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Mein ist die Rache
Erschreckend, schonungslos und mit großer Sensibilität erzählt der Autor in nüchternem und reduziertem Stil von den Geschehnissen in einem Konzentrationslager. Durch bestialische Folter und Verhöre beginnt der neue Kommandant des KZ die Vernichtung des Judentums einzuleiten. Sollen sich die Todgeweihten tatenlos ihrem grausamen, unmenschlichen Schicksal ergeben und blind auf Gott vertrauen oder es selbst in die Hand nehmen, wenn sich ihnen die Möglichkeit bietet?
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1943
About the author
Friedrich Torberg
61 books19 followersFriedrich Torberg (born Friedrich Ephraim Kantor-Berg) was a German-Czechoslovakian author, journalist, and publisher.
see https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedri...
see https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedri...
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
April 12, 2026
Exceptionally good and highly recommended. Should form an essential part of any reading of the literature of the Shoah. It is a short novella, and readable in a single setting. Hermann Broch considered it a masterpiece, if that means anything to you, as did Max Brod. It is powerful, unsettling stuff.
April 29, 2026
"You have to see, sir," he observed, "As long as there is but one among us who hangs his hope on this 'maybe; one of us who believes in this 'something else will hap-pen' before what others suffered comes to him... "At this point Aschkenasy stood up, raised his voice, and put his fists to his temples. "As long as just one of us hopes it will befall everybody else but not him, then it will befall all of us over and over again."
Vengeance is Mine (2026) is translated by Stephanie Gorrell Ortega from the original Mein ist die Rache by Friedrich Torberg, originally published in 1943, although the translation draws on the 2008 edition.
This is the April 2026 book from the highly recommended Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month club, which raises funds that support the UKs most exciting annual book prize, the Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize, as well as showcasing a collection of books from the vibrant small independent press scene.
This book is published by Boiler House Press, an imprint from the University of East Anglia's Publishing Project, and is part of their Recovered Books project (see below), this translation, the first in to English, being commissioned for the novel.
The book comes with a foreword from Menachem Kaiser, a Canadian writer, and afterwords from both the translator and also the literary scholar Marcel Atze, whose afterword was written for the 2008 edition and translated here by Gorrell Ortega.
The novel opens:
On a foggy day in November 1940, I had occasion to stand on the pier in New Jersey to wait for friends from Europe. It was the fourth time I was there. And for the fourth time I was aware of a gaunt, hunched figure, a man about forty, roaming agitatedly through the reception hall. He went back and forth restlessly, though walking seemed difficult for him: his left leg was noticeably lame. His head was bare and his old jacket was clearly of European cut. His miserable clothing was painstakingly clean and his wrinkled face scrupulously shaven. They underscored the poverty of his appearance. Yet I would never have attempted to offer him money or any help.
The gaunt figure tells the narrator he is waiting for anyone of 75 people, and, after some prompting tells his story to the novel's narrator (who relays it to us).
The story the man tells explains his haunted demeanour. He was one of 80 Jewish prisoners in a pre-WW2 concentration camp in Germany on the Dutch border, the ficticious Heidenburg, although (from the afterword) closely based on a real camp at Esterwegen between 1933 and 1936.
A new, sadistic, camp commandant Wagenseil, first separates the Jewish inmates from the others, then proceeds on a program of elimination, selecting a prisoner seemingly at random and having the guards beat them until they take the offered option of suicide (by hanging from the rope, or by gunshot wound from the pistol Wagenseil leaves in their cell).
After the fourth such death - of a defiant prisoner who volunteered to be next and refused to take the option of suicide, instead dying from his severe injuries - the remaining 76 prisoners debate their likely fate; whether they have a choice or their deaths are inevitable; and, in particular, should, if the chance arises, they take revenge - including a theological debate in which a rabbinical candidate, Aschkenasy, invokes both Pslam 94 and Deuteronomy 32:35, from which the novel takes its title.
And then the man telling the story is the 5th prisoner selected by Wagenseil, who give his own perspective on the debate and on the Jewish people.
The novel was originally written in the early 1940s, before the more industrial-scale holocaust was known about, or even fully underway, and the novel's blurb hails it as the first work to anticipate the Nazi's planned program to exterminate Europe's Jews. But the novel is also notable, amd timely, for the debates on vengeance and the right or even obligation to take it.
"I am not with you on this, Aschkenasy," said Brenner.
