Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account

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In Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account, to say that Auschwitz is an interesting read would be a gross understatement. Auschwitz is a historical document, a memoir but, most importantly an insider’s tale of the horrors that the captives of one of the most dreadful concentration camps in the history of mankind. Auschwitz, is about a Jewish doctors, Dr. Nyiszli, experience as an assistant for a Nazi, Dr. Mengele. Dr. Nyiszli arrived at Auschwitz concentration camp with his family unsure if he would survive the horrific camp. This memoir chronicles the Auschwitz experience, and the German retreat, ending a year later in Melk, Austria when the Germans surrendered their position there and Nyiszli obtained his freedom. The author describes in …show more content…

He knew if he survived he would be able to give a firsthand account of what happened since he was very close with all the operations that took place under Dr. Mengele, “The Angle of Death.” But for most of them, the hope was far from gone. As I read the book, this really disturbed me. How could they make sense of this? In the end, they didn’t try to and just gave up. Over 6 million people lost their lives because they had lost hope of survival. The prisoners and the guards just took each day as the only day they needed to worry about except Dr. Nyiszil. He had a sense of purpose to get his experience across the world so that people can have a better understanding of what had happened behind the closed doors in Auschwitz. It is difficult for me as I write this in the safety of my home, on my laptop to understand how life could turned out to be so descend into that kind of sinister routine. My second observation was the wide contradiction of the human spirit to see hope or despair in the same circumstances. The most disturbing thing I notice was the way people responded to circumstances in which they found themselves. There are some that found ways to survive by giving

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