Auschwitz

"A taut, terse Holocaust narrative that is all the more powerful for its ironic reserve." -- Kirkus Reviews

LUCIE ADELSBERGER (1895-1971) was born in Nuremberg and educated at the University of Erlangen. Before she was deported to Auschwitz in 1943, she lived in Berlin and worked as a private physician. Following World War II, she immigrated to the United States and continued her practice. Her research at the Robert Koch Institute brought her worldwide attention in the fields of immunology and allergies.

"A taut, terse Holocaust narrative that is all the more powerful for its ironic reserve." - Kirkus Reviews "Lest Nazi Germany's brutalities be forgotten, this understated, appalling book, which first appeared in German in 1956, ought to remain perpetually in print. Specializing in immunology and allergy in Berlin at the time, Adelsberger turned down a position at Harvard in 1933 because she was unable to get her mother out of Germany. In May 1943, she was transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where, under the general supervision of Josef Mengele, she was permitted to practice her profession in one of the large women's areas. Her account of the starvation, cruelty, and sadism meted out to women and children against the backdrop - within sight of the block in which she worked - of the flames and stench from burning bodies will long remain in the minds of readers, as will the chaotic death marches at the end of the war, one more crime against humanity. Adelsberger concludes by asserting that "the legacy of the dead rests in our hands; it's incumbent upon us to tell their story." - Booklist"