"Do you not think it is sometimes better not to rely on the Lord to take revenge? Do you not consider reliance on Him can be weakness?"
"Weakness," Aschkenasy repeated, and he nodded.
"Trust might be weakness when a person has the choice between taking revenge himself and trusting the Lord to do it. But do we have a choice?"
And the last line contains a revealing twist in the story.
Impressive.
Boiler House Press
Boiler House Press is a publisher of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and everything in-between.
We are based at the University of East Anglia, home of the world-renowned Creative Writing MA, and a centre for creative-critical writing studies.
We are passionate about writing that breaks a mould; that surprises; that plays with-and-between the creative and the critical. We want to open and excite your mind. We believe words have the power to change things.
Their Recovered Books project
Recovered Books is unique among reissue publishing series in not limiting itself to any time period, genre, or language. Its sole aim is to bring back to print exceptional books that have been profoundly forgotten — in some cases, so forgotten that there are no mentions in any literary history and no copies available outside a handful of libraries.
Since its launch in 2021, Recovered Books has become recognized as a series maintaining the highest standards of editorial curation and book design. Every book includes an introduction by a contemporary writer aimed at sharing enthusiasm for a title and author usually utterly unknown to the reader and an afterword intended to set the work in its literary and historical context and encourage further study and research. Every book includes unique design elements including color, endpapers, glyphs, and photographs. Recovered Books are not just good reads but good-looking books.
Vengeance is Mine (2026) is translated by Stephanie Gorrell Ortega from the original Mein ist die Rache by Friedrich Torberg, originally published in 1943, although the translation draws on the 2008 edition.
This is the April 2026 book from the highly recommended Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month club, which raises funds that support the UKs most exciting annual book prize, the Queen Mary Small Press Fiction Prize, as well as showcasing a collection of books from the vibrant small independent press scene.
This book is published by Boiler House Press, an imprint from the University of East Anglia's Publishing Project, and is part of their Recovered Books project (see below), this translation, the first in to English, being commissioned for the novel.
The book comes with a foreword from Menachem Kaiser, a Canadian writer, and afterwords from both the translator and also the literary scholar Marcel Atze, whose afterword was written for the 2008 edition and translated here by Gorrell Ortega.
The novel opens:
On a foggy day in November 1940, I had occasion to stand on the pier in New Jersey to wait for friends from Europe. It was the fourth time I was there. And for the fourth time I was aware of a gaunt, hunched figure, a man about forty, roaming agitatedly through the reception hall. He went back and forth restlessly, though walking seemed difficult for him: his left leg was noticeably lame. His head was bare and his old jacket was clearly of European cut. His miserable clothing was painstakingly clean and his wrinkled face scrupulously shaven. They underscored the poverty of his appearance. Yet I would never have attempted to offer him money or any help.
The gaunt figure tells the narrator he is waiting for anyone of 75 people, and, after some prompting tells his story to the novel's narrator (who relays it to us).
The story the man tells explains his haunted demeanour. He was one of 80 Jewish prisoners in a pre-WW2 concentration camp in Germany on the Dutch border, the ficticious Heidenburg, although (from the afterword) closely based on a real camp at Esterwegen between 1933 and 1936.
A new, sadistic, camp commandant Wagenseil, first separates the Jewish inmates from the others, then proceeds on a program of elimination, selecting a prisoner seemingly at random and having the guards beat them until they take the offered option of suicide (by hanging from the rope, or by gunshot wound from the pistol Wagenseil leaves in their cell).
After the fourth such death - of a defiant prisoner who volunteered to be next and refused to take the option of suicide, instead dying from his severe injuries - the remaining 76 prisoners debate their likely fate; whether they have a choice or their deaths are inevitable; and, in particular, should, if the chance arises, they take revenge - including a theological debate in which a rabbinical candidate, Aschkenasy, invokes both Pslam 94 and Deuteronomy 32:35, from which the novel takes its title.
And then the man telling the story is the 5th prisoner selected by Wagenseil, who give his own perspective on the debate and on the Jewish people.
The novel was originally written in the early 1940s, before the more industrial-scale holocaust was known about, or even fully underway, and the novel's blurb hails it as the first work to anticipate the Nazi's planned program to exterminate Europe's Jews. But the novel is also notable, amd timely, for the debates on vengeance and the right or even obligation to take it.
"I am not with you on this, Aschkenasy," said Brenner.
