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I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz
Gisella Perl's memoir is the extraordinarily candid account of women's extreme efforts to survive Auschwitz. With writing as powerful as that of Charlotte Delbo and Ruth Kluger, her story individualizes and therefore humanizes a victim of mass dehumanization. Perl accomplished this by representing her life before imprisonment, in Auschwitz and other camps, and in the struggle to remake her life. It is also the first memoir by a woman Holocaust survivor and establishes the model for understanding the gendered Nazi policies and practices targeting Jewish women as racially poisonous. Perl's memoir is also significant for its inclusion of the Nazis' Roma victims as well as in-depth representations of Nazi women guards and other personnel. Unlike many important Holocaust memoirs, Perl's writing is both graphic in its horrific detail and eloquent in its emotional responses. One of the memoir's major historical contributions is Perl's account of being forced to work alongside Dr. Josef Mengele in his infamous so-called clinic and using her position to save the lives of other women prisoners. These efforts including infanticide and abortion, topics that would remain silenced for decades and, unfortunately, continue to be marginalized from all too many Holocaust accounts. After decades out of print, this new edition will ensure the crucial place of Perl's testimony on Holocaust memory and education.
142 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1948
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5694 people want to read
About the author
Gisella Perl
2 books20 followersGisella Perl was a Romanian Jewish gynecologist deported to Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944, where she helped hundreds of women as inmate gynecologist without the bare necessities to perform her work. She survived, emigrated to New York and was one of the first women to publicize these experiences in English in her 1948 memoir I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews
October 14, 2021
Hard to say how to rate this one. The writing isn't brilliant but the story is important. Dr Perl was a physician in Auschwitz and later in Belsen Bergen (her spelling). Her profession probably kept her alive; both her husband and son perished in the death camps. While her status as a physician may have kept her from death, she wasn't accorded any special privileges and faced the same deprivations as the other inmates. Perl treated sick and injured inmates with basically nothing in the way of medical supplies and had the misfortune to work under the scrutiny of the infamous Josef Mengele and "The Hyena of Auschwitz", Irma Grese.
Dr Perl's story is told in titled chapters, most of which deal with a guard or inmate who impressed her for good or ill. This results in each chapter being basically a stand-alone story, and there is some repetition as a result. The book was written shortly after the war and Perl, perhaps understandably, does not attempt to hide her hatred of Germans. While Nazi atrocity is present throughout the book, some things had me raising an eyebrow and asking myself if the good doctor might not be laying it on a bit thick. She mentions children being tossed alive into ditches and burned alive en masse by the Nazis. Who knows? I doubt that she witnessed this herself. And while the Nazis definitely murdered children, I can't imagine that even the worst of them could stand by and incinerate ditches full of live children. Anyway, the fact remains that children were killed, but this manner of execution is so horribly cruel that I can't imagine anyone being able to commit this act.
Another passage that seemed not to make sense was her account of the Nazi use of inmates as a source of blood for the war effort. She mentions the donors lying near death in pools of blood. This makes no sense...if you are using a captive herd for the provision of life-saving blood, would you actually use a method that would waste that precious resource? But none of this makes sense, so I'll just throw that on the stack of things that are unexplainable. Nonetheless, rightly or wrongly, I was left with the sense that Perl was exaggerating the case, as if it weren't bad enough all ready. Perl also makes a number of harshly critical comments about Germans as a race, although it is really Nazi fanatics she should reserve her hatred for. After all, many, perhaps most, Germans wanted nothing to do with the happenings at Auschwitz and other camps. Irma Grese's father, for example, booted her out of the house when she joined the SS. Also, Perl misspells the names of the people she dislikes, like "Mengerle" instead of Mengele and "Greze" in place of Grese. This is done consistently throughout the book, so she either honestly believed that the spellings were correct or it was a "f**k you" to her former captors. In any event, I totally understand. I'm sure no one could harbor any positive feelings toward the SS or the country that spawned them if they had gone through the same conditions that Perl was subjected to.
