Ik heb dit boek ontvangen van de uitgever voor een review. Normaal gesproken krijg je dan een epub of PDF bestand opgestuurd. Groot was dan ook mijn verbazing dat het dit keer een ECHT papieren boek was.
Review:
I really don’t know WHAT to write about this book, but I’ll try 😉
A story of a Jewish boy (Izaak Sturm) who lives through the atrocities of the Holocaust, as he is moved from concentration camp to concentration camp.
First Izaak tells us about the peaceful life he lives in the town of Debica, then he follows with his recollection of the cruelty of the Nazi’s. A guard, named Grün, whipped or shot people whenever he felt like it. Later Izaak testifies against him in court.
He also tells us about the commandant of Plaszów, who ‘took a great deal of pleasure in walking around with his gun and shooting people left and right’.
Before being ‘evacuated’ Izaak lives in the ghetto, and something that caught my eye was the following line he wrote:
“Jewish life was cheap in the ghetto. — It was not unusual to see people shot to death. It was common. It was nothing.”
Izaak gives detailed information about the people he tells about in detailed footnotes. The book feeled like a transcript of his presentations.
Sometimes he gives too much information about persons, but I guess that is okay in this kind of books.
The book had many undefined Jewish-terms, that made it sometimes difficult to understand for non-Jewish people. A explanation in the end of the book would have been welcomed.
This book was enlightening and concise, but as said by others, filled with details not really needed. This also made the book not an easy read. Various documents have been added in appendices, to give as much details as possible.
A well written book, that should be a recommended read for history lessons, but with some clarifications for some names.
I find it hard to give stars to these kind of books. Would I rate it 5 stars because of the story, or the what the author has gone through or…, so the 5 stars I give are based on the story it self
The person in charge of layout and format of the book has done a good job. The book itself looks great, the paper is of a top-quality