"Do you not think it is sometimes better not to rely on the Lord to take revenge? Do you not consider reliance on Him can be weakness?"
"Weakness," Aschkenasy repeated, and he nodded.
"Trust might be weakness when a person has the choice between taking revenge himself and trusting the Lord to do it. But do we have a choice?"
And the last line contains a revealing twist in the story.
Impressive.
Boiler House Press
Boiler House Press is a publisher of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and everything in-between.
We are based at the University of East Anglia, home of the world-renowned Creative Writing MA, and a centre for creative-critical writing studies.
We are passionate about writing that breaks a mould; that surprises; that plays with-and-between the creative and the critical. We want to open and excite your mind. We believe words have the power to change things.
Their Recovered Books project
Recovered Books is unique among reissue publishing series in not limiting itself to any time period, genre, or language. Its sole aim is to bring back to print exceptional books that have been profoundly forgotten — in some cases, so forgotten that there are no mentions in any literary history and no copies available outside a handful of libraries.
Since its launch in 2021, Recovered Books has become recognized as a series maintaining the highest standards of editorial curation and book design. Every book includes an introduction by a contemporary writer aimed at sharing enthusiasm for a title and author usually utterly unknown to the reader and an afterword intended to set the work in its literary and historical context and encourage further study and research. Every book includes unique design elements including color, endpapers, glyphs, and photographs. Recovered Books are not just good reads but good-looking books.
May 9, 2026
This is probably the first German book I've read in English translation. I don't normally do this, but this was the April book of the month from the Republic of Consciousness and it's out of print in German anyways. So I went with the English version. The translator explains she went with contemporary American English instead of 1940s Queen's English, which resulted in a linguistically easily readable novella - but conceptually it's still challenging.
I've read my fair share of concentration camp literature, mostly in university, and I have to say this book feels a little different. What I remember from most other books is the boredom, the physical hardship, loss, hunger, not knowing whether your loved ones are alright. Hopelessness. I do not remember a single book in which the inmates stood up against the regime, because what was there to stand up against? This book singles out Wagenseil as the individual responsible for the inmates' suffering, whereas I mostly remember it being the regime, and how are you going to stand up to a regime, weak and hungry and sleepdeprived and captive as you are? But in Vengeance is Mine, there is Wagenseil who embodies this regime. That means it's one person who represents all evil, and that makes it possible to try to target him. And that's how this story supports the philosophical religious debate it's all about: are you supposed to let people mistreat you and trust that God will punish them when they die, or will God only help you if you help yourself, even if helping yourself means hurting or even killing other people? How evil does someone have to be to justify killing them? And are you allowed to take vengeance into your own hands if that provides a chance that other people will not suffer the same way you do, even if it might also mean they will suffer worse still? Could you live with yourself knowing that you tried, even if, looking back, you suspect that you tipped the scales the wrong way and it all turned out worse for the others instead of better?
I've read my fair share of concentration camp literature, mostly in university, and I have to say this book feels a little different. What I remember from most other books is the boredom, the physical hardship, loss, hunger, not knowing whether your loved ones are alright. Hopelessness. I do not remember a single book in which the inmates stood up against the regime, because what was there to stand up against? This book singles out Wagenseil as the individual responsible for the inmates' suffering, whereas I mostly remember it being the regime, and how are you going to stand up to a regime, weak and hungry and sleepdeprived and captive as you are? But in Vengeance is Mine, there is Wagenseil who embodies this regime. That means it's one person who represents all evil, and that makes it possible to try to target him. And that's how this story supports the philosophical religious debate it's all about: are you supposed to let people mistreat you and trust that God will punish them when they die, or will God only help you if you help yourself, even if helping yourself means hurting or even killing other people? How evil does someone have to be to justify killing them? And are you allowed to take vengeance into your own hands if that provides a chance that other people will not suffer the same way you do, even if it might also mean they will suffer worse still? Could you live with yourself knowing that you tried, even if, looking back, you suspect that you tipped the scales the wrong way and it all turned out worse for the others instead of better?
April 8, 2026
Sterke novelle uit de vroege jaren '40 waarin het leven in een concentratiekamp (voor kennis van de vernietigingskampen verspreid was!) wordt beschreven. Niet enkel de onmenselijke ellende komt aan bod maar ook vragen rond wraak en vergelding. Het einde is een enorme mokerslag.