One final note on the nature of humanity. Toward the end of the book Perl has high praise for a member of the Vatican Mission, one Abbe Brand. This religious man, although Christian, did not discriminate in his succor for the recently liberated inmates of Bergen-Belsen and was instrumental in the comfort and provisioning of many survivors, to the point of risking his own wellness through exhaustion. Who do you think has had the most written about them over the years? Mengele and Grese have had whole libraries of books in which they are mentioned. Just try to find mention of Abbe Brand.
NOTE: 13 Oct 2021 - I recently finished Olga Lengyel's book,Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz. She also mentions burning children alive in a ditch. As much as I don't want to believe it, this is obviously a real atrocity.
Dr Perl's story is told in titled chapters, most of which deal with a guard or inmate who impressed her for good or ill. This results in each chapter being basically a stand-alone story, and there is some repetition as a result. The book was written shortly after the war and Perl, perhaps understandably, does not attempt to hide her hatred of Germans. While Nazi atrocity is present throughout the book, some things had me raising an eyebrow and asking myself if the good doctor might not be laying it on a bit thick. She mentions children being tossed alive into ditches and burned alive en masse by the Nazis. Who knows? I doubt that she witnessed this herself. And while the Nazis definitely murdered children, I can't imagine that even the worst of them could stand by and incinerate ditches full of live children. Anyway, the fact remains that children were killed, but this manner of execution is so horribly cruel that I can't imagine anyone being able to commit this act.
Another passage that seemed not to make sense was her account of the Nazi use of inmates as a source of blood for the war effort. She mentions the donors lying near death in pools of blood. This makes no sense...if you are using a captive herd for the provision of life-saving blood, would you actually use a method that would waste that precious resource? But none of this makes sense, so I'll just throw that on the stack of things that are unexplainable. Nonetheless, rightly or wrongly, I was left with the sense that Perl was exaggerating the case, as if it weren't bad enough all ready. Perl also makes a number of harshly critical comments about Germans as a race, although it is really Nazi fanatics she should reserve her hatred for. After all, many, perhaps most, Germans wanted nothing to do with the happenings at Auschwitz and other camps. Irma Grese's father, for example, booted her out of the house when she joined the SS. Also, Perl misspells the names of the people she dislikes, like "Mengerle" instead of Mengele and "Greze" in place of Grese. This is done consistently throughout the book, so she either honestly believed that the spellings were correct or it was a "f**k you" to her former captors. In any event, I totally understand. I'm sure no one could harbor any positive feelings toward the SS or the country that spawned them if they had gone through the same conditions that Perl was subjected to.
One final note on the nature of humanity. Toward the end of the book Perl has high praise for a member of the Vatican Mission, one Abbe Brand. This religious man, although Christian, did not discriminate in his succor for the recently liberated inmates of Bergen-Belsen and was instrumental in the comfort and provisioning of many survivors, to the point of risking his own wellness through exhaustion. Who do you think has had the most written about them over the years? Mengele and Grese have had whole libraries of books in which they are mentioned. Just try to find mention of Abbe Brand.
NOTE: 13 Oct 2021 - I recently finished Olga Lengyel's book,Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz. She also mentions burning children alive in a ditch. As much as I don't want to believe it, this is obviously a real atrocity.
August 8, 2022
Multe cărți despre Auschwitz, dar aceasta este de-a dreptul cutremurătoare.
Am parcurs cartea cu inima mică, însoțită de un tremurat continuu.
Am parcurs cartea cu inima mică, însoțită de un tremurat continuu.
August 24, 2019
It has been seventy years since this book was first published and after being out of print it is now available again.
A small book of 130 pages holds the heartbreaking, disturbing, unbelievable and unimaginable truth of the horrors inside the concentration camps of World war 2 from a witness, a doctor that was a prisoner there and survived.
