liberated and survived her ordeal. However, she witnessed some very horrible things. The book is fascinating although very hard to read at times. She describes horrible events but also describes some elements of hope. For example, she talks about the mass executions, and the cruelty of Dr. Mengele, who was the head Nazi in the camp. She describes how he would go into the hospital and sit with the sick patients and talk to them. He would seem so kind and gentle that they would confide in him all their problems. Then he would casually send them to the gas chambers. He also befriended a little boy, a gypsy, about 10 years old. He paraded the boy throughout the camp and had the boy dance and gave him treats. Then, when all the Gypsies were sent to be gassed and burned, he sent the boy as well and pushed him into the oven with his own hands.
Sara Nomberg-Przytyk worked in the hospital, and was one of the special workers so she got better treatment than most of the prisoners. She always had enough food to eat, and she was usually exempt from all the selections. Selections were when they lined up all the prisoners and decided who would go to the gas chambers. They did selections periodically in the camp and said the week prisoners away to be killed. The author was able to escape the selections. So she had a better than most people in the camp. She was very lucky. This was probably due to the fact that she had many friends going into the camp because she had been active in the resistance movement against the Germans and was a political prisoner.
One of the most disturbing things in the book is that the author describes many of the Jewish prisoners as being even more brutal than the Nazis, or least as brutal. Some of the prisoners would be put in charge of other prisoners. They would be threatened with death unless the barracks were clean and the prisoners well mannered. Some of them would become crazy with power and with the fear of the possibility of own executions so that they would be very cruel to the people under them. Sometimes they would aid in rounding up the prisoners to be gassed.
On the other hand, Nomberg-Przytyk also talks about people who helped others. There were several members of the hospital staff went out of their way to protect the weaker people in the camp. They saved many people from the gas chamber by covering up for them when they couldn’t do their work at hiding the fact that they were sick as they were. They smuggled extra food to those who were particularly weak and starving. They protected those who were the most vulnerable and help the hungriest. Because of their efforts, many people survived the camps who would not have survived otherwise.
The book really shows the horror of the concentration camps and also truth about human nature. That in times of horrible stress, some human beings react heroically and help others while others become selfish and harm others. The book was very powerful and definitely worth reading. However, it is definitely not for children and I would caution people about the graphic nature of it.
We need to read about the people who died, and the people who were left behind, we need to remember the concentration camps and the horrible things that happened there.
The author, Sara Nomberg-Przytyk spent a number of years in Auschwitz, the worst concentration camp of all. In the end, she was liberated and survived her ordeal. However, she witnessed some very horrible things. The book is fascinating although very hard to read at times. She describes horrible events but also describes some elements of hope. For example, she talks about the mass executions, and the cruelty of Dr. Mengele, who was the head Nazi in the camp. She describes how he would go into the hospital and sit with the sick patients and talk to them. He would seem so kind and gentle that they would confide in him all their problems. Then he would casually send them to the gas chambers. He also befriended a little boy, a gypsy, about 10 years old. He paraded the boy throughout the camp and had the boy dance and gave him treats. Then, when all the Gypsies were sent to be gassed and burned, he sent the boy as well and pushed him into the oven with his own hands.
Sara Nomberg-Przytyk worked in the hospital, and was one of the special workers so she got better treatment than most of the prisoners. She always had enough food to eat, and she was usually exempt from all the selections. Selections were when they lined up all the prisoners and decided who would go to the gas chambers. They did selections periodically in the camp and said the week prisoners away to be killed. The author was able to escape the selections. So she had a better than most people in the camp. She was very lucky. This was probably due to the fact that she had many friends going into the camp because she had been active in the resistance movement against the Germans and was a political prisoner.