September 5, 2022
Due cose: questo è solo uno spuntappunto dei miei, la possibilità che ho (potendo scrivere) di mettere su carta i miei labili pensieri e, potendo leggere, rifletterci su; la seconda cosa è che questo piccolo libro, 83 pagine in tutto, postfazione di Haim Baharier compresa, va riletto.
Potrei farlo subito, ma no. Ho il bisogno, fisico quasi, di fissare i miei pensieri, ora, subito. Vedete che titolo ha? “Mia è la vendetta”. Deuteronomio,32,35.
Questa frase, questo concetto, questo precetto è protagonista del racconto. E’ un racconto non autobiografico, ma l’autore ha tutti i titoli per scriverlo ‘come se fosse’, ambientandolo in un campo di concentramento vicino al confine olandese, Heidenburg comandato dall’ SS- Gruppenfuhrer Wagenseil. Da una piccola ricerca ho scoperto che ci fu il lager di Hindenburg e un altro libro, scritto da Renzo Pellegrini che racconta la strage che lì vi fu il 27 gennaio 1945.
Mi sono sempre chiesta da appassionata di Storia della Shoah e di genocidi in genere, come un intero popolo abbia potuto subire tutto ciò che accadde così come accadde, tra torture, spoliazione materiale, demolizione della propria singola unicità, fumo e cenere: come ha potuto un intero popolo assistere al ‘silenzio di Dio’?
Qualcosa ho intuito leggendo questo piccolo libro, ma ancora pochissimo. ‘Mia è la vendetta’ dice il Signore e dunque non sta all’uomo attuarla. Il protagonista del libro, colui che racconta in terza persona, è un ‘candidato rabbino’ (e un rabbino è sempre ‘candidato’, immagino alla vicinanza e alla comprensione di Dio) che si trova, suo malgrado, su una soglia. La sua mano si arma e da questo gesto scaturiranno domande e interpretazioni ed è questo il motivo per una rilettura: per capire. Capire la profonda consapevolezza che ha un ebreo del suo essere ebreo, capire il perché questo popolo non si difese, perché dal 1948 in poi lo abbia imparato. Perché possa il passato essere utile al futuro.
Questo è il brano su cui rifletterò più a lungo, alle pagine 61-62:
‘Bisogna decidersi, dirò loro. Non è come ha detto Aschkenasy: che non abbiamo scelta. Solo i nostri nemici lo credono e i nostri persecutori, lo so, uno di loro me l’ha detto di persona. Ed è proprio questo ciò che li rende così sicuri: che noi confidiamo sempre solo nella vendetta divina, sempre solo, sempre di nuovo, sempre ancora, da millenni. Aschkenasy vi ha detto: questa è la nostra vittoria e per tale motivo siamo ancora in vita. Bene, noi siamo ancora in vita, ciò non si può negare. Ma da dove ci nasce la convinzione che altrimenti non saremmo più in vita? Da dove sappiamo che non è proprio per questo, perché non abbiamo mai pensato di fare altro, che da millenni dobbiamo invocare la vendetta divina? mia è la vendetta, dice il Signore. Ma forse ci sono dei casi nei quali egli aggiunge anche: quanto meno non dovreste privarvene con tanta fretta, non dovreste caricarla precipitosamente su di me. A volte fareste meglio a rispondere della mia vendetta, a mostrare di essere pronti per essa. Perché questa disponibilità appartiene al servizio e all’ubbidienza allo stesso modo di quell’altra: quella di lasciare la vendetta a me. Mia è la vendetta e io la eserciterò quando mi aggrada. Ma non crediate di non aver nient’altro da fare se non invocare la vendetta affinché possa piacermi. Non sono più certo che voi agite così per fedeltà alla legge e non per vigliaccheria e per timore, perché siete diventati deboli e flebili a forza di confidare nella mia vendetta. Non sono più certo che voi meritiate la mia vendetta e ne siate degni. Voi pensate di esserlo per via della vostra sofferenza? Se fosse volontaria: forse. Se vi fosse stata concessa la scelta tra soffrire e non soffrire e aveste scelto di soffrire: forse. Voi non avete scelta? O così vi ha detto quel candidato rabbino, Joseph Aschkenasy - e voi gli avete creduto e ne foste confortati. E ora? Come stanno le cose ora? date una risposta! Decidetevi!’
Potrei farlo subito, ma no. Ho il bisogno, fisico quasi, di fissare i miei pensieri, ora, subito. Vedete che titolo ha? “Mia è la vendetta”. Deuteronomio,32,35.
