Customer Reviews
Disappointing - By: walter Scott, 15 Jul 2008 
Truly the worst holocaust testimony ever written.So many mistakes throughout the whole text.Two examples of which were when Mr Muller mentions the camp orchestrain Birkenau,there was none.He also quotes that Kramer wasin Birkenau & had came from Auschwitz 2.Both are one & the same place But important errors like these were repeatedin every chapter & the worry for me is that Holocaust deniers may pick up on these simple blunders.Mr Mullers over use of adjectives & repetition of statements at times resultedin the book bordering on being boring.It read more like a students written essay who wasnt fully informed ,rather than an actual Holocaust survivors memoirs.Ive read many more imformative Holocaust testimonies & even Mr Muller must have been disappointed with the finished article.I tend to believe that the foreword said it all.
ochmister - By: G. J. Ochman, 06 Jun 2008 
Simple, one of the best books I have ever read. Very sad, sometimes un believable. But believe, this really happened & should not be forgotton. My respect goes to the author.
An account by somebody who witnessed everything first hand. - By: Mr. P. J. R. LEWIS, 16 May 2008 There have been countless books written about Hitlers Final solution mostly by historians & occasionally by eyewitness survivors.
You can read account after account of conditionsin the final months leading to the Russians eventual entry into the camp but few books will be as informative as this one written by camp Sonderkommando Filip Muller whose actual job was to operate the crematoria & dispose of the thousands of corpses.
During the latter half of 1944 an incredible 10,000+ were liquidated on a daily basis.This may appear too far fetched to comprehend at first but when you realise that thosein command from Hitler right down to Himmlers eventual realisation that the war was turning against them a dramatic escelationin gassing took place until mass shootings were the norm & corpses were burnt round the clockin open pits.
At the height of the liquidation Berkenhau had over ten ovens working night & day resultingin a massive escalation of gassings.In early 1944,10,000 prisoners were murdered every day & there were sufficient ovens to cope with the huge number of bodies.
Filip was there as all this was going on & later as the mass of bodies became too overwhelming to cope with it was the Sonderkommandos duty to remove the rotting corpses for disposalin the ovens.
There are certain passages that will really make one think momentarily on the question of mans inhumanity towards his fellow man.
The arrival & first trial of mass gassings where under extream brutality men women & children were forced to undress knowingly they were facing certain death.
Possibly the most heart rending extracts are to be found on page 48 where Filip having discovered the arrival of his father at the camp has to cremate his body after his death from tythus.Fellow workmen working alongside him at the blazing ovens recite a prayer.
The book really brings the true barbarity of camp life to the reader.
The inhumanity of certain Kapos or team leaders given trusted duties by the SS who were extreamly sadistic beating fellow prisoners to death due to anger against what the SS were doing to their fellow countrymen.
Whilst reading the first two chapters one clearly realises these are the genuine testimony of somebody who lived on a daily basis where systematic murder was common place.Unless you witnessed at first hand you couldnot make up such testimony such as these.
As i have already said you can write about this highly documented periodin history but unless you were physically therein person to witness these events no amount of research will reveal the actual truth.
This is why Filip Mullers book is so important,as less than a handfull of Sonderkommandos at Auschwitz actually lived to bear witness to their testimony.Every few months new Sonderkommandos were appointed whilst those working at the cremetoria were gassed with other prisoners so that the truth of Genocide was never allowed to escape.Filips survival is the more amazingin that he survived & bared witness to the atrocities.
Unless you were actually therein person you cannot envisage the horrors & brutality of camp guards & SS officers.Muller recounts day to day life within the confines of Auschwitz-Berkenhau like only a fellow prisoner could relate.
His matter of fact account of unimaginable horrors makes compelling reading if not unpleasant reading.He has not withheld any of the material that will disgust or distress us,everything has been accounted for right up to his amazing survival.
As a Sonderkommando he was to some extent safe as his services were of great importance to the camps efficient running.Without him & other workers the mass murder couldnot have taken place at such a large scale.
A book that is extreamly well written by somebody who actually knows what went on within the camp.Few books can bring home the true meaning of genocide as can this one.
If you are looking for great detail on events & life within Hitlers largest death camp then this book will not disappoint.
Brings the Reality of what went on home ! - By: A Customer, 11 May 2008 I visited Auschwitz earlier this year. I wish I had read this book before I had gone as it really brought home the terrible crimes that went onin this place. If you are interestedin Auschwitz then this is a must read !
Gripping - By: Mr. S. Frost, 28 Apr 2008 What an amazing account of the holocaust & believe me I have read a few!
This book gives a gripping account of one mans survivalin the death factory that can only be described as hell on earth.
The author is a testimony to courage & mans desire to stay alive at all costs.
Buy this now!
