Auschwitz, 1270 to the Present

I am very impressed by Professors Deborah Dwork and Robert Jan van Pelt and their book, AUSCHWITZ. Mine is the paperback edition by Norton and the book includes photographs, maps, graphs, charts and copies of original Nazi blueprints for crematoria (some of which included "corpse cellars" which the SS converted to gas chambers) many of which I've never seen before. The book actually appears to me to be more of a library than a single, integrated narrative about an infamous Nazi concentration camp. It starts sedately enough with a cultural/historical examination of the town of Auschwitz from its medieval beginnings to World War II. I'm of East Prussian descent and found that more interesting than other readers might, however. The authors cover an immense amount of information about geology, geography, weather, other descriptive information. For me, that was a book in its own right. As the authors close in the 20th century, they focus on Heinrich Himmler and his SS and the bureaucratic empires and ideological visions of "the German East" that influence Nazi policy. The authors do a good job of threading a very difficult needle and they include information which was new to me. I had never realized, for example, that Alfred Rosenberg was in a position to compete with Himmler and Goering for the Fuhrer's favor. This was great stuff, but it was like a second book insofar as I could see. The only fault I could find with the authors' analysis was that it seemed to minimize Hitler's role in the Holocaust. Perhaps the authors are "Functionalists"? I'm not, however, and I greatly prefer the more "Intentionalist" emphasis of Professor Richard J. Evans' THE THIRD REICH AT WAR or Professor Christopher R. Browning's ORDINARY MEN: RESERVE POLICE BATALION 101 AND THE FINAL SOLUTION IN POLAND. The authors then move into what looks to me like a third book summarizing that period of its history during which KZ Auschwitz emerged as the central killing ground for Hitler's murderous Reich. The authors show how abandoned cottages were transferred into gas chambers while new, larger crematoria were being constructed (mostly in Birkenau 2 or 3 miles away) and pressed into service by the SS. You learn the names of the SS architects who adapted the "morgue cellars" in these new crematoria into gas chambers. "Corpse chutes" were transformed into stairways so the condemned to descend into the gas chambers under their own power. Some of the big, new crematoria encountered teething problems. The chimney liner cracked in one while another caught fire due to sub-standard wiring. You can even learn which civilian contractors installed these defective parts and how the SS architects and engineers remedied them. It's amazing and ghastly. It's also a major contribution to the field of Holocaust Studies. If you're interested in WW II, the Nazi Holocaust, or the history of Upper Silesia, you absolutely must have this book. It's a bit like a librar

Instead of repeating other reviewers, let's focus on undeveloped content. To begin with, it is interesting to note that the post-WWII Odra-Nysa (Oder-Neisse) boundary coincided with the east-most deployment of Germans before the year 1200 A.D. (p. 24). "Nationalism" nowadays is often a dirty word. In actuality, there are different kinds of nationalism, only some of which are repulsive. While discussing the 19th-century German rule over western Poles, Dwork and van Pelt comment: "What had been a domain of encounter became a battlefield where the imperial and integral nationalism of the Germans faced the functional and emancipatory nationalism of the Poles." (p. 48). Contrary to those who misrepresent the Germans as voting Hitler into power merely in order to avenge and rectify the "injustices" of Versailles, the authors recognize the fact that Hitler plainly wrote in MEIN KAMPF about his plans for a massive war for lebensraum against the Slavic east. What's more, this was not only well known to Germans in general, but enthusiastically supported by them. (pp. 82-83). (While it is technically true that Hitler didn't win an absolute majority, it begs the question why the Nationalist and Catholic deputies deliberately chose to push him over the top (p. 96), giving him totalitarian rule.) Dwork and van Pelt realize that the Auschwitz camp was created for Poles. (p. 168, 173, 181). Its conversion into an extermination camp for Jews came much later. Nor was the latter a foregone conclusion. In fact, the Final Solution first envisioned the mass resettlement of Europe's Jews to the Lublin-area, then Madagascar, then to German-ruled Russia--the latter similar to the planned eastward mass-resettlement of Poles (Generalplan Ost). The decision to systematically exterminate the Jews was made only after the Red Army had failed to collapse as expected, and the region for planned resettlement of Jews remained under Soviet control. (p. 287, 293). Much has been said (e. g., by Jan T. Gross) about Polish "greed" in acquiring post-Jewish properties, and Polish hostility to Jewish survivors showing up to reclaim their properties. Inadvertently, the authors correct these misconceptions while discussing postwar Auschwitz: "Practical and theoretical considerations prompted the severance of the stucco barracks from the memorial camp. THERE WAS A CRIPPLING LACK OF HOUSING IN POLAND IN 1945, and these structures were spacious, well-built, intact, and available for immediate occupancy." (p. 360; emphasis added). The authors touch on the postwar history of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and, while discussing the controversy about the Carmelite convent and the crosses, they refer to the Christian symbols as expressing triumphalism over the Jewish victims. Using the same reasoning, shouldn't the Stars of David be considered a form of triumphalism over the Christian victims of this camp?

I felt that this book was an extremely interesting book that gave a different view on the transformation of the Polish town Auscwitz. The book explains how it was once an ordinary town that soon became one of the leading concentration camps in the Nazi era. The book explains the different stages the town went through from 1270 to the present. It was once a small Polish town, then a production site for gravel and sand, later an execution site, a place where Himmler wanted to build a farm communities, and then the answer to the "Jewish" question. What I liked about this book was that it gave a mass amount of illustrations, ranging from pictures to graphs to building plans. This book also had some eye witness accounts from the view of the Jewish survivals, explaining what their feelings and reactions were during this time. The book is broken into two parts: Nostalgia and Fullfillment and Ambition and Perdition. The first part explains the history of the town and the second part starts off with the concentration camp. The Epilogue, "Owning and Disowning Auschwitz" I thought gave a quick and interesting view on the town today and what happend to it after the fall of the Nazi's. It briefly explains the problmes that arose afterwards and the concentration camp today. After giving the history of Auschwitz,the authors end with a question that still haunts the Jewish people today, Why?

It's really the first book of its kind - examining the architecture of the largest death camp in history. It's remarkable for its in-depth look at the development of that small Polish town that went from Osweicem to Auschwitz, spanning seven centuries of cultural upheaval in the area, and focusing on the development of the Nazi concentration camp into a site of extermination and genocide. An excellent book for anyone interested in the Holocaust, in history or in architecture.

This book skillfully combines a history of German influence in the East with a detailed look at the death and labor camps of Auschwitz. Using the architectural records left behind as well as statements of people who were there to outline the story, the authors trace the development and changes of the Auschwitz camps from 1939 to the present day. The skillful use of architectural plans provides insight into the changing purposes the camp adapted to in its short but terrible life. Also, the authors trace the German influence in the area back to the founding of the town in 1270 and relate the camp's shifting purpose to the territorial goals of the Germans in the East both before and during the war.