Questa frase, questo concetto, questo precetto è protagonista del racconto. E’ un racconto non autobiografico, ma l’autore ha tutti i titoli per scriverlo ‘come se fosse’, ambientandolo in un campo di concentramento vicino al confine olandese, Heidenburg comandato dall’ SS- Gruppenfuhrer Wagenseil. Da una piccola ricerca ho scoperto che ci fu il lager di Hindenburg e un altro libro, scritto da Renzo Pellegrini che racconta la strage che lì vi fu il 27 gennaio 1945.
Mi sono sempre chiesta da appassionata di Storia della Shoah e di genocidi in genere, come un intero popolo abbia potuto subire tutto ciò che accadde così come accadde, tra torture, spoliazione materiale, demolizione della propria singola unicità, fumo e cenere: come ha potuto un intero popolo assistere al ‘silenzio di Dio’?
Qualcosa ho intuito leggendo questo piccolo libro, ma ancora pochissimo. ‘Mia è la vendetta’ dice il Signore e dunque non sta all’uomo attuarla. Il protagonista del libro, colui che racconta in terza persona, è un ‘candidato rabbino’ (e un rabbino è sempre ‘candidato’, immagino alla vicinanza e alla comprensione di Dio) che si trova, suo malgrado, su una soglia. La sua mano si arma e da questo gesto scaturiranno domande e interpretazioni ed è questo il motivo per una rilettura: per capire. Capire la profonda consapevolezza che ha un ebreo del suo essere ebreo, capire il perché questo popolo non si difese, perché dal 1948 in poi lo abbia imparato. Perché possa il passato essere utile al futuro.
Questo è il brano su cui rifletterò più a lungo, alle pagine 61-62:
‘Bisogna decidersi, dirò loro. Non è come ha detto Aschkenasy: che non abbiamo scelta. Solo i nostri nemici lo credono e i nostri persecutori, lo so, uno di loro me l’ha detto di persona. Ed è proprio questo ciò che li rende così sicuri: che noi confidiamo sempre solo nella vendetta divina, sempre solo, sempre di nuovo, sempre ancora, da millenni. Aschkenasy vi ha detto: questa è la nostra vittoria e per tale motivo siamo ancora in vita. Bene, noi siamo ancora in vita, ciò non si può negare. Ma da dove ci nasce la convinzione che altrimenti non saremmo più in vita? Da dove sappiamo che non è proprio per questo, perché non abbiamo mai pensato di fare altro, che da millenni dobbiamo invocare la vendetta divina? mia è la vendetta, dice il Signore. Ma forse ci sono dei casi nei quali egli aggiunge anche: quanto meno non dovreste privarvene con tanta fretta, non dovreste caricarla precipitosamente su di me. A volte fareste meglio a rispondere della mia vendetta, a mostrare di essere pronti per essa. Perché questa disponibilità appartiene al servizio e all’ubbidienza allo stesso modo di quell’altra: quella di lasciare la vendetta a me. Mia è la vendetta e io la eserciterò quando mi aggrada. Ma non crediate di non aver nient’altro da fare se non invocare la vendetta affinché possa piacermi. Non sono più certo che voi agite così per fedeltà alla legge e non per vigliaccheria e per timore, perché siete diventati deboli e flebili a forza di confidare nella mia vendetta. Non sono più certo che voi meritiate la mia vendetta e ne siate degni. Voi pensate di esserlo per via della vostra sofferenza? Se fosse volontaria: forse. Se vi fosse stata concessa la scelta tra soffrire e non soffrire e aveste scelto di soffrire: forse. Voi non avete scelta? O così vi ha detto quel candidato rabbino, Joseph Aschkenasy - e voi gli avete creduto e ne foste confortati. E ora? Come stanno le cose ora? date una risposta! Decidetevi!’
December 17, 2022
Recuerdo que en La Patrulla-X de Claremont los mutantes buenos estaban en contra de matar a sus enemigos porque consideraban que suponía caer en su misma bajeza moral: "Nosotros no somos como ellos ", decían, y los lectores entendíamos que querían decir "Nosotros somos mejores que ellos".
El protagonista de esta novela se enfrenta a la dificultad de mantener una postura similar pero desde un planteamiento propio de la religión judía: "Los judíos no deben vengarse de sus enemigos, la venganza sólo pertenece a Dios", y los lectores entendemos que el buen judío debe confiar en que será Dios quien dé su merecido a los enemigos del pueblo elegido.
