History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps

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Concerns about pre-teens
NO MENTION OF 3 MILLION POLISH CATHOLICS KILLED
Surviving Hitler
I'm a Holocaust freak and I loved this book
Surviving Hitler

Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps
Andrea Warren
Manufacturer: HarperTrophy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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I Have Lived A Thousand Years: Growing Up In The Holocaust
Four Perfect Pebbles: : A Holocaust Story
No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War
The Cage
We Are Witnesses: Five Diaries Of Teenagers Who Died In The Holocaust

ASIN: 0060007672
Release Date: 2002-09-17

Book Description

"Think of it as a game, Jack.
Play the game right and you might outlast the Nazis."

Caught up in Hitler's Final Solution to annihilate Europe's Jews, fifteen-year-old Jack Mandelbaum is torn from his family and thrown into the nightmarish world of the concentration camps. Here, simple existence is a constant struggle, and Jack must learn to live hour to hour, day to day. Despite intolerable conditions, he resolves not to hate his captors and vows to see his family again. But even with his strong will to survive, how long can Jack continue to play this life-and-death game?

Award-winning author Andrea Warren has crafted an unforgettable true story of a boy becoming a man in the shadow of the Third Reich.

Customer Reviews:

Concerns about pre-teens.......2007-09-13

I haven't read the book, but my 11 year old checked it out at school. He was hooked on the story from the beginning.
However, I was surprised when he asked me "Mom, what is a homosexual?" He said that homosexuals were singled out to be victimized. He also
was upset about how children, especially those with disabilities were tortured and murdered.
I appreciate all the positive reviews here, but it really opened up a lot of issues for my son. Might be better suited to older children.

NO MENTION OF 3 MILLION POLISH CATHOLICS KILLED .......2007-06-28

The author makes a good effort to be objective, but drops the ball here and there. The biggest blunder seems to be in the summary of holocaust casualties. The author left out the fact that 3 Million Polish-Catholics were butchered by Hitler. This fact is often forgotten, and very hurtful, especially to the Poles who lost someone in the Polish holocaust or "Forgotten Holocaust.". A great book to read is Richard Lukas' "The Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under nazi Occupation."

Surviving Hitler.......2007-01-31

I recently read the book Surviving Hitler by Andrea Warren. I not only thought it was one of the most fascinating books I thought it was very well written. I had been to the holocaust museum in Washing DC and I was mortified looking at everything, but this book really put me in the perspective of the boy who was close to my age. The book got better and better as it went on, and I am usually not very fond of non-fiction books. This book really makes you realize how you can survive anything that comes at you as long as you believe in yourself. You are automatically hooked and as soon as the book is over you wish there was still more to read. I would definitely recommend this book to any person, young or old, it's truly unbelievable.

I'm a Holocaust freak and I loved this book.......2006-12-19

This book is an awsome book i read the first chapter and i was hooked it is awsome.It is about a boy named jack who gets sent to a concetration camp and gets his arm tattoed witha number on it and he still has it on this arm he and his got seperatered at the train station and they died it is a very sad book but the ending makes up for the sadness. I was 9 when i read this book and loved it. THIS BOOK IS AWSOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surviving Hitler.......2006-12-14

Imagine urinating in the same cup you eat in. Imagine feeling fleas crawling all over you and sick people coughing on you. It doesn't exactly sound pleasant but that is the lifestyle the concentration camp prisoners had to go through. The book, Surviving Hitler, is a memorable and sad memoir that focuses on The Holocaust during World War 2. The book has a moving story, and a powerful message that has truly put a different perspective in my eyes on how crule people can be and how understanding people have to be.

This book is about a boy named Jack, who is a very fortunate Jewish boy living in Europe. Jack and his family move in with his uncle who lives in a nearby town. Jack's father stayed behind to get organized and then he would meet up with them after. He had to close up his shop, sell his place, and pack up the big furniture. Unfortunately, before he could meet his family he was put into a concentration camp. Three years later Jack is working and supporting his mom and little brother while his sister, Jadiza, goes to their Aunt and Uncles house to help them with aetheir new baby. Hitler's soldiers invade the town they are living in and later group all the Jewish families into the town square to send them to concentration camps. Jack gets separated from his family and starts a whole different life in the concentration camps. He learns to survive on his own and take what he can get. It is a very rough experience for him, and you have to read the book to see the outcome.

I really enjoyed how the author put black and white photographs in this sad but true story because it really helps you imaging the living conditions back then. The structure of the book is not terribly long, making it an easy read. What I truly love about this book is that the author is always keeping you on your toes and never drags on about one topic. This book sends out a powerful message that I never truly understood until I finished he novel. It taught me to never take anything for granted and to enjoy every moment possible. Of course I forget this message a lot and I do take a lot for granted but when in doubt I always try to remember this book. Jack also gets a message out of his experience in the concentration camps. He learns to live life to its fullest and try to help as many people as he can but still be cautious of his own well being. "Three years as a teenager in the death camps he survived through courage, luck, help from others, and sheer will. Like all survivors, he has much to teach us about bravery and self reliance, and about history and the lessons of the Holocaust." Surviving Hitler is a very moving book that can really make people change some of their views of the world.

In my opinion Surviving Hitler is one of the best books I've ever read. Not only has it intrigued me to know more about the Holocaust, it has actually interested me a little more in history in general. I would defiantly recommend this book and hope that the next person who reads it loves it as much as I have.

Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps

Average customer rating:

A Solid Overview of the Nazi Extermination Camps in German-Occupied Poland: Corrections Needed
feeling
A concise summary
EXHAUSTIVA Y RIGUROSA OBRA
Reporting the horrific

Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps
Yitzhak Arad
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0253213053

Book Description

" . . . Mr. Arad reports as a controlled and effective witness for the prosecution. . . . Mr. Arad's book, with its abundance of horrifying detail, reminds us of how far we have to go." --New York Times Book Review

" . . . some of the most gripping chapters I have ever read. . . . *the* authentic, exhaustive, definitive account of the least known death camps of the Nazi era." --Raul Hilberg

Arad, historian and principal prosecution witness at the Israeli trial of John Demjanjuk (accused of being Treblinka's infamous "Ivan the Terrible"), uses primary materials to reveal the complete story of these Nazi death camps.