I cried as I read this book and could only read small parts of it at a time.
A small book of 130 pages holds the heartbreaking, disturbing, unbelievable and unimaginable truth of the horrors inside the concentration camps of World war 2 from a witness, a doctor that was a prisoner there and survived.
I cried as I read this book and could only read small parts of it at a time.
January 17, 2016
I had a hard time reading this. It's a slim little publication, not 200 pages, but it took me weeks to complete. I had to omit my original plan to read it during lunch breaks — I couldn't read a paragraph without getting teary, which I'd rather not have happen at work — and I eventually holed up in my bedroom the day this was supposed to be due back at the library to read it in one late night, marathon session.
As for the book itself, it was exactly what it was: a memoir of surviving the Holocaust, which is to say it was both more and less than what I had expected it to be. I have more of an interest in medical nonfiction than I have in historical, and I sought out Perl's book because she was a medical doctor, specifically because she was known as the abortionist of Auschwitz in her attempts to keep inmates of the camp away from the attentions of Nazi scientists. I would have liked if the memoir had been more expanded. Perl covers strictly her time as an inmate in the camps from just before entering to just after being freed, but I had been wanting more to learn about her life following the war, about being suspected and cleared of assisting in Nazi atrocities, about locating her one surviving family member (her daughter, who was mentioned so little in this book that I had forgotten she existed until I looked up Perl's Wikipedia article), about relocating to New York and becoming a renown specialist of infertility issues. (I read an article once that, after the war ended, she approached every pregnancy she delivered with an attitude of, 'You owe me a living baby, God.' Link.)
It's also very much a memoir of passion, so much so it feels nearly incoherent at times. I was left with the impression that Perl had certain vignettes of her experience that she needed to tell, needed to put to paper, in an attitude of 'This happened, I was there, I saw it.' but it resulted in a disjointed narrative that, for me, detracted from the power of Perl's survival. I'll have to try hunting for a more fleshed-out biography.
My copy of this came by means of inter-library loan, shipped from Los Angeles to Philadelphia. Originally published the year my house was built, the year before my father was born; this edition printed the year my younger brother was born. Faded highlighting and pencil flagging left behind by previous readers throughout. Inked on the first blank page following the last page of writing, written where it would not obscure text, were inscribed the symbols of the cross and the star and the words God bless, heavily enough to emboss the three pages beneath it.
Four stars.
Additional links:
Holocaust History Project bibliography (via the Wayback Machine): link
As for the book itself, it was exactly what it was: a memoir of surviving the Holocaust, which is to say it was both more and less than what I had expected it to be. I have more of an interest in medical nonfiction than I have in historical, and I sought out Perl's book because she was a medical doctor, specifically because she was known as the abortionist of Auschwitz in her attempts to keep inmates of the camp away from the attentions of Nazi scientists. I would have liked if the memoir had been more expanded. Perl covers strictly her time as an inmate in the camps from just before entering to just after being freed, but I had been wanting more to learn about her life following the war, about being suspected and cleared of assisting in Nazi atrocities, about locating her one surviving family member (her daughter, who was mentioned so little in this book that I had forgotten she existed until I looked up Perl's Wikipedia article), about relocating to New York and becoming a renown specialist of infertility issues. (I read an article once that, after the war ended, she approached every pregnancy she delivered with an attitude of, 'You owe me a living baby, God.' Link.)
It's also very much a memoir of passion, so much so it feels nearly incoherent at times. I was left with the impression that Perl had certain vignettes of her experience that she needed to tell, needed to put to paper, in an attitude of 'This happened, I was there, I saw it.' but it resulted in a disjointed narrative that, for me, detracted from the power of Perl's survival. I'll have to try hunting for a more fleshed-out biography.
