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Title: Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the Ss Kommandant at Auschwitz by Rudolf Hoss, Steven Paskuly, Andrew Pollinger, Primo Levi, Rudolph Hoss ISBN: 0-306-80698-3 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: May, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.21 (24 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: One must believe another man's belief
Comment: Torture, death, & the atrocities of war are not easily swallowed or digested by those who were neither there nor on the receiving end of the realities, but one has to read the words of Rudolf Hoess and belieive them to be what they are -HIS BELIEFS. Too many historical biographies of the SS leave one with the taste of the writers interpretation of the person, and we are all left to wonder about truths, half-truths, desires & perceptions. Some even take their word as gospel. History becomes anything the writer wants it to become for whatever reason he feels he needs to express the information. This book gives one the reality of Hoess according to Hoess - and a foundation for our own interpretations of his psychological make-up. I am an American of Polish descent, having many friends & family (both Polish Roman Catholic & Polish Jew) personally affected by this man during WWll - and it was like a breath of fresh air to hear his side so that I may put the pieces of the puzzle together to get a more complete picture of what was really going on. I try and live my life as non-judgementally as I can, believing understanding is far better than blame - and understanding how this man was raised gives me greater insight into what he had become. Like many who found this book hard to read, I found it easy - for it was his perception of the truth. I may not like his "truth" and I may not agree with his "truth" - but I am not in a position to deny it. If you are really seeking the truth behind the man and his actions, this is a remarkable book
Rating: 4
Summary: It shows how ordinary men were transformed into monsters.
Comment: I have read many books about Nazis and the holocaust, but this one is unique in that it is one of the few written in graphic detail by an SS man himself. I think Hoess definitely had qualms about his role, but was too much of a bureaucrat to openly challenge the regime. His credibility has been doubted, since he was often inconsistent about the number of deaths while at Auschwitz. I don't think Hoess was personally a cruel man; he seemed to have taken a dispassionate role in his work. He did emphasize, before his execution, that he still considered himself a National Socialist, and acknowledged his guilt for taking part in the Final Solution. Hoess seemed to place all the blame on Himmler. Hoess, in the first third of the book, wanted to portray himself as a normal, decent family man who simply ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. In short, this book conveyed a very powerful message and warning, despite some of the irrelevant personal details about Hoess's life. Especially interesting are the profiles of various SS members at the end of the book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Why You Should Read This Book.....
Comment: Primo Levi, in my opinion, is one of the more powerful moral philosophers of our time. If you have not read "Survival in Auschwitz" and "The Re-Awakening," you are cheating yourself. Levi's book "The Drowned & the Saved" is the single best book I have seen on the Shoah. And Levi's introduction to Hoss's book gives this work the framing it deserves.
Levi begins by pointing out that when one writes an introduction to a book, the writer usually admires the work, or the author. Even if the book is poor, then at the very least the writing style is commendable. Levi then concludes that "Death Dealer" is poorly written, the author is an officious braggart, who blatently lies; and his lies are painfully transparent. "Reading this book," Levi says "is torture." So why should anyone read it? Because to best understand the beast, look in the belly--the mind--of a beast.
Raul Hilberg, the holocaust historian, makes a point of saying he never asks the "big questions," because you will always be disappointed with the answers. So he only asks little questions. Don't ask "why did you personally send three & a half million people to their death?" Instead, ask "where did you come from? How were you able to physically do what you did?" While there certainly are questions about Hoss's candor in this memoir (he wrote it in a Polish prison, while on trial for war crimes by the Polish Government. The outcome of Hoss's trial was not a mystery to anyone--least of all Hoss), Hoss is who he is: a competent manager, totally devoid of any insight whatsoever.
According to Hoss, one of the big turning points of his life happened during his prison years in the Weimar Republic. Imprisoned for his role in a political asassination, Hoss "discovers" that some people are just plain no good, no matter what you do for or to them. To illustrate this point, Hoss describes how an imate in a neighboring cell described a burglary, when the inmate bragged of not only killing the parents & servant, but also killed two small children. Hoss describes himself as being so outraged, he wanted to kill that other inmate--only the bars of his cell prevented him. On another occasion, entertainment troupe presented a show for the inmates, including a woman singer. Hoss was so moved by the beauty of her voice, that the walls of the prison fell away--then, as soon as she was finished, Hoss quotes another inmate murmuring to his neighbor how the inmate wanted to steal the jewels the singer was wearing. Again, Hoss was outraged: That inmate, at a time of transcendent beauty, could only think of stealing. Incorrigible. Nothing to do with those kinds of people--which is why the camps were necessary. Everybody that was sent to Auschwitz was an irredeemably bad person, according to the Kommandant.
Now, if we are to believe the helpless rage of the imprisoned Hoss over the deaths of babies & imagined thefts of singer's jewelry, what are we to think of the countless children and innumerable "thefts" that occured under Hoss's own command? Nothing--that's what. Because Hoss doesn't see the contridiction.
Hoss writes of an Auschwitz that is a summer camp for poor people, with a scarcity of supplies due to factors outside of his control--and yet through heroic efforts of administration on his part, the camp functioned. Meanwhile, out the other side of his mouth, Hoss can't help but brag on the numbers of "enemies" who perished inside the camp. Hoss saw himself as fighting a war, a war against the internal enemies of the Reich, of humanity.
To the extent there were "problems" at Auschwitz, Hoss sees himself a victim of poor administration by his superiors. The camp is flooded with more & more prisoners, but less and less supplies. Not surprisingly, Hoss neglects to mention that he and his family managed to live very well on black market proceeds from supplies stolen from the prisoners.
Poo Hoss is also cursed with incompetent subordinates, such as SS Captain Karl Fritzsch. Hoss dismisses Fritzsch as having "limited intelligence." Moreover, Fritzsch constantly issued orders that were the "opposite" of Hoss's own views. Fritzsch also threatened & treated the prisoners badly, to the point the prisoners were afraid of Hoss: "When I tried to learn something from the prisoners directly, I always found resisitance and evasive answers. The terror that was instituted by Fritzsch in Auschwitz could not be gotten rid of!" Poor Rudolf. Hoss has the temerity to conclude "Just think how much better Auschwitz would have run without people like Fritsch." Just think!
Hoss [...] prides himself on not showing emotion, no matter what happens around him. He lies without seeing how foolish his lies are. He is just following orders, because there are real enemies out there--and it is Hoss's job to do what is "best" ie what he is told..........No doubt Hoss also held an unquestioning belief that the Jewish and Roma populations had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction in violation of then current international treaties, justifying invasions of their lands.
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Title: Auschwitz : A Doctor's Eyewitness Account by Miklos Nyiszli ISBN: 1559702028 Publisher: Arcade Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1993 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers by Filip Muller, Helmut Freitag, Susanne Flatauer, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ISBN: 1566632714 Publisher: Ivan R Dee, Inc. Pub. Date: 01 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Survival In Auschwitz by Primo Levi ISBN: 0684826801 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Five Chimneys by Olga Lengyel ISBN: 0897333764 Publisher: Academy Chicago Pub Pub. Date: October, 1995 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz by Lucette Matalon Lagnado, Sheila Cohn Dekel ISBN: 0140169318 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: May, 1992 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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