5/5: Provocative, in-depth, and horrific.
AUTHOUR(S):
- Jean-François Steiner
Premise: Before Auchwitz, there was Treblinka. From Treblinka, there were only forty survivors. At Treblinka, there was a revolt. After the revolt, Treblinka was all most completely erased from history. And perhaps it would have, had it not been for the revolt of a thousand Jewish people at the camp, who descended to the very depths of despair and somehow rose again to fight back against the barbarism and inhumanity. What happened at Treblinka that gave them this spirit?
Overall: This book does not lead the reader straight to the revolt. No, before the revolt, is the descent, the terrifying descent into the horrors of the Third Reich. The perfection of submission, existential despair, otiose illusions, and the death of the humanity of masses of individuals, murderer and victim, are all part of the average day in Treblinka. Treblinka... What makes this book gruesome is not just the beatings and massacre, but the fact that Treblinka is its own world, its own world, complete with society, weddings, tailors, parties, orchestras, sporting events, dolls, janitors, wars, hope, families, lives, and deaths.
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