My copy of this came by means of inter-library loan, shipped from Los Angeles to Philadelphia. Originally published the year my house was built, the year before my father was born; this edition printed the year my younger brother was born. Faded highlighting and pencil flagging left behind by previous readers throughout. Inked on the first blank page following the last page of writing, written where it would not obscure text, were inscribed the symbols of the cross and the star and the words God bless, heavily enough to emboss the three pages beneath it.
Four stars.
Additional links:
Holocaust History Project bibliography (via the Wayback Machine): link
April 1, 2019
I've read my fair share of Holocaust memoirs, but Gisella Perl's story of being a gynecologist and doctor in Auschwitz stood out to me as a unique story of that atrocity in history because of her role as a women's doctor. Her story was presented to me when I first heard it as something very contentious: Perl saved women's lives by terminating their pregnancies, because surely if she hadn't, both the mother and the baby would die at the brutal hands of sadistic Nazi physicians—people like Josef Mengele, who delighted at the idea of conducting heinous medical experiments on fetuses and babies. Perl's memoir goes into great detail into her role in that regard, describing how regretful and disgusted she was by the conditions she had to work in, by the fates of the women she treated. It's a remarkable memoir, and it provides some deep, poignant and heartbreaking insight into the lives of women at these Nazi death camps. Perl's story is contained in this quick, slim autobiography, but it's presented as almost something like vignettes, each chapter telling a different story in the terrible theme of Auschwitz—her writing is clinical at times but poetic and beautiful, and certainly reflective, at others. For anyone interested in the Holocaust or World War II history, I Was A Doctor in Auschwitz is certainly an interesting first-person account of a different side of concentration camps that peple don't often hear about: the forgotten world of women and their health. Definitely an enlightening read.
December 10, 2022
This has by far been one of the most difficult books I have read till date ! The sheer atrocities committed against humanity will give you goosebumps.
Also, it being a true account gives you an inside picture of life in , not one , but three concentration camps . Definitely makes one thankful for living in the times that one does now.
Also, it being a true account gives you an inside picture of life in , not one , but three concentration camps . Definitely makes one thankful for living in the times that one does now.
January 13, 2023
Mă tot gândesc ce aș putea scrie despre aceasta carte, însă nu-mi gândesc cuvintele potrivite.
Emoționantă, dureroasă, plină de suferință, lista ar putea continua...Însă eu una am înțeles, ar trebui să fim mulțumitori pentru fiecare bucată de pâine, pentru fiecare loc în care suntem, pentru LIBERTATE. Să prețuim viața pe care o avem!
Merită citită!!!
Emoționantă, dureroasă, plină de suferință, lista ar putea continua...Însă eu una am înțeles, ar trebui să fim mulțumitori pentru fiecare bucată de pâine, pentru fiecare loc în care suntem, pentru LIBERTATE. Să prețuim viața pe care o avem!
Merită citită!!!
January 18, 2023
So many different words…
This is the most disturbing thing I’ve ever read. The kicker? It’s truth. Over the last twenty years, I’ve read dozens of Holocaust stories. This is my way of paying respect to those who went through that particular hell. Dr. Perl, however, wrote the best of them all. She takes you through the pain, the hopelessness, the sheer torture, and the emptiness of what happened when they were liberated in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.
Everyone needs to read this. Period.
This is the most disturbing thing I’ve ever read. The kicker? It’s truth. Over the last twenty years, I’ve read dozens of Holocaust stories. This is my way of paying respect to those who went through that particular hell. Dr. Perl, however, wrote the best of them all. She takes you through the pain, the hopelessness, the sheer torture, and the emptiness of what happened when they were liberated in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.
Everyone needs to read this. Period.
January 28, 2021
A heart-rending first account. Ought to be required reading.
July 24, 2023
Foarte emoționantă mărturia celei care a fost dr.Gisella Perl din Sighetu Marmației. Deși citesc de ani buni cărți pe subiect, căutând cu obstinație un motiv pentru tot ce s-a petrecut în Shoah, încă aflu amănunte noi, tot mai scabroase, tot mai triste. Am sfârșit cartea cu ochii în lacrimi pentru toată suferința oamenilor de la Auschwitz-Birkenau și Bergen-Belsen.
