Bibliograph

The last consolation vanished, the testimony of a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz, Zalmen Gradowski ; edited and with a foreword and afterword by Arnold I. Davidson & Philippe Mesnard ; translated by Rubye Monet

Type

Label

The last consolation vanished, the testimony of a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz, Zalmen Gradowski ; edited and with a foreword and afterword by Arnold I. Davidson & Philippe Mesnard ; translated by Rubye Monet

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references

resource.biographical

autobiography

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

The last consolation vanished

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

1298713786

Responsibility statement

Zalmen Gradowski ; edited and with a foreword and afterword by Arnold I. Davidson & Philippe Mesnard ; translated by Rubye Monet

Sub title

the testimony of a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz

Summary

Zalmen Gradowski was in the Sonderkommandos (special squads) at Auschwitz, a Jewish prisoner tasked with ushering prisoners into the gas chambers, removing their bodies, salvaging any valuables, transporting their corpses to the cramatoria, and destroying all evidence of their murders. The Sonderkommandos were forcibly recruited by SS soldiers; when they discovered the horror of their assignment, some of committed suicide or tried to induce the SS to kill them. Despite their impossible situation, many Sonderkommandos chose to resist in two interlaced ways: planning an uprising and testifying. Gradowski did both, by helping to lead a rebellion and by documenting his experiences. On October 7, 1944, a group of Jewish prisoners obtained explosives and rebelled against their Nazi murderers; the rebellion was crushed and more than four hundred prisoners were killed, including Gradowski, but his testimony lives on. Hidden in a metal bottle in the ashes near Crematorium III, Gradowski's two lyrical accounts describe the brutality of the Nazi regime, the process of the assassination of Czech Jews, and the relationship among the men forced to assist in the horrors. But his notebooks are not the detached blow-by-blow series of declarative statements we have come to expect in narratives of this kind. In the midst of daily unimaginable horrors, Gradowski aimed to write beautifully, lyrically, movingly, to create true literature where and when one would least expect to find it. -- Provided by publisher

Table Of Contents

Foreword. Beyond the ashes / Philippe Mesnard -- First manuscript -- Second manuscript -- Afterword. Desolation without consolation: living with Zalmen Gradowski / Arnold I. Davidson

Classification