Toward the end of Muller's three years at Auschwitz, there was an
uprising of desperate prisoners. When the SS opened fire, Muller,
who by then knew every niche and shadow of the place, hid by
climbing into one of the unused crematoria and stood in the flue
between the oven and the chimney. There he smoked a cigarette, and
as the smoke curled up the chimney he mused on the many people
whose mortal remains had disappeared that way. He was committed to
survival and so, being a strong young man, he had worked on the
Sonderkommando - the prisoner squad that ran the gas chambers for
the SS. He had stripped bodies, guided them with forks into the
flames, and cremated his own father. There was nothing he would not
do. Once, overcome by the horror, he had tried to join the victims
in the gas chamber but a young woman told him to save himself "to
explain to them that they must free themselves from any illusions."
It was this determination to "bear witness" that Muller claims as
his reason to "see everything, experience everything, go through
everything and consciously record everything in your mind." The
details of how the camp operated are presented with sickening
precision down to the mixture of healthy and emaciated bodies
necessary for efficient burning. Contrary to common wisdom, "the
crematoria were not modern or technically advanced. . . . Their
operation depended entirely on slave laborers." Muller's account,
unlike Elie Wiesel's, deals little with inner states. He accepts
"organization" [theft] of valuables as necessary to make life more
bearable. Although his descriptions are sometimes marred by
pointless adjectives ("bloodthirsty gaze," "terrible sneer," "eagle
eyes") and by stilted dialogue (possibly the fault of the
translator), we are left with an account of an exceptional
experience. Its ramifications, however, seem not to have struck
him; and there's no sign that the Des Pres-Bettelheim controversy
(sheer survival vs. principled resistance) has reached his ears.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Filip Muller came to Auschwitz with one of the earliest transports
from Slovakia in April 1942 and began working in the gassing
installations and crematoria in May. He was still alive when the
gassings ceased in November 1944. He saw millions come and
disappear; by sheer luck he survived. Muller is neither a historian
nor a psychologist; he is a source one of the few prisoners who saw
the Jewish people die and lived to tell about it. Eyewitness
Auschwitz is one of the key documents of the Holocaust. Published
in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "A
shattering, centrally important testimony." from the Foreword by
Yehuda Bauer. "A very detailed description of day-to-day life, if
we can call it that, in Hell s inmost circle...Having read other
books of this kind, I had expected to read this one straight
through. But no, Eyewitness Auschwitz is jammed with infernal
information too terrible to be taken all at once." Terrence Des
Pres, New Republic. "Riveting...It is a tale of unprecedented,
incomparable horror. Profoundly, intensely painful; but it is
essential reading." Jewish Press Features.
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