O mărturie cutremurătoare susținută pe un număr mic de pagini, deoarece, cum știm de la Hannah Arendt, Banalitatea Răului nu are nevoie de mai mult...
O mărturie cutremurătoare susținută pe un număr mic de pagini, deoarece, cum știm de la Hannah Arendt, Banalitatea Răului nu are nevoie de mai mult...
June 3, 2022
“Am fost doctorita la Auschwitz” este un titlu semnat de o supravietuitoare din lagar, de profesie medic ginecolog, care istoriseste atrocitatile ce aveau loc in lagarele de concentrare de la Auschwitz, dar si ce era ea constransa sa faca pentru a-si asigura supravietuirea…
Am citit cartea cu noduri in gat si inima-ndoita, chiar si acum, scriind aceste randuri ma iau palpitatiile… Eram constienta ca si Gisella la randul ei era mama, asemeni altor femei captive la Auschwitz, insa actiunile aveau loc acolo, acea dezumanizare, sadismul de care erau capabili ofiterii desemnati cu “ordinea”…ce ordine, nu stiu, ca saracii oameni erau niste morti-vii, abia se tineau pe picioare…
Nu cred ca pot cuprinde in cuvinte durerea ce am simtit-o cat am parcurs paginile cartii, nu este nici prima, nici ultima carte pe care o citesc despre acea perioada, dar faptul ca este redata din punctul de vedere al unei supravietuitoare, este de zece ori mai crunt. S-a simtit neputinta si suferinta prin cuvintele redate, dar si micile bucurii in acel loc blestemat. Gisella isi spune povestea cu simplitate si atinge prin marturiile sale, fiind inca o dovada vie a acelor ani cutremuratori.
Titlul il gasiti la @editura_omnium 🤗, carora tin sa le multumesc pentru exemplarul oferit 🥰. Vi-l recomand, desi rupe emotional…
July 12, 2017
This book... I have no words. Even thought I finished in a few hours it has been one of the hardest books to read. Every now and then I had to pause and take a deep breath. Being a true life's testimony it shows the reality of three different concentration and extermination camps. I really recommend this book, not only to the ones that are curious about this topic but also to everyone, we do not forget about this time in history. Even thought my county was not directly involved of affected by this war I feel all the sorrow and pain the victims went through. I feel like sometimes we forget our humanity, and this is a really good book to be reminded of that, and to always be kind to each other no matter our believes, races, sexual preferences, among other things, because remember that no one is better than anyone and the we are always equal human beings and we cannot destroy each other.
July 8, 2016
I think this book was amazing. This woman really gave every brutal detail that she encountered. I have read a lot of these memoirs feeling that is important to learn these tragic stories and hear their voices. But this book disturbed me more than any other has. She took the time to tell amazing and inspiring stories about these individuals she met, all who wanted to live, only to perish. She was strong and had to do horrible, unthinkable things to save others. She was and remains a hero. I feel so deeply sorry for her loss and the things that this world allowed to happen. Education is the only way to be free and we must prevent this type of thing from ever happening again.
May 26, 2024
Mi-a fost foarte greu sa ma decid cu privire la rating. Deși e scrisă slab din punct de vedere literar, nu pot nega faptul ca descrie niște istorii cutremurătoare, care pur și simplu nu pot lăsa indiferent pe nimeni. Mai mult, această carte a fost scrisă la scurt timp după ce scriitoarea a fost eliberată din lagăr. Dar luând în considerare ca am citit mai multe cărți legate de Holocaust, unele din ele documentate de persoane terțe, mai obiective, nu am putut remarca faptul ca unele momente din această carte sunt un pic exagerate, deși înțeleg perfect ce a stat în spatele acestor exagerări.