Customer Reviews:

A Solid Overview of the Nazi Extermination Camps in German-Occupied Poland: Corrections Needed.......2007-08-29

Yitzhak Arad provides a great deal of information relative to the extermination of Jews (and also Gypsies), but nothing on the genocide of Poles. He elaborates on such things as German plans for the Final Solution, the construction and function of the death camps, camp "life" for those not immediately gassed, Jewish revolts and escapes, the German cover-up, postwar trials of camp functionaries (well into the 1960's), etc.

The remainder of this review focuses on matters not addressed by the other reviewers.

David Engel has accused the Polish-Government-in-Exile of deliberately understating the extent of, and delaying the publicizing of, Jewish deaths at the hands of the Germans. Arad rejects this insinuation: "The Polish Underground transmitted to London the reports on the death camps and the extermination of the Jews of Poland via its messengers and radio stations. It did not hide these facts nor delay their relay, and the reports reached London and the British Government. But they were received with disbelief, doubt, and distrust. They did not receive the proper sort of publicity..." (p. 359).

Of course, the Polish-Government-in-Exile had to be very careful about the credibility and accuracy of the reports it had available. Ironically, the first reports had inflated the actual then-current Treblinka death toll by 3-fold to 4-fold (p. 355). Also, early reports on the rebellion at Treblinka had grossly exaggerated the number of Jewish escapees and the number of Germans killed (p. 358).

Unfortunately, Arad sometimes lapses into standard Polonophobic formulations, of which only a few can be discussed owing to space limitations. He makes the frankly laughable accusation that the Polish Underground failed to warn the Jews about their fate (p. 359), before refuting himself: "The information about Belzec came mainly from Poles who lived close to the camp, and from Polish railway workers, and it reached the Polish Underground. From their Underground publication, it reached the Jewish Underground." (p. 243). As for Jewish reactions to Polish warnings, Arad quotes Yitzhak Lichtman: "On the train to Sobibor, we were told by some Poles that we were being taken to be burned. We didn't believe them. We thought that the Poles, who were anti-Semites, wanted to scare us." (p. 242). Jewish rejection of Polish warnings was the rule, as Arad comments: "Even when rumors or some information about Belzec and Treblinka, and, to a much lesser extent, about Sobibor, reached the Jews still left in the ghettos of the General Government, the people were reluctant to believe them." (p. 377).

Predictably, Arad faults the Polish Underground for not blowing up the tracks leading to the death camps. This ignores reality. Sabotaged tracks can be repaired in a few hours, and the Germans would have savagely retaliated against nearby Polish villages.

Arad mentions the fact that the Communist AL guerillas had "...a relatively large number of Jews..." (p. 346). This made them instant enemies of the vast majority of Poles. Arad repeats charges of the AK killing fugitive Jews without ever attempting to verify the identities of the killers.

Arad repeats the perennial myth of fugitive Jews being almost never helped by Poles and almost certain to be betrayed by them. His own information refutes this. Of the 100 or so Jews who managed to evade the intensive German-Ukrainian dragnet near Treblinka following the uprising and escape (p. 298), and to scatter throughout occupied Poland, about 70 were still alive at the end of the war (p. 363)! Every surviving Jew was helped by a long series of Poles, as exemplified by Wiernik. Assuming that each of the 100 fugitive Jews had, on average, "run the gauntlet" by encountering a total of only 200 Poles, it follows that 1 in every 561 Poles, at very most, was a denouncer or killer of Jews. This overestimates the actual rate because it doesn't take into account the fact that most denouncers and killers of Jews didn't rely solely on chance encounters, but actively hunted for them. Moreover, this figure completely ignores non-Polish causes of the 30 Jewish deaths (e. g., suicide, wartime misadventures, belatedly caught directly by Germans, denounced by Polish-speaking Ukrainian, German (Volksdeutsche), or Jewish agents sent by the Germans to monitor the Polish countryside, etc.). Other studies (e. g., Paulsson's SECRET CITY and Chodakiewicz' BETWEEN NAZIS AND SOVIETS) corroborate the foregoing-estimated low rates of Polish anti-Jewish actions.

feeling.......2003-08-01

Among the first books I purchased to study the Holocost.

The scholorship of this book is superb. Gives the reader a feeling for these awful places. You get to meet the human monsters who put these horrible places together and operated them. Just as you get to meet the innocent human beings who were slaughtered there.

It is a cold expression of human evil in its coldest unemotional form.

The cold facts are depressing. And an appetite killer for the unnitiated. Like all material on the Holocost, there is only depression from what is here.

I only wish the death camp of Chlemno had been included in this work, for scholarly reasons. I know that Chelmno, the first of the death camps, used gas vans, and there are a fed other differences. But it would save the reader one less visit to hell to study.

A concise summary.......2002-07-21

These three camps were put into full operation shortly after the assassination of Heydrich, the "brains" behind the Final Solution. Unlike concentration camps, these were extermination centers. Most were killed shortly after arrival. The man in charge seemed to be Christian Wirth, who can only be described as a beast in human form. Initially devoted to mass executions of Soviet POWs, the camps soon focused on liquidation of Jews once the Final Solution was put into full swing. Very little is known about the camps simply because there were so few survivors. These were truly some of the most dreadful camps, even though they operated for only a brief period.

