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This book is easy reading. I could not put it down. If you ever feel like you have had hard times this may make you think twice.
There are two books that stand out in my mind as far superior on this topic and this is one of the two. I have read a very large number of holocaust books and none are more incredible than this one. Five Chimneys gave a perspective that no other Auschwitz/Birkenau book gives.that of an educated,sophisticated woman prisoner. I couldn't lay it down. It is one of the books that will surely help us to make certain that it never happens again.
I will not review what is contained in its pages. If anyone guilty survives today, whether they are on life support for some age related illness or what-ever, they need to be brought to justice. In the United States, we literally have no idea of the potential for mans inhumanity to man. She states early on in the book her reason, she vowed during her time in the camp that if she survived she would let the world know what happened. The events which are described, which cannot have been embellished to any degree, cannot be described in human terms. To put into words 2 years after the event what is written is a testament to the accuracy portrayed. There is nothing to add to the reviews of this book. Interestingly, Olga is never guilty of writing this for her own benefit.
Forgiveness is the basis of christianity. There is no excuse for partaking in these atrocities. God will handle that; on a personal level, I cannot even conjure up without profound thought and prayer, a reason to forgive these crimes. Indeed it happened, to Jews, christians, Americans, gypsys, you name it. It simply should be required reading for every individual on this blue planet. Again, this should be required reading in our schools, this woman should not be forgotten nor should a single person who died at the hands of the horrible state we now know as WWII era Germany.
This roughly 6 year event; titled the holocaust, was inexcusable and so deterioriating to human society that at first glance one says it could not happen. There appeared to be little discretion, simply inhumanity of man to man. Hitler and his close confidants may have dreamed this up, but countless thousands of german men and women carried out the plan. Time has passed which makes reading this book all the more necessary for the inhabitants of this planet.
She did what she had to do to survive.Olga's eyewitness accounts are descriptive in every way and shows indictment of what the Nazis have done to the unfortunate.Surprising to me was that so many non-jews were also executed along with jews. This book is the story of Olga Lengyel, an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor. Her personal story is horrifying but also true. The torture and living conditions were worse than any hell could be imagined. Olga's writing of this book should be laudable so that others will never forget these atrocities; this history should be remembered so that it will NEVER be repeated.
It is hard to imagine such terrifying ordeals and live to tell about them. This true story of Olga Lengyel's Auschwitz experience is truly heart wrenching and frank. She relays the most heinous living conditions and brutal "man's inhumanity to man" experiences I have ever read. Reading a book like this makes all our mediocre problems in life disappear in comparison.She is a courageous woman and a survivor of indescribable horror, and yet has the hope and desire to go on proving man's insatiable will to live. A very good book for all to read.and remember.
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