May 23, 2024
Schrecklich detaillierte Dokumentation über die Zustände und Vorgänge in den KZ-Lagern der Nazi-Zeit. Unglaublich, man will und kann es eigentlich gar nicht begreifen. Besonders durch die Geschichten der einzelnen Leute ist alles noch ein bisschen greifbarer und gleichzeitig grausamer geworden
April 4, 2016
The most fascinating book on the Holocaust that I have ever read.
In 2003, a film entitled Out of the Ashes was released. It was based upon the story of Dr. Perl's life, and starred Christine Lahti as Dr. Perl.
It you don't read the book then at least see the movie.
In 2003, a film entitled Out of the Ashes was released. It was based upon the story of Dr. Perl's life, and starred Christine Lahti as Dr. Perl.
It you don't read the book then at least see the movie.
April 7, 2010
This was the most intense book that I have read, ever. I think it is very sad that it is no longer in print and available. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on it, you NEED to read it.
April 18, 2021
This is the most important book I've ever read.
January 3, 2024
To bylo... zvláštní.
Podle anotace byla v Osvětimi-Březince, ona mluví jen o Osvětimi.
Podle doslovu asistovala Mengelemu. Podle jejího vyprávění ho sotva zahlédla. A jen matně tušila, co se děje třeba na bloku 10.
Ale podle dalšího svědectví tam chodila a „nosila mast“.
I když podle ní jedinou mastí tam byl margarín s placebo efektem.
To je matoucí.
Nepochopila jsem logiku toho, že Němci prohrávají válku, osvoboditelé se blíží a dva vojáci eskortují jednu židovskou doktorku z Osvětimi do Hamburku. Musí z Osvětimi pryč „protože toho ví příliš“. A nepomůže jí ani předstírání choroby. Takže bude pracovat v jiné nemocnici...
To nedává smysl.
s. 8 Předkládám tuto knihu (…) ukazuje na stránkách této knihy (…)
G.P., červenec 1946
s. 179 Její svědectví (…) bylo jedno z prvních, které vůbec vyšlo, a to pouhé tři roky poté, co byla osvobozena
Takže o jaké knize to mluví v roce 1946?
s. 179, 180 Vzpomínky byly sepsány a vydány krátce po válce, v dnešní době jsou už jejich výtisky až na několik málo výjimek dávno rozebrané
To je divení.
Opravdu byly nutné poznámky ke knize, kde je úplně jedno, čem kniha je, ale je to genderu?
s. 192 Roku 1979 se přestěhovala do Izraele ... a znovu se shledala se svou dcerou
To ji jako od války neviděla?
Přišlo mi zvláštní, že se 19 dní trmácí všelikde, aby zjistila, že její manžel a syn jsou mrtví. Tak se vrátila do Bergen-Belsenu a spáchala sebevraždu, bo už nechtěla žít. (s. 172)
To už byla přinejmenším druhá sebevražda a navzdory tomu, že byla lékařka, ani jedna se jí nepovedla.
Ale o dceři ani slovo. Dlouze mluví o Alžbětě, které se ujali, když jí bylo 16 let, ale o dceři „Gabrielle, kterou za války ukrývala nežidovská rodina a opět se s matkou shledala až po válce“ (s. 184) se v příběhu vůbec nemluví.
s. 44 všimla jsem si bílého štítku všitého na podšívce: JSEM JULIKA FARKASOVÁ, VĚK 5 LET.
(…) štítek (…) vyprávěl (…) o plavovlasé modrooké holčičce
Takže autorka ji znala? Nebo jenom předpokládala, že to bude plavovlasá modrooká holčička?
s. 45 Ti, kteří se pokusili o útěk, byli zpátky přivlečeni za vlasy.
