People in Auschwitz /

A Viennese communist who fought the fascists in Spain during the 1930s, Langbein (1912-1995) was later incarcerated as a non-Jewish political prisoner, first in Dachau, then, for two years, in Auschwitz, where he was put to service as a clerk for SS doctors. He interacted with many kinds of "Auschwitz People" and tried to meliorate some Nazi medical barbarisms, and participated in the camp's international resistance organization. Originally published in German in 1972, this book offers Langbein's extraordinarily revealing anatomy of the death camp, its procedures and daily rhythm, and the differentiated experiences of its prisoners, guards, and civilian workers. With emotional detachment reminiscent of Primo Levi, and with consummate candor and clarity, Langbein depicts and analyzes the roles and behavior of variegated inmates and the moral hell to which they were subjected. He also dissects the Auschwitz command structure (commandants, doctors, and SS guards) and shares vignettes of his encounters with such men as Drs. Mengele and Wirths. His penetrating personal insights, complemented by wide ranging scholarly research and the integration of judicious selections of Auschwitz memoirs, diaries, and records of other perpetrators and victims, results in a stunning work that is indispensable for understanding the largest and most notorious of Nazi extermination camps. ^BSumming Up: Essential. All public/academic libraries. B. Kraut CUNY Queens College