One of the most disturbing things in the book is that the author describes many of the Jewish prisoners as being even more brutal than the Nazis, or least as brutal. Some of the prisoners would be put in charge of other prisoners. They would be threatened with death unless the barracks were clean and the prisoners well mannered. Some of them would become crazy with power and with the fear of the possibility of own executions so that they would be very cruel to the people under them. Sometimes they would aid in rounding up the prisoners to be gassed.
On the other hand, Nomberg-Przytyk also talks about people who helped others. There were several members of the hospital staff went out of their way to protect the weaker people in the camp. They saved many people from the gas chamber by covering up for them when they couldn’t do their work at hiding the fact that they were sick as they were. They smuggled extra food to those who were particularly weak and starving. They protected those who were the most vulnerable and help the hungriest. Because of their efforts, many people survived the camps who would not have survived otherwise.
The book really shows the horror of the concentration camps and also truth about human nature. That in times of horrible stress, some human beings react heroically and help others while others become selfish and harm others. The book was very powerful and definitely worth reading. However, it is definitely not for children and I would caution people about the graphic nature of it.
January 29, 2018
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“We all crouched in our bunks, frightened, helpless in the face of the mass murder that was to take place before our very eyes. No one cried out, nobody wept.”
Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land is a powerful collection of vignettes that detail the horrible conditions of concentration camps during the Holocaust. Nomberg-Przytyk recounts her days working as a clerk in the Auschwitz hospital under the command of the infamous Josef Mengele. Each of the stories in the collection are a mix of Nomberg-Przytyk’s experiences and some stories told to her by her fellow prisoners. Readers are given a disturbingly intimate look into what daily camp life was like before, during, and at the end of the war.
I especially loved the short story format for the purposes of recounting history because it provides a multifaceted view of the Holocaust. Nomberg-Przytyk’s skill at story telling makes these stories feel like fiction, which is what makes the realities of the Holocaust that much more horrifying. It honestly borders on being so inhumane it’s unbelievable and it becomes difficult to determine what parts of the stories are fact and which parts are fiction, an issue for a non-fiction history book. Despite that this is still one of the most important books I had ever read on the subject and it’s one I can never forget.
Memoirs are one of the most important primary sources that we have for understanding and remembering the Holocaust and the gravity of it’s impact on humanity. The writing is clear and the language is simple, it is extremely easy to pick up and follow along with, something that I’ve had an issue with while reading other memoirs. Overall, for those interesting in learning more about the Holocaust or just want to feel awful in general then I highly recommend this book. It’s eye opening and jarring but is a sobering reminder of the depths of human depravity.
“We all crouched in our bunks, frightened, helpless in the face of the mass murder that was to take place before our very eyes. No one cried out, nobody wept.”
Auschwitz: True Tales from a Grotesque Land is a powerful collection of vignettes that detail the horrible conditions of concentration camps during the Holocaust. Nomberg-Przytyk recounts her days working as a clerk in the Auschwitz hospital under the command of the infamous Josef Mengele. Each of the stories in the collection are a mix of Nomberg-Przytyk’s experiences and some stories told to her by her fellow prisoners. Readers are given a disturbingly intimate look into what daily camp life was like before, during, and at the end of the war.
I especially loved the short story format for the purposes of recounting history because it provides a multifaceted view of the Holocaust. Nomberg-Przytyk’s skill at story telling makes these stories feel like fiction, which is what makes the realities of the Holocaust that much more horrifying. It honestly borders on being so inhumane it’s unbelievable and it becomes difficult to determine what parts of the stories are fact and which parts are fiction, an issue for a non-fiction history book. Despite that this is still one of the most important books I had ever read on the subject and it’s one I can never forget.
Memoirs are one of the most important primary sources that we have for understanding and remembering the Holocaust and the gravity of it’s impact on humanity. The writing is clear and the language is simple, it is extremely easy to pick up and follow along with, something that I’ve had an issue with while reading other memoirs. Overall, for those interesting in learning more about the Holocaust or just want to feel awful in general then I highly recommend this book. It’s eye opening and jarring but is a sobering reminder of the depths of human depravity.