EXHAUSTIVA Y RIGUROSA OBRA.......2001-08-23

Comparando muchos libros sobre la tristísima célebre "Operación Reinhard", Yitzhak Arad ha conseguido con su obra aglutinar de una manera exhaustiva y rigurosa, toda la información posible sobre esos cruentos años. El libro es ciertamente desgarrador y a medida que pasan las pàginas, necesitas reflexionar sobre el devenir de la Humanidad. Pasaje a pasaje, logra nuestro estudioso autor, crear una trístemente cierta atmósfera tétrica sobre el comportamiento de los genocidas, su actitud hacia los prisioneros, evacuación de los Ghettos, construcción de las cámaras de gas, sublevación de los campos, etc... Sólamente hay un pequeño inciso que hubiera podido ser mejorado: una más profusa y densa biografía sobre los autores materiales del Holocausto. Salvaguardando este matiz, se puede considerar esta obra como la más completa y documentada de todo el género.

Reporting the horrific.......2000-02-28

Yitzhak Arad has achieved an extraordinary feat with the publication of this book, detailing in full the features and practices of places the Nazis did their best to erase. He juxtaposes horrifying descriptions of life and death in the camps with the clinical statistics (themselves horrible for their sheer magnitude) surrounding this aspect of Hitler's war against the Jews. This book is made all the more poignant by the fact that Arad's parents died in Treblinka. It is books like this that illustrate the dire necessity for tolerance and compassion in our world.

Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz

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Rudolph Hoess (Auschwitz Kommandant) and the Clarification of Some Holocaust Misconceptions
A very good tranlation
Rudolf Hoess' Mistress Interviewed
IT WAS NOT HOESS' FAULT
The Final Solution: An Inside View

Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz
Rudolf Höss
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0306806983

Customer Reviews:

Rudolph Hoess (Auschwitz Kommandant) and the Clarification of Some Holocaust Misconceptions.......2007-05-31

I give this book five stars because of its historical value. This work not only gives insight into the mind of the leader of perhaps the greatest death factory ever built, but also allows a clearing-up of some errors that have accreted in the decades since that horrible time.

Hoess rejected God and the Church (p. 52-53, 57, 59, 72, 192), having rebelled against his father's wish that he become a priest. Like Himmler, he became an Artaman (pp. 202-203; a communal movement resembling the 1960's US communes, albeit Teutonic-centered) before switching to Nazism for his substitute religion.

Hoess wrote: "Until the beginning of 1942 the main body of prisoners was Polish." (p. 128). Many Poles were murdered secretly (the cause of death listed as natural), "...because of political and security reasons..." (p. 224).

During the Auschwitz Carmelite convent controversy, attempts were made to belittle the victimhood of Auschwitz Poles through the premise that they, unlike most Jews, were not generally killed upon arrival at Auschwitz. Hoess, in contrast, rejected any such dichotomy (if anything, praising the slow-death genocidal methods--as perfected by the Communists): "The Gestapo delivered the prisoners to the camps to be exterminated. It made no difference to them whether it happened by firing squad, gas, or by the horrible conditions in the camps. It was part of their plan not to improve conditions in the camps...Thus, the concentration camps were changed deliberately, and sometimes unintentionally, into large-scale extermination centers. The Kommandants received extensive composite reports from the Gestapo about the Soviet concentration camps. Escaped prisoners had made reports about the conditions and organization of these camps down to the smallest detail. They emphasized that by using forced labor methods the Soviets were annihilating entire nationalities." (pp. 168-169).

Holocaust-uniqueness advocates sometimes claim that the genocide of the Polish intelligentsia, unlike that of Jews, served a rational purpose--the elimination of resistance. Actually, the latter was, at most, a hoped-for byproduct of this nation-destroying act: "I want to add this, that the general opinion at SS headquarters was that the total annihilation of the Polish intelligentsia would also destroy the resistance movement. [SS Major] Thomsen was an ardent defender of this theory." (p. 322).

Initial plans to kill all Jews gave way to the sparing of some of them for forced labor (p. 34).

Hoess discussed the Jewish Sonderkommando in considerable detail. Those Jews temporarily got to save their lives by dutifully assisting in the deception, gassing, despoiling, and cremation of their fellow Jews. He also observed Jew-against-Jew behavior by some Jews who had no hope of postponing their own deaths. As they entered the gas chambers, they told Germans the addresses of fugitive Jews back home. Hoess commented: "I cannot explain what motivated them to reveal this information. Was it personal revenge, or were they jealous because they did not want the others to live on?" (p. 160).

In common with many Germans, Hoess attempts to rationalize his exterminatory conduct by equating it with the Allied bombings of German women and children. He estimates German civilian casualties in the several millions (p. 171), which is at least a 20-fold exaggeration.

As for lebensraum, Hoess belatedly concluded that Germany could have achieved it peacefully (p. 182).

Hoess suggested that crude propaganda such as Der Sturmer had hindered the development of scientific anti-Semitism (p. 140). He also came to believe that the extermination of Jews only brought hatred against Germany and increased Jewish power by discrediting anti-Semitism (p. 183).

This volume isn't limited to Hoess' memoirs. The entire Wannsee Protocol is printed in translation. It is obvious that the choice of Poland as the site of the German death camps was based solely on practical considerations (minimalized transportation) and had nothing to do with real or stereotyped Polish attitudes towards Jews: "State Secretary Dr. Buehler declared that the government of Occupied Poland would welcome it if the final solution to this question would be started in Occupied Poland. His reason: transport plays no important role here and the deployment of workers during the operation would not cause any problems." (p. 380).

A very good tranlation.......2007-01-06

My opinion is based on the comparison with the orginal publication in German, which I purchased in 1960 to provide essential information for the subsequent psychiatric evaluations of several thousand Holocaust survivors.

