A review by abrswf
Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account by Miklós Nyiszli

4.0

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I could not disagree more with the thesis by Bruno Bettelheim, who wrote a prologue, that blame attaches to Holocaust victims for failing to fight back or allowing themselves to be murdered. I deeply dislike victim blaming and it's obscene in this context. But -- I also really disliked the pompous, self-satisfied smug author of this book. I'm quite sure he engaged in much more collaborative behavior than be discloses. He was basically Mengele’s pampered henchman. Secondly, I question the factual accuracy of quite a bit of what he reports. Other witnesses, for example, consistently report that the liquidation of the Gypsy camp at Auschwitz was a bloody multi-day mess because the Gypsies fought fiercely -- he says it was quiet, orderly, and brief. Details like that which seem off or downright wrong make me wonder about other incidents and operating procedures he describes, which aren't reflected by anything I've read in other survivor accounts. One star off. And: read without complete credulity.