Inside the Concentration Camps: Eyewitness Accounts of Life in Hitler's Death Camps

by Thomas R. Whissen

This book is a translation of an oral history of the concentration camp experience recorded immediately after World War II as told by men and women who endured it and lived to tell about it. Their vivid, firsthand accounts heighten the reality of this experience in ways no third-person narrative can capture. Even when they are at a loss for words, their struggle to find language to express the unspeakable is, in itself, mute testimony to the ordeal etched forever on their memories. The testimonies are arranged to reflect the chronology of camp experience (from deportation to liberation), the living conditions of camp life (from malnutrition to forced labor), and the various methods of abuse and extermination (from castration to gassing and cremation). The chronology gives the accounts a narrative flow and even creates a certain suspense, especially as liberation nears and hopes rise.

Genres: History

200 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 1996

Reviews

[Sarah Gatewood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book about a week ago and I am still very amazed at the stunning accounts in this book. The format of this book is very different that all of the eyewitnesses are listed in a numbered list and then the corresponding number of an account listed matches a specific person. The chapters are organized in order of arrival into the camp, life in the camp, etc. The book is very organized and the accounts are very detailed. The accounts were taken in 1945 in order to have evidence for the Nuremberg Trials. I have read a lot about The Holocaust and this book covered so much. I found chilling accounts I have never read and pictures I have never seen contained in this book. There is also a very long list of all of the Nazi camps. I cannot recommend this book enough.

[Kelly Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of eyewitness accounts from within several concentration camps. The book lists their sources up front and then each account - some only a single sentence long - is identified by the number given in the List of Witnesses, Reports and Documents. The book is broken up into sections - Deportation, Internment, Life in the Camps, Medical Experiments and Vivisection, Various Methods of Execution, Liberation, etc.

There is no plot, there are no characters. It's just one punch after another. Alarmingly educational and more than a little depressing.

[Lynnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is utterly amazing! Each line in the book is a quote from a person or a documented source. The lines are put together to create sentences, paragraphs and chapters. The pictures are horribly real and vivid and sometimes take your breath away. I say that anyone learning or interested in the Holocaust needs to read this very real account of what truly happened. I felt like I was there experiencing it with the victims and the officers.

[Leah Haugen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read multiple books on the Holocaust. This one was by far my favorite. It was my favorite because I felt it provided the most accurate description of this time period and offered a different feeling than most of the books. It makes you feel the horror they felt at the camps more than some of the other books on the Holocaust. I believe it is one of the more gruesome books on the subject but that is because it contains quotes from the survivors rather than one story.