Rudolf Hoess' Mistress Interviewed.......2006-10-15

After Dachau was liberated, Army intelligence interviewed a woman at the camp who claimed to have been Rudolf Hoess' mistress while at Auschwitz. What details they could check were confirmed, and her interview became part of a Seventh Army report issued a few weeks later, a report that has been republished as Dachau Liberated: The Official Report (ISBN: 1587420031). For those who want to understand the infamous Hoess, that interview of "E.H." provides a much-needed check on his obviously self-serving autobiography. Here's a short passage from her interview:

"According to my recollection, on December 16, 1942, about 11 p.m. I was already asleep, suddenly the C.O. appeared before me. I hadn't heard the opening of my cell and was such frightened. It was dark in the cell. I believed at first it was an SS man or a prisoner and said, "What is this tomfoolery, I forbid you." Then I heard "Pst," and a pocket lamp was lighted and lit the face of the C.O. I broke out "Herr Kommandant."

Hoess didn't mention this clandestine affair in his autobiography, but details she gave fit with his account and with conditions at Auschwitz.

IT WAS NOT HOESS' FAULT.......2005-05-02

There is another autobiography of Hoess titled "Commandant of Auschwitz: The Autobiography of Rudolf Hoess". I would be interested in reading that account but am curious how that could differ from "Death Dealer". Given the circumstances the man at the end of his life did not have a whole lot of time to write different autobiographies. My guess is the two books are essentially the same.

As for Death Dealer itself it is not often one reads an account of the concentration camps from the "other side". I had read other summaries that portrayed Hoess as a mid-level cold-hearted bureaucrat whose account of his SS career was pretty much emotionless and he treated his activities in the same manner an accountant or a department store manager or a mechanic or (pick a career) would describe their career. I thought before reading the book that whatever one may say about him he would at least not grovel for forgiveness and would defiantly flip his middle finger at the world before climbing the steps of the gallows. After all, when he wrote his memoirs in 1946 and 1947, there was little suspense over what his fate would be. So sugar coating his past was not going to change his future.

Although there may have been some shred of decency in the man one could not escape the feeling that he recognized himself as a war criminal only because his captors called him a war criminal. In other words his "mea culpa" would probably not score high on the sincerity scale. The victorious Allies were the new authorities over his life and if they considered him guilty and a war criminal then he was guilty and a war criminal. Whether he personally thought so or not was not relevant. And that was pretty much how he conducted his life. Whoever his authority was pretty much controlled his life. He was the commandant of the most notorious of all Nazi death camps because his superiors made him the commandant. He killed because he was told to kill -- just as he was to die because he was told he had to die.

He admitted the horrible conditions of Auschwitz -- and other camps. It was not Hoess' fault. His superiors -- starting with Hitler and Himmler -- put impossible demands on him and did not provide adequate resources. The conditions were horrible and only got worse as the war progressed due to the lack of resources due to the stranglehold the Allies put on Germany. It was not Hoess' fault. The inadequate resources included inadequate officers, staff, and guards who committed many atrocities for which he had little or no control. It was not Hoess' fault. The inadequate resources included inadequate building material, latrines, barrack space, food, water, sanitation system, and medical supplies. It was not Hoess' fault. The concentration camp administration reflected the ideals of Thomas Eicke, the founder of the concentration camp system. It was not Hoess' fault.

Although the man blamed others for the nightmarish hell of Auschwitz and other concentration camps he accepted responsibility because it was engrained into him that the commandant is responsible for all activities within the concentration camp.

This may be as close as one may come to reading an account of the "other side". Although one's opinion of the Holocaust may not be altered by Rudolf Hoess he does share insight that one normally does not see about this dark chapter of the history of humanity. Most people know what it is like to be over tasked and under resourced. But most people do not know what it is like to be over tasked and under resourced in his particular career field.

The Final Solution: An Inside View.......2005-04-21

On April 16, 1947, Rudolph Hoess, the infamous Kommandant of Auschwitz was hanged in his former concentration camp for, "crimes against the Polish people." While awaiting trial, Hoess, who knew he would pay for his crimes with his life, sought to renew the spiritual connection he had eschewed as a youth. Accordingly, he recounted his time in the SS for his captors. His story is also that of the darkest side of the Third Reich.

The book begins with a discussion of the, "final solution," of the Jewish Question. He tells how he was ordered to establish a camp at Auschwitz for the purpose of eliminating, "enemies of the state." Details of camp construction and experiments to find the appropriate gas he describes without emotion. Yet he relates questions asked by young SS soldiers and inmates as to how small children could be an "enemy." His "party line" response fooled some, but never himself.

Hoess also describes the victims he tried to destroy. Jews had "strong family ties;" gypsies were, "childlike;" the Jehovah's Witnesses were worthy of emulation. The SS was challenged to have the same devotion to the Fuhrer as they had to Jehovah. In chapter 22 he describes the gassing process as only he could do. His primary concern was to dispatch his victims quickly and efficiently without displaying emotion that would affect young guards. Here, he admits, he hid behind an iron mask. Particularly interesting is the story of a young, extremely attractive, Jewish girl who fought back even as she was undressing for the gas chamber. Resistance was rare but in this case, effective, very effective!

The book describes his early life and the events that caused him and many others to blindly follow the SS motto: "Fuhrer, you order. We obey!" Hoess gives a detailed description of the hierarchy of the SS. Men, who had been portrayed as super-human, are shown to have been far short of that ideal. Alcoholism and suicide rates were high; competence was low! Still, operations continued despite all difficulties because, "Orders were orders!"

Death Dealer is a first person account of the operations of the most infamous death camp in history. After sending an estimated 2.5 million people to their deaths, the Kommandant, ended his life by doing one decent thing: he left his memoirs so no one could deny this ever happened. For that, the world owes Rudoph Hoess, the Kommandant of Auschwitz, a debt of gratitude.

