The Last Survivor: In Search of Martin Zaidenstadt

I have just finished reading this book and all I can say is that it should be mandatory reading for anyone who has any interest in The Holocaust. This narrative offers a fresh perspective on the horrors of the time and the ugly scar it left on history. Rarely does one find a non-fiction book as absorbing as this one.

I highly recommend this book to any reader out there. Although the intriguing character of Martin Zaidenstadt is the locus of this book, the people of the town of Dachau are really its subject. Zaidenstadt is a fascinating character study, but Ryback's non-judgmental portrait of the town, related through his interviews with various townfolk, is truly fascinating. To see the ambivalence and anger in these people today is a testament to the power of a horrible shared history. I think this would be a great book to teach to young people because it raises difficult questions about responsibility, history, identity, and truth. Read it.

I spent half a year in Bavaria during the mid sixties and alas what I got out of this book is that not much has changed. Denial marches on.What the people of Dachau have to come to terms with is that they were part of and are now custodians of history. That men can do these things to each other has to be confronted. Otherwise it will go on -- whether it is in East Timor or Waco.The sign in the camp saying that the gas chamber was never used was there in the 1960's. At the time I thought it was an insult to my intelligence. Martin Zaidenstadt has confirmed my view that this monstrosity would never have been built without a purpose.My thanks go Timothy Ryback for putting together a signifcant book.

I visited Dachau Concentration camp in May 1994. While at the crematorium site, I saw this old man talking in German with an older couple. I knew instantly that this man must had been a survivor because of the passion in which he spoke and pointed things around the camp. I did followed them for a while and then, overwhelmed by the whole experience, I walked away.Five years later Mr. Ryback have answered for me who that man was; Martin Zaidenstadt. In what I consider the best book I have read this year (and possibly one of the year's best), Mr. Ryback presents a compelling journalistic account of the everyday existence of Mr. Zaidenstadt, and while doing so, he takes you on a rollercoaster ride as he explores the varied attitudes of present day Dachausers towards the camp and the associated infamous past. Amazing writing, I could not put this book down.The best thing about this book is the respect Mr. Ryback shows to his readers when he does not passes judgement or reaches conclusions, but rather allows the reader to make his/her own.Mr. Ryback raises the high mark of excellence in journalistic writing. I am looking forward to more of his work.

Ryback does something I've never had the nerve to do--ask the residents of Dachau about their infamy. He writes beautifully--this is the work of a top drawer journalist--and yet unobtrusively. It reminds me of Krakauer's Into Thin Air. And like Krakauer, Ryback comes from magazine writing. A few years ago when magazines had more room for copy and less space was used on ads this might have appeared unabridged The New York Times Sunday Magazine or The Atlantic Monthly--as cover stories, of course. But now, with small hardback book bindery and clever formatting it suffices as a full-blown book. I read it in 2 hours. Still, it is compelling. As for Martin Zaidenstadt, I never saw him at Dachau any time I visited there (1981 onwards). He appears to indeed be a survivor of WWII and maybe of Dachau--but he also surely is a panhandler preying on the sympathies and guilt of Dachau visitors and (in my humble opinion!) the man is suffering from senile dementia.