Como agnóstico que soy, la verdad es que le he visto poco recorrido a esa postura en la situación concreta a la que se enfrenta el protagonista. Habría entendido mejor un escrúpulo moral como el de la Patrulla-X.
Novela corta y dura, fácil de meter en la boca pero difícil de tragar.
El protagonista de esta novela se enfrenta a la dificultad de mantener una postura similar pero desde un planteamiento propio de la religión judía: "Los judíos no deben vengarse de sus enemigos, la venganza sólo pertenece a Dios", y los lectores entendemos que el buen judío debe confiar en que será Dios quien dé su merecido a los enemigos del pueblo elegido.
Como agnóstico que soy, la verdad es que le he visto poco recorrido a esa postura en la situación concreta a la que se enfrenta el protagonista. Habría entendido mejor un escrúpulo moral como el de la Patrulla-X.
Novela corta y dura, fácil de meter en la boca pero difícil de tragar.
October 16, 2020
Puh, also leichte Lektüre ist das definitiv nicht. Ich finde es total faszinierend, dass es sich dabei quasi um einen literarischen Zeitzeugenbericht handelt, dass diese Schilderung des KZ-Lebens bereits 1942 publiziert wurde, natürlich im Exil - quasi als Aufklärung, was da eigentlich passiert. Die seelische Tortur, die Frage nach Gott und irgendwo auch dem Sinn des Leidens, wird hier sehr gut aufgearbeitet - ich habe das von Cornelius Obonya gelesene Hörbuch gehört, eine wunderbare Interpretation dieses zerissenen Ich-Erzählers, emotional, packend und zugleich in manchen Passagen distanziert und neutral. Daher gibt es vier Sterne von mir - und das obwohl ich mit dem Schüler Gerber zu Schulzeiten nichts anfangen konnte.
April 28, 2026
This slim novella, written in 1943, is set in a bar on a New Jersey pier in November 1940 and told by the narrator, a disconsolate 40 year old man, to a stranger who saw the narrator's distress and offered help.
We learn that the unnamed narrator waits at the pier everyday for 75 people who never arrive. It's not a spoiler to say the man is a survivor of a small concentration camp run by cruel, brutal commandant who separated the Jews from the other prisoners and set about torturing the Jews to death or pushing them to suicide. The depictions of beatings are of course difficult to read, but the narrator is dispassionate when telling his story which makes less hard than I expected.
The survivor is still haunted by the question he grappled with while in the camp, a question he and his fellow prisoners debated in their crowded barrack: does vengeance belong to God alone, as it says in the Torah, or is one justified if, when faced with the opportunity to kill the brutal commandant, they kill him?
One remarkable aspect of this book is that it was the first to predict the systematic murder of millions of Jews, which knowing how tragically correct the author was, makes the question of vengeance even more poignant.
This is painful story gives us much to think about: for the faithful is violence or revenge ever justified? If not, is one sacrificing his morality to protect others by killing a killer?
Another exceptional book from the Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month Club, the best subscription for lovers of indie press books!
We learn that the unnamed narrator waits at the pier everyday for 75 people who never arrive. It's not a spoiler to say the man is a survivor of a small concentration camp run by cruel, brutal commandant who separated the Jews from the other prisoners and set about torturing the Jews to death or pushing them to suicide. The depictions of beatings are of course difficult to read, but the narrator is dispassionate when telling his story which makes less hard than I expected.
The survivor is still haunted by the question he grappled with while in the camp, a question he and his fellow prisoners debated in their crowded barrack: does vengeance belong to God alone, as it says in the Torah, or is one justified if, when faced with the opportunity to kill the brutal commandant, they kill him?
One remarkable aspect of this book is that it was the first to predict the systematic murder of millions of Jews, which knowing how tragically correct the author was, makes the question of vengeance even more poignant.
This is painful story gives us much to think about: for the faithful is violence or revenge ever justified? If not, is one sacrificing his morality to protect others by killing a killer?
Another exceptional book from the Republic of Consciousness Book of the Month Club, the best subscription for lovers of indie press books!
February 22, 2019
Un libro sobre el holocausto ligeramente distinto. Más que una relación de las privaciones y los castigos físicos, es un análisis de las torturas del alma.