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ANATOMY OF THE AUSCHWITZ DEATH CAMP
Expectations can ignore reality
cold autopsy
good, not entirely correct
A REVISIONIST'S NIGTHMARE

Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp

Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers
Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka: The Operation Reinhard Death Camps
Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account
Five Chimneys: The Story of Auschwitz
Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz

ASIN: 025320884X

Amazon.com

Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp, edited by Yisrael Gutman and Michael Berenbaum, is probably the most comprehensive volume on Auschwitz in print. Essays by leading scholars from Europe, Israel, and the United States document the history of the camp, the technology and magnitude of the genocide that occurred there, profiles of the inmates and the Nazis who ran the camp (such as Joseph Mengele), the underground resistance that arose, and what the outside world knew about Auschwitz and when. It's not a book to read straight through because of the sheer volume of information (more than 600 pages of text) and the horror of its contents. But it's the best resource for answering a wide variety of questions about the camp, especially those raised by the many excellent memoirs by the survivors. --Michael Joseph Gross

Customer Reviews:

ANATOMY OF THE AUSCHWITZ DEATH CAMP.......2005-10-31

Excellent and detailed account of all aspects of the Auschwitz/Birkenau complex and its subcamps. The illustrations and pictures of the installations and camp add a new insight into the history and functioning of the camp and gives a different perspective on the technology and mindset that led to the mass murder and annihilation that took place there. As reader of holocaust literature for nearly 35 years, I consider this to be a definitive work on this subject.

Expectations can ignore reality.......2004-09-26

Michael Ryan calls the book "cold". I have a large library of books on the Holocaust that look at through many eyes. Often the books by survivors are filled with emotion and facts as seen from a narrow view. A scientific study gives us the facts in as much detail as possible ON THE POINTS STUDIED. Read Hoess's autobiography for possibly the best understanding of the minds of many of the participants.

To Mr. Frantzman I would suggest that this book is 600 pages long, but certainly not ALL INCLUSIVE. I doubt that anyone could possibly write a single book (or a set within a rational time) that can deal "fairly" with every facit of the camp. My first book was the seminal "The Destruction of European Jewery" by Raul Hilberg who a few years ago I had a chance to meet and discuss issues. He said that it would take a library of books (which I have) to cover all the aspects of the Holocaust, and still we would only know ABOUT it. And he was right. I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN DETAIL--BUT DON'T TRULY UNDERSTAND HOW A NATION COULD DO SUCH A THING. Aways there are the "insane"--but a NATION? But what about Pol Pot, Africa, etc. Even many of those who survived (and I have known a number) cannot stretch their minds to understand. And some of my friends were in the first batch of American soldiers to enter a camp, and to their deaths they could still FEEL (and have nightmares about)it--but not understand how it could happen.

cold autopsy.......2003-08-01

I purchased this book along with BELZEC, SOBIBOR, TREBLINKA: The operation Reinhard Death Camps.

I find it a cold study of what took place here. It does not give us any feeling about the people who operated this horrible place.
Other than a cold statistical study of the SS guards there is nothing. You don't get the feel of Hoess, Mengele, or Marie Mandel, or Irma Grese that the Reinhard book gives us of Globocnick, Stangle, and their vile ilk. Just as it does not give any real feeling for the millions of innocencts who were slaughtered here.

It is a very informative work, but a cold autopsy of a hellish place.

good, not entirely correct.......2003-05-20

I liked this book. A compilation of many people this details every aspect of the famous death camp. From the design of the ovens to the lives of the women. Yet I think it is missing crucial information. It claims only 1.5 million died at the camp, I think this figure has been dispuited and is low. It also does not detail the resistance as I've understood it. Apparently in 1944 the Sonderkommando rebelled, leaving 70 S.S dead and wounded. In the chapter on resistance the author only says 3 S.S were killed. The reality is that Dr. Miklos confirms the data of 70 dead in his book 'Auschwitz: a Doctors eyewtiness account'. Now the reality is that the rebellion destroyed two cremetoria and that Miklos witnessed these events. I dont think the chapter on resistance focus's on this profoundly heroic act enough. The book is very detailed and examines all aspects of camp life. But I felt that it did not detail the crimes of the Nazi Doctors enough. I felt it glossed over the torture perpetrated on the guinea pigs(humans), Miklos glosses over it too but the reality is other accounts detail the horrors of the experiments. It also glosses over the treatment of women. It does not mention the rape of women(or men). But we know from accounts that during 'selections' many Jewish women were subjected to rape and barbarism. SO why does the book cover this up? I think these issues should have been addressed. But nevertheless this is a great book about the machinery of murder. It will make you wonder how it was all possible.

A REVISIONIST'S NIGTHMARE.......2002-02-19

This book contains several studies by different scholars, about the workings of the Auschwitz killing machine. Very well researched, it addresses different moral, legal, sociological and psychological issues about the people that worked (S.S. and Sonderkommando) and those who died in the camp. It also provides valuable insigths and enough documented information about Auschwitz's infrastructure, that clearly eliminates any possibility to deny the reality of this tragedy.
If you are a historian or a scholar of the Holocaust or the S.S, you should have this book in your library. If you are a Holocaust denier, you must read this book, with an open mind. Then, you will be able to perhaps move on, to deny Pol Pot's killing fields...

Men With the Pink Triangle: The True, Life-And-Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps

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Couldn't put it down!!!
A Moving and Powerful True Account of Survival
One Man's Story
A story that needs told more
This book profoundly touched me

Men With the Pink Triangle: The True, Life-And-Death Story of Homosexuals in the Nazi Death Camps
Heinz Heger
Manufacturer: Alyson Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals
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Paragraph 175
Bent

ASIN: 1555830064

Amazon.com

It has only been since the mid-1970s that any attention has been paid to the persecution and interment of gay men by the Nazis during the Third Reich. Since that time, books such as Richard Plant's The Pink Triangle (and Martin Sherman's play Bent) have illuminated this nearly lost history. Heinz Heger's first-person account, The Men with the Pink Triangle, was one of the first books on the topic and remains one of the most important.