April 8, 2011
Auschwitz: True Tales From a Grotesque Land by Sara Nomberg-Przytyk is a astonishingly powerful book, that takes you into the world of one of the most brutal concentration camps of all time. Sara writes how the cruel and deceitful life in the camp was truly more inflicting then anyone could imagine, considering that the people were whipped and gathered into gas chambers. In one of the chapters, a girl was put inside one of the gas chamber except she jumped out of the window before the gas was released. A lot of people committed suicide because of the horrible life in Auschwitz. This book had very interesting stories to not just the physical pain but the mental pain also.
Sara wrote how the other inmates had hope for awhile until every time that a person tried escaping they would be shot, tortured, or kept in a small chamber to die of starvation. Further into the book, the commander of a group of Nazis was over run by a Jewess and shot in the torso, with his own gun. Afterward the Jewess and his squad achieved victory for a short amount of time until the cruel fate of death came upon them. They were defeated and eaten by search dogs. The only positive feel of the camp was the scarce hope, which was usually shot down as well as the person. This book was a great read, and I especially suggest it to people that are into WW2. The action is constant and the word choice is grotesque, which reveals the full visual experience you want to see with books. I suggest that the age is 13+ due to the mass murder of people and the torturing.
Sara wrote how the other inmates had hope for awhile until every time that a person tried escaping they would be shot, tortured, or kept in a small chamber to die of starvation. Further into the book, the commander of a group of Nazis was over run by a Jewess and shot in the torso, with his own gun. Afterward the Jewess and his squad achieved victory for a short amount of time until the cruel fate of death came upon them. They were defeated and eaten by search dogs. The only positive feel of the camp was the scarce hope, which was usually shot down as well as the person. This book was a great read, and I especially suggest it to people that are into WW2. The action is constant and the word choice is grotesque, which reveals the full visual experience you want to see with books. I suggest that the age is 13+ due to the mass murder of people and the torturing.
October 2, 2012
When you're a kid, you read books like The Devil's Arithmetic, and you're horrified at all those things that happened SOOOO long ago. After all, when you're a kid, forty years ago is an eternity.
And then you grow up, and you realize that WWII wasn't all that long ago. The people who were in the concentration camps weren't so different from us. I cannot imagine being loaded onto a train and taken to a camp. The humility. The dehumanization. How on earth did any of those people survive? How do you go back to normal life?
The older I get, the more I just cannot understand how these atrocities happened. The total disregard for human life.
As much as I can't imagine being the victim, I also cannot imagine being one of the perpetrators. We all have prejudices against certain people, whether it's based in race, culture, class, or sexual preferences. It's human nature to view people who are different from us with a critical eye. I cannot imagine for a second ever despising a group of people so much that I could participate in their extermination. How does that happen? How does one decide, yeah, that's what I want to do with my life?
I've read a lot of books about the Holocaust, and more than any other, this novel brought so many characters to life. The writing was matter-of-fact, not overly emotional or dramatic. Sara Nomberg just stated what happened. I will be deeply affected by this book for a long time to come.
And then you grow up, and you realize that WWII wasn't all that long ago. The people who were in the concentration camps weren't so different from us. I cannot imagine being loaded onto a train and taken to a camp. The humility. The dehumanization. How on earth did any of those people survive? How do you go back to normal life?
The older I get, the more I just cannot understand how these atrocities happened. The total disregard for human life.
As much as I can't imagine being the victim, I also cannot imagine being one of the perpetrators. We all have prejudices against certain people, whether it's based in race, culture, class, or sexual preferences. It's human nature to view people who are different from us with a critical eye. I cannot imagine for a second ever despising a group of people so much that I could participate in their extermination. How does that happen? How does one decide, yeah, that's what I want to do with my life?