April 23, 2026
Unbearable to read, impossible to stop
March 27, 2019
Was nicht einmal 100 Ratings???
Wie krimminell unbekannt ist dieses Buch bitte.
Ich hab es in nur einer Sitzung beendet und war vollends begeistert.
Torberg's Schreibstil ist einfach fabelhaft und ich war des öfteren den Tränen nahe, so emotional investiert war ich in diesem Buch, trotz seinen kurzen 75 Seiten. Und diesen "Plot-twist" am Ende des Buches habe ich nicht erwartet.
Für mich also ein kompletter "No-Brainer" -> 5/5 Sternen.
Wie krimminell unbekannt ist dieses Buch bitte.
Ich hab es in nur einer Sitzung beendet und war vollends begeistert.
Torberg's Schreibstil ist einfach fabelhaft und ich war des öfteren den Tränen nahe, so emotional investiert war ich in diesem Buch, trotz seinen kurzen 75 Seiten. Und diesen "Plot-twist" am Ende des Buches habe ich nicht erwartet.
Für mich also ein kompletter "No-Brainer" -> 5/5 Sternen.
November 4, 2016
Publicado en 1943 fue una de las primeras narraciones sobre el Holocausto. Terrible la decisión del protagonista y retrato de la brutalidad de una época infame.
April 8, 2026
Holocaust novels and movies, confronted with the unspeakable unwriteable unwatchable (almost unthinkable) reality, often turn into philosophic fables or religious essays – for example
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
The Zone of Interest – movie and Martin Amis book
Life is Beautiful - movie
The Portage to San Christobal of AH by George Steiner
Vengeance is Mine is another one of those. It’s a meditation about the Jewish idea of God. In a concentration camp one barrack is reserved for the Jewish prisoners. Every day one of them is carted off for “interrogation” and doesn’t come back alive. The remaining Jewish prisoners discuss their horrible situation. They wonder if they could possibly get an opportunity for revenge on their Nazi persecutors. There’s a “candidate rabbi” who explains a religious argument, the short version of which is : “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord”. Even if presented with the perfect opportunity, Jews should not take vengeance into their own hands because that would be to go against the commandment of God. The Lord’s vengeance and ours is one and the same, he says. And further, we avenge ourselves constantly by continuing to exist.
The narrator of this story is then selected for “interrogation” and carted off to see the commandant. He asks why he thinks he’s been selected. Don’t know. “Because you participated in the international Jewish conspiracy”. The conspiracy he refers to is not some silly fantasy about the Elders of Zion – no, we are not idiots. The real conspiracy is available for all to see in broad daylight. Its transparency is what protects it.
The conspiracy consists of the fact that there are Jews and it will exist until there are no Jews. And of course it is in the parasitic nature of the Jews to endure all persecutions. They are not aware of their own nature – but the red pilled Nazis have perceived the truth.
After more physical torture dealt out by SS thugs the narrator gets to a point where he thinks that we all really do have choices to make, we aren’t prisoners of our alleged natures. And he wants to tell the Jews that their passive reliance on God’s vengeance has made them unworthy of God’s vengeance.
A fine paradox!
As you can see, this novelette, written just before the full fury of the Holocaust broke in east Europe, wades into murky waters.
Short, sharp, very bitter.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
The Zone of Interest – movie and Martin Amis book
Life is Beautiful - movie
The Portage to San Christobal of AH by George Steiner
Vengeance is Mine is another one of those. It’s a meditation about the Jewish idea of God. In a concentration camp one barrack is reserved for the Jewish prisoners. Every day one of them is carted off for “interrogation” and doesn’t come back alive. The remaining Jewish prisoners discuss their horrible situation. They wonder if they could possibly get an opportunity for revenge on their Nazi persecutors. There’s a “candidate rabbi” who explains a religious argument, the short version of which is : “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord”. Even if presented with the perfect opportunity, Jews should not take vengeance into their own hands because that would be to go against the commandment of God. The Lord’s vengeance and ours is one and the same, he says. And further, we avenge ourselves constantly by continuing to exist.
The narrator of this story is then selected for “interrogation” and carted off to see the commandant. He asks why he thinks he’s been selected. Don’t know. “Because you participated in the international Jewish conspiracy”. The conspiracy he refers to is not some silly fantasy about the Elders of Zion – no, we are not idiots. The real conspiracy is available for all to see in broad daylight. Its transparency is what protects it.