In 1939, Heger, a Viennese university student, was arrested and sentenced to prison for being a "degenerate." Within weeks he was transported to Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp in East Germany, and forced to wear a pink triangle to show that his crime was homosexuality. He remained there, under horrific conditions, until the end of the war in 1945. The power of The Men with the Pink Triangle comes from Heger's sparse prose and his ability to recall--and communicate--the smallest resonant details. The pain and squalor of everyday camp life--the constant filth, the continuous presence of death, and the unimaginable cruelty of those in command--are all here. But Heger's story would be unbearable were it not for the simple courage he and others used to survive and, having survived, that he bore witness. This book is harrowing but necessary reading for everyone concerned about gay history, human rights, or social justice. --Michael Bronski

Customer Reviews:

Couldn't put it down!!!.......2006-02-26

Such a good book. It gives a different perspective on the Holocaust. It's a page turner...I couldn't put it down once I got past the first few pages. Everyone one should read!

A Moving and Powerful True Account of Survival.......2003-12-08

A sodomy law had been on the German law books since 1871, a law known simply as Paragraph 175. Only a few people were ever sentenced under this obscure law until June of 1935 when, after the rise of Hitler and Nazism, the Nuremberg laws were enacted and the consequences of Paragraph 175 strengthened. Where once before, you had to be caught in the act of same sex relations, now simply receiving a letter or the spreading of idle gossip would have you sent to a concentration camp.

"The Men with the Pink Triangle" is one anonymous man's account of the harshness and cruelty faced by gay men at the hands of the SS and the ruling Nazi party, as well as by the other prisoners -- criminals, politicals, emigrants -- who viewed "filthy queers" as lower than the rest of them. They were distinguished by the large, pink triangles sown onto their prison outfits, making them easy targets for taunts and punishments. Also, homosexuals labored through the worst of the work details and "volunteered" for medical experimentation, which usually resulted in their deaths.

Some advantages also appeared for gay men. The "Capos" who were in charge of the prisoner barracks, often made lovers of some of the prisoners, giving them some protection and better rations and clothing. As is says in the book: "Homosexual behavior between two 'normal' men is considered an emergency outlet, while the same thing between two gay men, who both feel deeply for one another, is something 'filthy' and repulsive." The anonymous man used this to his advantage and survived the camps and the threat of being sent to the front lines.

Ths is a moving and powerful story about survival and about the right to be who you are, during one of the darkest times in world history. Highly recommended.

One Man's Story.......2003-05-25

Although short, this man's story could have benefitted from some thoughtful editing. Powerfully recounting his persecution at the hands of the Nazi regime, a full picture could have been painted had the author continued to tell its affects on the rest of his life AFTER World War II. An important book, no doubt, and definitely to be included in any Holocaust library.

A story that needs told more.......2003-01-23

I figure we teach school kids about the Jews suffering in the Holocaust, and the blacks struggle for Civil Rights. It would make sense that kids learn the dangers of homophobic bigotry, by reading this book. It will open your eyes! The same anti-gay stereotypes then, are the same ones now.

This book is about a gay man who survived the Pink Triangle, and took him over 25 years to tell his story, as their were still many anti-gay laws on the books there. This man never wanted any public or economic gains from telling his story. In fact the Nazis had more contempt for the gays than they did the 'inferior racial groups' they persecuted.

This book profoundly touched me.......2002-01-09

I read this short book in one sitting and was so moved I had to re-read it again the next evening. All people, I feel, will identify with the story on some level. I have passed this book around my circle of friends, and their emotions ranged from anger and disgust toward the Nazis to profound sadness and sympathy towards the writer. This book is not for the depressed or overly sensative! Oftentimes, one forgets the impact of Nazi aggression on those who experienced torture firsthand. I only wish more was known about the Third Reich's war on gay men.

Edith Stein: A Biography/the Untold Story of the Philosopher and Mystic Who Lost Her Life in the Death Camps of Auschwitz

Average customer rating:

A great bioagraphy
POWERFUL, ENTHRALLING WORK
Excellent Book

Edith Stein: A Biography/the Untold Story of the Philosopher and Mystic Who Lost Her Life in the Death Camps of Auschwitz
Waltraud Herbstrith
Manufacturer: Ignatius Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Edith Stein: Essential Writings (Modern Spiritual Masters Series)
Knowledge and Faith (Stein, Edith//the Collected Works of Edith Stein)
Edith Stein: St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
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The Science of the Cross (Stein, Edith//the Collected Works of Edith Stein)

ASIN: 0898704103

Customer Reviews:

A great bioagraphy.......2001-07-19

Edith Stien was a Jew who in the 1920's of Germany converted to Catholicism and then became a nun much to the dismay of her orthodox mother. Those who are have heard of Edith Stien know that ultimately she was martyred in Auschwitz because of her outspokenness against the Nazi's as well as the fact that the Catholic Church in occupied Holland was the only large church organization willing to preach against the nazi regeim.

What must people don't know about Edith Stien was what an incredibly couragous and brillant woman she was even long before she was martyred. As this book tells the story , often in her own words and in the words of those that were close to her, she was a college professer, philosopher, and political activist at a time when a professional woman was at best a grade school teacher or nurse. Even as a nun she worked on her philosophy and her writing.

Waltraud Herbstrith does an excellent job portraying the complete Edith Stien, Her faith Her family and her intellect. An excellent book.

POWERFUL, ENTHRALLING WORK.......2000-01-28

I consider this a "must read" for anyone interested in great women in history. The spiritual insights, life story, and heroic sacrifices of this brilliant woman, who was both a Jew and a Carmellite nun are amazing. Look closely at the cover art, as my interpretation was that Edith Stein possessed the "ear of God." The only complaint I have is the print was far too small. If it comes in a large print edition, you might be wise to order it. My eyesight is fairly normal.

Excellent Book.......1999-12-11

This book is an excellent introduction to the life and thought of Edith Stein (St. Theresa Benedicta). Waltraud Herbstrith presents a biography that encompases the philosophical, spiritual, and personal aspects of her subject with great care. I came away from this book with a true appreciation for Edith Stein, in particular her writings on women and her deep love of God.