Za vlasy?
s. 53 té hře jsme říkaly: Jsem paní
s. 177 hru „Na dámu“
s. 34 nás [náš]
s. 45 které [která]
s. 61 sebou [s sebou]
s. 128 jednoho ne nejšikovnějších a nejvyhledávanějších dřevorubců
s. 159 maďarsští
s. 186 filmvé
uvozovky – s. 187 (2×)
Podle anotace byla v Osvětimi-Březince, ona mluví jen o Osvětimi.
Podle doslovu asistovala Mengelemu. Podle jejího vyprávění ho sotva zahlédla. A jen matně tušila, co se děje třeba na bloku 10.
Ale podle dalšího svědectví tam chodila a „nosila mast“.
I když podle ní jedinou mastí tam byl margarín s placebo efektem.
To je matoucí.
Nepochopila jsem logiku toho, že Němci prohrávají válku, osvoboditelé se blíží a dva vojáci eskortují jednu židovskou doktorku z Osvětimi do Hamburku. Musí z Osvětimi pryč „protože toho ví příliš“. A nepomůže jí ani předstírání choroby. Takže bude pracovat v jiné nemocnici...
To nedává smysl.
s. 8 Předkládám tuto knihu (…) ukazuje na stránkách této knihy (…)
G.P., červenec 1946
s. 179 Její svědectví (…) bylo jedno z prvních, které vůbec vyšlo, a to pouhé tři roky poté, co byla osvobozena
Takže o jaké knize to mluví v roce 1946?
s. 179, 180 Vzpomínky byly sepsány a vydány krátce po válce, v dnešní době jsou už jejich výtisky až na několik málo výjimek dávno rozebrané
To je divení.
Opravdu byly nutné poznámky ke knize, kde je úplně jedno, čem kniha je, ale je to genderu?
s. 192 Roku 1979 se přestěhovala do Izraele ... a znovu se shledala se svou dcerou
To ji jako od války neviděla?
Přišlo mi zvláštní, že se 19 dní trmácí všelikde, aby zjistila, že její manžel a syn jsou mrtví. Tak se vrátila do Bergen-Belsenu a spáchala sebevraždu, bo už nechtěla žít. (s. 172)
To už byla přinejmenším druhá sebevražda a navzdory tomu, že byla lékařka, ani jedna se jí nepovedla.
Ale o dceři ani slovo. Dlouze mluví o Alžbětě, které se ujali, když jí bylo 16 let, ale o dceři „Gabrielle, kterou za války ukrývala nežidovská rodina a opět se s matkou shledala až po válce“ (s. 184) se v příběhu vůbec nemluví.
s. 44 všimla jsem si bílého štítku všitého na podšívce: JSEM JULIKA FARKASOVÁ, VĚK 5 LET.
(…) štítek (…) vyprávěl (…) o plavovlasé modrooké holčičce
Takže autorka ji znala? Nebo jenom předpokládala, že to bude plavovlasá modrooká holčička?
s. 45 Ti, kteří se pokusili o útěk, byli zpátky přivlečeni za vlasy.
Za vlasy?
s. 53 té hře jsme říkaly: Jsem paní
s. 177 hru „Na dámu“
s. 34 nás [náš]
s. 45 které [která]
s. 61 sebou [s sebou]
s. 128 jednoho ne nejšikovnějších a nejvyhledávanějších dřevorubců
s. 159 maďarsští
s. 186 filmvé
uvozovky – s. 187 (2×)
August 29, 2021
This is a truly a horrible book to read. I stifled tears through most of it, because the inhumanity of the Nazis defies belief. Whatever you've heard about them, the truth is probably worse than you've heard.
It was written in 1948 by a survivor of Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen, and other concentration camps during WWII. She is an amazing human being whose own survival depended on her ability to do whatever was necessary to save lives. It should be required reading for everyone.
It was written in 1948 by a survivor of Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen, and other concentration camps during WWII. She is an amazing human being whose own survival depended on her ability to do whatever was necessary to save lives. It should be required reading for everyone.