I've read a lot of books about the Holocaust, and more than any other, this novel brought so many characters to life. The writing was matter-of-fact, not overly emotional or dramatic. Sara Nomberg just stated what happened. I will be deeply affected by this book for a long time to come.
May 1, 2016
If I could give this short, powerful nonfiction book of Sara Nomberg-Przytyk's experiences in Auschwitz, Ravensbruck, and on to her return to Poland after her freedom a million stars, I would. I have literally read thousands of Holocaust books but this was so unique, it blew me away. There is no other book that covers what is covered here through stories of the people Sara describes and the events she describes so simply. You will feel as if you are there and puzzle over the people and issues she brings up, cry with the woman whose new baby must be killed to save her life since Mengele thinks is is not humane to kill a child in the gassing chambers unless the mother is there (?!!), anguish with those who wonder if it is more humane to let those who don't know they are going to the gas or to be shot not know so they won't be afraid and try to run which can lead to a worse kind of death (the powerful story about this will grip your heart and conscience), see the giant rats warming by the cookstove, watch women eaten alive by lice, see Mengele hold his head in anguish while a brave young Jewish woman mocks him and Hitler day by day, and wonder over Orli who might help or save you (as she did Sara) or just shove you in to the transport to the gas chamber. Each person and event Sara describes is so heartrendering! This book is history and memoir at its best. It is short but packs a wallop and helped me better understand a lot of things. Do read this!
November 10, 2015
Getting to read from the perspective of a woman in a concentration camp was new to me, and I appreciated the insight that came with what seemed a greater sensitivity to human emotion and the phenomenological experiences of different individuals. The literary descriptions of the text made each account more tangible--I felt closer to those involved while reading this book than I did throughout Primo Levi's work on Auschwitz.
September 2, 2013
This book was VERY hard to read! It is good and educational but what these people went through was hell and no one should ever have to endure what they did.
June 7, 2016
This was a very powerful book which will stay with me for a long time.
September 30, 2018
Wow, This was not an easy book to read but are any holocaust books? I think this one was even more so. These are memories from a survivor of Auschwitz. She shares details of individuals that are with her there from guards to other prisoners, There are stories about how people did awful things to save themselves and others of people that sacrificed themselves or put themselves at risk to help other prisoners. She goes through the hierarchy in the prison. Some people were able to go up in status for different reasons, sometimes, just because of who they knew. I guess I had never realized how different it was for various people in there. Some prisoners lived much better than others. They learned to find happiness at times but they also learned to just step over dead bodies without thinking about it. There was debating on whether or not it was kinder or more cruel to tell fellow prisoners what their fate was when they were heading to the showers or what would happen to them if they were sick or had children. There are people that you wonder what happened to them as we never find out. The chapter on the lovers hit hard.
What I always find interesting is how there seemed to be so much a fight to survive. To me, I don't know if I would have that or if I would be one to just give up. She states that there were very few suicides. How do people find the strength to go on in times like this? I am sure there are things that are not 100% accurate in this book as these were memories recalled years later but I am glad that I read this. It is a very haunting book on how people can treat others and the will to survive.
What I always find interesting is how there seemed to be so much a fight to survive. To me, I don't know if I would have that or if I would be one to just give up. She states that there were very few suicides. How do people find the strength to go on in times like this? I am sure there are things that are not 100% accurate in this book as these were memories recalled years later but I am glad that I read this. It is a very haunting book on how people can treat others and the will to survive.
February 29, 2020
This book was a TRIP! Although what Holocaust book isn't?