Inside the Concentration Camps: Eyewitness Accounts of Life in Hitler's Death Camps

Average customer rating:

misleading use of testimony
An excellent overview of concentration camp life
Use with caution
Translation and Oral History at its Very Best

Inside the Concentration Camps: Eyewitness Accounts of Life in Hitler's Death Camps

Manufacturer: Praeger Paperback
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers
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ASIN: 0275954471

Book Description

This book is a translation of an oral history of the concentration camp experience recorded immediately after World War II as told by men and women who endured it and lived to tell about it. Their vivid, firsthand accounts heighten the reality of this experience in ways no third-person narrative can capture. Even when they are at a loss for words, their struggle to find language to express the unspeakable is, in itself, mute testimony to the ordeal etched forever on their memories. The testimonies are arranged to reflect the chronology of camp experience (from deportation to liberation), the living conditions of camp life (from malnutrition to forced labor), and the various methods of abuse and extermination (from castration to gassing and cremation). The chronology gives the accounts a narrative flow and even creates a certain suspense, especially as liberation nears and hopes rise.

Customer Reviews:

misleading use of testimony.......2005-10-06

This book reads like a single history...beware. The author has taken original testimony from many people and woven them together as though they were from a single source (some pages actually have between 15 and 20 references). Appears to be the same sort of propaganda used to create the anti-semetism that fueled the holocaust. Very disappointing.

An excellent overview of concentration camp life.......2001-03-26

This book is a compilation of statements made by hundreds of different Holocaust survivors. The statements are pieced together in a way that makes the readers feel they are reading a story told by one person. The book takes stories from survivors of all the different camps and compiles them to depict the horror felt by all victims of the camps. I would say this book is an excellent introduction to what life in the camps was like.

Use with caution.......2001-03-08

I purchased this book hoping I might be able to use it in the course I teach on the Holocaust. It includes a vast and rich body of testimony that would be invaluable if it were placed in context. However this work is a list of statements, usually identified only by an individual's name. For most of the statements, it is impossible to determine which camp is being described. This book suggests that there was a general concentration camp experience, and that it is not necessary to distinghish one camp from the other. I believe that premise is problematical on both counts. Even the photographs have generic captions that do not identify the camps they depict. While the first-person accounts of the Nazi order of terror are often gripping, this book should be used with caution by those seeking a precise historical understanding of the Holocaust.

Translation and Oral History at its Very Best.......1998-10-15

It is hard to believe that this book is only now available in English. Consisting entirely of eye-witness accounts of life in German concentration camps, the work served as an important source of evidence during the Nazi trials. The accounts, however, are compiled so that they form a narrative that is roughly chronological, beginning with the experience of deportation and ending with the grim business of counting bodies. In between lies the whole experience of the prisoner: the forced and brutalizing work, the whimsical or studied methods of torture, the grisly medical experiments, the routine executions, the gasing of ever larger groups, the ovens that burned night and day, and constantly, throughout the story, the capricious beating, kicking and whipping. Primo Levi, who wrote so eloquently about the danger of forgetting, would have appreciated this book.

And Thomas Whissen, the translator, has performed an admirable and selfless job. He has rendered this story in a language that is so clear, so transparent, that one forgets that one is reading words on a page. The book leaves one feeling bruised and battered, and not quite willing to go back into a world of comforts. It leaves one deeply suspicious of humanity. And this perhaps is a good thing.

Incidentally, it is difficult to imagine a book better suited for university courses on the holocaust.

Carmine Di Biase, Ph.D. (cdibiase@jsucc.jsu.edu)

The Death Camp Treblinka (Holocaust Library)
Average customer rating:

Includes Early-Postwar Testimonies of Treblinka Investigators and Escapees

The Death Camp Treblinka (Holocaust Library)
Alexander Donat
Manufacturer: Schocken Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0805250093

Customer Reviews:

Includes Early-Postwar Testimonies of Treblinka Investigators and Escapees.......2007-09-10

This book is a compilation of six eyewitness accounts from Treblinka escapees, an English translation of Rachel Auerbach's investigation, and a description of the 1960's trails of Treblinka Nazis in West Germany. Editor Donat notes that the West German government was very slow in locating and prosecuting these Nazi criminals, and then did it halfheartedly and leniently (p. 295). WARNING: The photographs from inside Treblinka, taken by SS man Kurt Franz ("The Doll"), are graphic, and may be upsetting to sensitive readers.

Donat states that 60 Treblinka escapees survived until the end of the war (p. 284). Historian Yitzhak Arad puts this figure at 70.

The eyewitness articles, written immediately after the war, are thereby free of subsequent accretions. In addition, they give clues to the origins of these accretions, which include some of the Polonophobic aspects of contemporary Holocaust lore. For instance, Treblinka escapee Tanhum Grinberg wrote: "Even as we fled, we could see the corpses of slain Jews, with the boots removed from their legs. The peasants knew that the Jews had money, and that was reason enough to set ambushes and murder Jews." (p. 222). What jumping to conclusions! How could Grinberg, having arrived well after the fact, possibly know the identity(-ies) and motive(s) of the killer(s)? He doesn't even indicate that he carefully checked the bodies for bullet wounds. What if the killers had been Germans or Ukrainians who, after all, were conducting an intensive manhunt for the fugitive Jews? Also, the removal and reuse of boots from the dead was a common practice in wartime, not the exclusive habit of peasants!

It wasn't only Poles who took money from fugitive Jews. Sometimes Jews also did this to each other (pp. 141-142), which prompted Abraham Krzepicki to say this about an old Polish woman who helped him freely: "This was the first time since my escape from Treblinka that anyone, Jew or Gentile, helped me get to safety without trying to extort money from me." (p. 142).

It doesn't follow that Polish benefactors who demanded payment were necessarily greedy. After Krzepicki had paid a Polish peasant for help, "The peasant said that if he were not afraid of the Germans he would help me free of charge, but it just couldn't be done; the risk was too great." (p. 135).