The conspiracy consists of the fact that there are Jews and it will exist until there are no Jews. And of course it is in the parasitic nature of the Jews to endure all persecutions. They are not aware of their own nature – but the red pilled Nazis have perceived the truth.
After more physical torture dealt out by SS thugs the narrator gets to a point where he thinks that we all really do have choices to make, we aren’t prisoners of our alleged natures. And he wants to tell the Jews that their passive reliance on God’s vengeance has made them unworthy of God’s vengeance.
A fine paradox!
As you can see, this novelette, written just before the full fury of the Holocaust broke in east Europe, wades into murky waters.
Short, sharp, very bitter.
January 20, 2025
Las dos historias dentro de éste libro son crudas y reales.
"Mía es la venganza", habla sobre el cambio de mentalidad de uno de los judíos dentro del campo de concentración. Pasando de la pasividad (La venganza la realizará mi dios) a la activa (mía es la venganza). Se cuestiona: ¿Es verdad que no tengo poder de decisión?
"El golem", denota la riqueza cultural e histórica de los judíos tras una serie de investigaciones que realizaron los nazis. La intención era "conocer al enemigo para protegerse a uno mismo".
"Mía es la venganza", habla sobre el cambio de mentalidad de uno de los judíos dentro del campo de concentración. Pasando de la pasividad (La venganza la realizará mi dios) a la activa (mía es la venganza). Se cuestiona: ¿Es verdad que no tengo poder de decisión?
"El golem", denota la riqueza cultural e histórica de los judíos tras una serie de investigaciones que realizaron los nazis. La intención era "conocer al enemigo para protegerse a uno mismo".
July 21, 2025
Aunque el título puede sonar a novela de suspense o venganza personal, en realidad el libro es una recopilación de anécdotas y retratos de la vida judía centroeuropea previa al nazismo, contada con agudeza, ironía y una melancólica nostalgia.
El autor nos narra las vivencias de ochenta judíos hacinados en un cuarto con capacidad para muchas menos personas. Allí sufrirán la barbarie más terrible jamás imaginada para estas personas.
Un libro durísimo, cargado de tensión, con muchas pinceladas de humor en un entorno hostil.
El autor nos narra las vivencias de ochenta judíos hacinados en un cuarto con capacidad para muchas menos personas. Allí sufrirán la barbarie más terrible jamás imaginada para estas personas.
Un libro durísimo, cargado de tensión, con muchas pinceladas de humor en un entorno hostil.
May 30, 2019
Korte novelle, die het aangrijpend lot van Joden in de werkkampen van voor de Tweede Wereldoorlog (waar ook politieke gevangenen zaten die echter beter behandeld werden; vooral bekend vanwege het gedicht "Wir sind die Moorsoldaten") vertelt en bovendien ingaat op een debat binnen het Joodse geloof over wraak en vrijheid van handelen. Het boek is kort en daarom voelen delen soms wat gehaast, maar zeker door het einde is het een ongelooflijk sterke novelle.
December 15, 2020
This book asks the question if you should take revenge in your own hands and if there are situations in which you don't have a choice. It also talks about the difficulties the victims of the holocaust had to grasp what was happening around and to them. And arguably the biggest theme is survivors guilt. This gets explored by the author with our ptotagonist whose entire life after the contentration camp revolves around his guilt for, in his mind, dooming his people.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 3, 2026
Vengeance is Mine is an examination of revenge--to whom does it belong? The main character tells of his experience in a small concentration camp in Nazi Germany, and the quandary into which its Jewish inmates are put by the new commandant. A bit overly philosophical at times, but overall a short work that forces the reader to ponder this larger question.
November 29, 2025
read this in German class in high school and wanted to reread as a refresh - incredible storytelling and such a powerful way of describing character interaction
wish i had herr schwarzbauer to tell me the deeper themes in this again
wish i had herr schwarzbauer to tell me the deeper themes in this again
April 11, 2018
Andererseits, ein sehr gutes Buch.
April 11, 2018
Sehr spannende, gut geschriebene Novelle, die sich leicht in einem Zug lesen lässt.
May 16, 2023
It was actually very interesting and well written but the ending didn't make much sense and did not add up with the story. Overall it was very sad and informative on the cruel world of the time.
May 15, 2026
Letto per l’UNI. Sicuramente più interessante del macellaio ma non è uno dei migliori per quanto riguarda questo tema.
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