Sara's story is one to remember. Every chapter brought new insight into the world and experience of the Holocaust. As a student of the Holocaust, I can confidently say Sara has taught me so much about the Holocaust through her experiences. Reading her story has brought me to moments where I questioned my own definition of love and selflessness. I questioned the strength of the human existence and was regularly shocked by her experience. But the thing about Sara's book is that it really isn't just her story. There are a lot of her chapters that are specifically around one individual she encountered in her journey. And in these chapters she tells a little bit about their story through her perspective. Which is why I can say she taught me so much. (A little spoiler-ish) Through her book, we know about a girl named Natasha and we know her story. Through Sara's book we know the story of the dancer that never took disrespect. We know of the gypsies and a little gypsy boy that Josef Mengele was so infatuated with for such a short time. We know a multitude of stories that otherwise would never be told and never be known. Sara provides such an open picture into what it looks like to exist in a concentration camp. She does not filter, she does not beat around the bush, she does not sugar coat. Sara delivers what it means to be a Jew during World War II: deadly, dehumanizing, and beyond disturbing. But... "You get used to it."
Sara's story is one to remember. Every chapter brought new insight into the world and experience of the Holocaust. As a student of the Holocaust, I can confidently say Sara has taught me so much about the Holocaust through her experiences. Reading her story has brought me to moments where I questioned my own definition of love and selflessness. I questioned the strength of the human existence and was regularly shocked by her experience. But the thing about Sara's book is that it really isn't just her story. There are a lot of her chapters that are specifically around one individual she encountered in her journey. And in these chapters she tells a little bit about their story through her perspective. Which is why I can say she taught me so much. (A little spoiler-ish) Through her book, we know about a girl named Natasha and we know her story. Through Sara's book we know the story of the dancer that never took disrespect. We know of the gypsies and a little gypsy boy that Josef Mengele was so infatuated with for such a short time. We know a multitude of stories that otherwise would never be told and never be known. Sara provides such an open picture into what it looks like to exist in a concentration camp. She does not filter, she does not beat around the bush, she does not sugar coat. Sara delivers what it means to be a Jew during World War II: deadly, dehumanizing, and beyond disturbing. But... "You get used to it."
November 11, 2019
Sara tells her story in a way that humanizes once again these people in a place where almost all humanity was lost. Yes complete historical accuracy falls to the side at times, but honestly if you asked me what I did yesterday I’d probably miss-remember some of it. This woman lived through hell and wrote about it far later. If some bits are fuzzy around the edges and stories are changed or combined to get a point across in her storytelling I am not going to fault her.
The stories of the young children are especially poignant. Absolutely heartbreaking to read, but important nonetheless. Especially now.
The stories of the young children are especially poignant. Absolutely heartbreaking to read, but important nonetheless. Especially now.
December 10, 2025
I appreciated this well written account of a woman's life in Auschwitz. Sara Nomberg-Przytyk's observations of the camp, the persecutors and those persecuted provides a clear picture of existence within the condensed world of an evil micro-environment. Values upended, choices each human being had to negotiate within their conscience.
December 17, 2017
Filled with detailed descriptions of the author in the camps and her experiences. The writing was a bit difficult for me to follow but that could be due to the fact that this book has been translated.
November 7, 2020
Excellent writing - the author tells her stories so well and creates excellent imagery as you read! An interesting insight into the dynamics between many of the prisoners in Auschwitz and how they coped differently.
September 16, 2022
Wow. Truly heartbreaking. It continues to shock me to see human beings treating other human beings so despicably. Makes it really hard to believe in an Almighty that would let this type of atrocity happen.
May 15, 2024
A terrible and heart-breaking book about Nomber-Przytyk's experience in this death camp. Written some time after her incarceration there, she not only tells of her experiences but how they affected her life and how she was able to heal.
July 27, 2019
This blew me away. One of the best books I’ve read about the holocaust.
August 24, 2022
While this book was good, I am not happy. It's titled True Stories but at the end they tell you a lot of what is written is fabricated.
October 10, 2023
extremely engaging! i can’t believe this exists and i am alive and can read it
July 1, 2024
The first book to give me a nightmare. I really liked her storytelling
February 18, 2025
The saddest, most heartbreaking book I have ever read. Not for the faint of heart.
January 19, 2017
This was one of those books I could not put down. another eye - witness account of Hell.
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