Abraham Krzepicki recounts the experiences of the Jewish forced laborers at Treblinka. Some of them saw what later came to be known as the Holocaust as God's punishment for the Jews' sins (pp. 96-97).

Interestingly, Treblinka escapee Samuel Rajzman elaborates on the help he got from Mr. Golos, a Pole (pp. 248-249), who was also a member of a rightist-nationalist organization (p. 249). This provides further proof that the ranks of Righteous Gentiles include members of the much-maligned Endeks (Endecks).

Shiny Adidas Tracksuits and the Death of Camp and Other Essays from Might Magazine

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Funny Funny Funny
Wait for the real one
something to remember Might by
eclectic, interesting mix
Two Words: Adam Rich

Shiny Adidas Tracksuits and the Death of Camp and Other Essays from Might Magazine
Might Magazine editors
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425164772

Amazon.com

This collection of essays from the late, lamented Might magazine deserves a place on any post-boomer's bookshelf. Shiny Adidas Tracksuits bristles with interesting thoughts and novel turns of phrase; most pieces are short (fewer than five pages), and all are well written and precisely observed.

Referring to Might's editorial principles, the editors write: "One rule was that every issue of Might had to have a lot of swearing in it, ideally in the headlines. Another rule was that, even though we had about a month or two to put each issue together, the magazine had to go to press with somewhere between thirty and forty egregious spelling and grammatical errors. But the one rule that really got us into trouble, the one that basically doomed us from the start, was this one: We would not publish anything we didn't care about.... In observing this rule, the one that said we had to like the things we printed, we were precluded from publishing the sorts of things that might have kept the magazine afloat: namely articles about celebrities, clothes, electronics, makeup, cars, video games, beer, nightlife generally, and beer." Instead, the writers in Shiny Adidas Tracksuits and the Death of Camp describe quirky personal quests, examine pop-culture doodads, and spout crackpot theories. The book, like the magazine, somehow avoids the creeping contagion of irony and remains absolutely fresh, vigorous, and friendly.

Apart from David Foster Wallace, most contributors aren't national commodities (which is sort of the point), but they deserve to be, and deserve your attention. This book is a fitting epitaph to a sparkler of a magazine. --Michael Gerber

Customer Reviews:

Funny Funny Funny.......2004-08-31

In A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggars talks a bit about the short-lived magazine he and a group of friends founded. This is a collection of the best articles from that magazine. Very intelligent, sarcastic, and funny if not always important, they cover such topics as the annual meeting of Phil Campbell's from around the world in Phil Campbell, Alabama (written by Phillip G. Campbell), why black people are cooler than white people, how the world's conflicts can be solved through simple design principles, and "The Thing About Men and Nail Polish." A good friend bought me this book, which was very nice because it was one of those rare gifts for no reason that make you feel especially good. Now I will lend it back to him because he should read it too.

Wait for the real one.......2000-03-23

I recently saw the former editor of Might reading from his book and he mentioned that his new magazine, McSweeney's, would be publishing books, and that one of them would be a 'much, much better' version of this book. He was complaining about how this Shiny book was cheap-looking and that the publisher had screwed up the cover, etc, so McSweeney's would put a new collection together, in a hardcover I think, and it'd be out sometime in the next six months or so. I saw this Shiny book in a store and it did look kind of cheap. Why do they print books with that newsprint type paper? Anyway, I think I'll wait for the real version.

something to remember Might by.......2000-02-19

I cried the day I got my last issue of Might Magazine. Not because I had just bought a subcription and was out 19 bucks, but because I felt like I was loosing a friend. Might was smart, funny, and lovable. Buy this book and experience some of the Might genius.

eclectic, interesting mix.......1999-12-18

I originally bought this book through Amazon.com because I first learned about it as having an article written by Mark Dougherty, the vocalist for a music group called Soul Coughing. I was intrigued because, in addition to being briliant, wacky musicians, the lyrics to much of their work are some of the funniest, catchiest, nonsensical clips of genius that I have ever heard.

Naturally, I had to read-on.

What I found was something that I didn't even know existed: a semi-underground, irreverent and now extinct publication called 'Might Magazine'. Although I was never exposed to it firsthand, I can see how many might have considered this publication to have a lot of potential, if uneven and frustrating at times.

There is such a thing as too much tongue-in-cheek, and the collective smirk on the faces of all the contributors included in this book could create enough energy to power the sun for a year. This wouldn't be so bad if, after reading all that, one weren't left with the feeling that half these guys are making the smug and annoying assumption that they are smarter than you.

Still, this collection has a lot of things going for it, including some truly quirky and original humor. Three of my favorites are: 'Are Black People Really Cooler Than White People?', the story on Adam Rich's death, and the essay attacking outdoor extreme sports as a trendy fetish. Many others, like the essay on the ubiquity of the American caesar salad, seem truly trivial in a weak attempt at quirky, camp humor. In fact, many of these essays make you wonder, 'Why would anyone ever want to write on this subject?', and on more than one occasion, I sometimes wished that they would stop.

Despite this, the celebration of camp culture is a topic that is very worthy of publication. This book comes as a recommendation largely for that reason alone.

Two Words: Adam Rich.......1999-12-17

I purchased this book for one reason and one reason only... Might's post-mortem tribute to "Eight is Enough" star, Adam Rich. Of course, it was just a parody of such tributes and Adam was in on it, but it started one of the better celebrity death rumors to run rampant on the internet.

The other articles range from bitingly funny, to mildly amusing, to the kind of pseudo-intellectual stuff written by people who *think* they're a lot more intelligent than everyone around them. It's an interesting mix.

Overall... I kept it as a bathroom book. Worth the lettuce if you like eclectic reading and have a decent education. But if you listen to Top 40 radio and love shows like "Boy Meets World," it's probably going to be too weird for you.

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Play the game right and you might outlast the Nazis."