February 12, 2020
There should be no real spoilers except for the fact that this is one of the most heart breaking books you will ever read. This account of jewish and nazi life makes you feel things you did not imagine
January 27, 2023
Am citit multe carti despre Holocaust si implicit despre lucrurile oribile petrecute in lagare, dar aceasta este de-a dreptul cutremuratoare.
E foarte dureroasa, dar merita citita.
E foarte dureroasa, dar merita citita.
May 18, 2024
Finished in one sitting- A short yet incredible read. If I could make this a mandatory read in medical education, I would. It should honestly be read by every person who wants an understanding of the medical atrocities during the Holocaust.
Please read this book.
Please read this book.
July 26, 2025
finished this in one sitting. extremely rough read yet every single human should read this and remember what atrocities were committed during the holocaust.
August 27, 2022
De-a dreptul cutremurator ce-am citit in aceasta carte! Doamne cata durere si suferinta!
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November 16, 2024This is a must read
April 13, 2018
A completely tormenting book. Too disappointing to read the details of how seemingly sympathetic civilian Germans become greedy like the evil regime who overtook them. Too excruciating to read how the ordinary people saw their lives fall apart too quickly, from being thrown out from their homes to being torn away from their countries, and seeing their lives fade away slowly or in a whiff after settling in the unspeakably horrid places they never thought existed. Immensely cruel and crushing to the spirit. The stories of different people Dr. Perl has woven into this book show the uselessness of that fight over supremacy the Nazis waged. It never resulted to any good. It killed not only the physical bodies of those victims but also their dreams, innocently perishing only because they are deemed not humans, when, in the strictest sense of reality, the Nazis are the ones who aren't!
It has made me wonder more about why a group of people see themselves as superior, determined to grab the power to rule over all, that no one has to excel above them; loathing it when the people who outdo them are those who they think are inferior. How I so want to slap not only this book, but all other books related to Holocaust, to the faces of those people who plan to do something those evil Nazis have done years ago. I want to make them realise the utter stupidity such ideologies embody.
As long as one group of people is bent upon taking over the entire nations for their selfish motives, we must never feel complacent that we are living in better times. Humans never have shaken off their propensity to bestiality. We must be wary of what the future has in store for us. We'll never know when that bestiality suddenly erupts again. I hope we can work together despite our differences to stop such people from repeating the Nazi's foolish and senseless abuses and love for stirring fears to satisfy their inhumanity.
It has made me wonder more about why a group of people see themselves as superior, determined to grab the power to rule over all, that no one has to excel above them; loathing it when the people who outdo them are those who they think are inferior. How I so want to slap not only this book, but all other books related to Holocaust, to the faces of those people who plan to do something those evil Nazis have done years ago. I want to make them realise the utter stupidity such ideologies embody.
As long as one group of people is bent upon taking over the entire nations for their selfish motives, we must never feel complacent that we are living in better times. Humans never have shaken off their propensity to bestiality. We must be wary of what the future has in store for us. We'll never know when that bestiality suddenly erupts again. I hope we can work together despite our differences to stop such people from repeating the Nazi's foolish and senseless abuses and love for stirring fears to satisfy their inhumanity.
February 20, 2017
the best book to describe the actual brutality happened in the Jew camps. Without any veil, the author gave details on the conditions of the Jews.... it’s like a memoir of a holocaust survivor, and one can relate a lot with the Anne Frank journals... the book is small and 190 paged yet is something one cannot finish it quickly because of the dreadful memories stories and inhumane brutality... at many points in the book you will be filled with disgust by the brutality and each one of the detail will drain you emotionally... its a painful read but a must read
September 11, 2024
This is quite possibly the most disturbing book I have ever read. But it’s an important one, and a reminder of what I thought about while reading “Black AF History”- whatever you think you know of human cruelty, it is worse.
Currently reading
January 28, 2010This is a really awesome, powerful book. I have trouble putting it down. It reminds me a lot of Anne Frank.
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