Auschwitz: The Final Witness

Our knowledge of the Holocaust may be viewed as a tapestry woven from the thread of a thousand stories and, as the decades pass and survivors enter their 80s and 90s, it becomes increasingly urgent that these stories be told and preserved. Auschwitz: The Final Witness tells the tale of two Greek brothers and a cousin who were torn from the vibrant Jewish enclave of Salonika when the Nazis invaded in 1941. Deported to the infamous death camp, Auschwitz, these young men were spared to perform slave labor as "sondercommandos"; the rest of their family was gassed almost immediately. From Greece, Rome, and America, these men reunite to return to Auschwitz and bear witness to a story of hope, survival, and incredible inhumanity: the sondercommandos had the job of disposing of the men, women, and children killed in the gas chambers, making them the ultimate, intimate witnesses of Germany's "final solution." Each day brought a procession of agonizing dramas and moral dilemmas, with friends begging them to intercede with the executioners. The tales and sketches of death camp scenes aren't for the squeamish, but this document deserves a place in public and academic libraries. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)