A review by shawnwhy
KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps by Nikolaus Wachsmann

5.0

WOW, didnt think that it was possible, but I think this is more depressing than Applebaum's Gulag book. its very rich detail, and revisits Wiezel and Levi quite a bit, for me, this kind of demystifies the SS from this elite mysterious hyper-educated secret society that usually is portrayed in the movies, to just people rised above their quality , brutish, crass and self serving. The capo system of the self governing of the prisoners described by Eli Weizel, is expanded upon to a great extent, and its quite interesting to read about the drama and hardships in this particular microcosm. usually the camp memoirs of pows ends with the a scenario, in which the survivors go a daring escape and see horse mounted silhouettes in the distance, they immediately thought it was the guards there to bring them back, and the thoughts fill them with dread. as the horse men come closer, they see their uniform and they are the officers of the red army, there to liberate them.. this, like Eli weizel, does not even end on that higher note, but it turns out alot of the survivors end up in the Gulags and die under the soviet reign.....