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Book Details Title: Last Stop Auschwitz: My Story of Survival from within the Camp Author: Eliazar de Wind Number of pages: Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (January 21, 2020) Language: English ISBN: 153870143X Rating: 4,9     22 reviews

Book Description Review “This unique contribution to the literature of the Holocaust will prove invaluable to all readers interested in recollections and histories of the period.”―Library Journal, starred review Read more About the Author Eddy de Wind was transported to Auschwitz in 1944, along with his wife. At the end of the war when the Nazis fled, Eddy hid and stayed behind, subsequently serving as a doctor in the Red Army treating other survivors. It was then that he wrote Last Stop Auschwitz: the only known book written within the grounds of Auschwitz itself. After the war, Eddy established himself as a renowned psychoanalyst in Amsterdam-one of the first to write about a form of PTSD called “concentration camp syndrome”. He is survived by his three children and second wife. David Colmer is the award-winning translator of over 20 books. Among his accolades are the PEN Translation Prize, the 2009 Biennial NSW Premier Prize, the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the David Reid Poetry Translation Prize. Read more Customers Review: This was written in Auschwitz after this concentration camp of horrors was liberated. The author remained in the camp and wrote this horrific and haunting story of the life he had been subjected to from 1943 to liberation. Of particular interest to the reader is the fact that his wife, Friedel, was also imprisoned there…in Cell Block 10 whereas the Dr. was in Cell Block 9. It is also written in the voice of Hans van Don as the memories were too fresh to reflect in the first person.What separates this one from the numerous others I have recently read is the fact that the daily (almost minute by minute) account will afford the readers a glimpse like no other previously. In addition, I feel, the fact that his wife, Friedel is in the location where Dr. Josef Mengele is conducting his ‘experiments’ on the women…including Greek women. We are given information about those horrendous experiments which will cause angst to the readers.Life inside this concentration camp …Auschwitz, is governed by two gongs..One in the morning which is the signal to rise (and undoubtedly not shine so well) to the evening gong when it is finally time to go to your bed.. There could also be an unannounced foot inspection in the middle of the night…The beds in Cell Block 9 were triple bunks and Hans had one of the top ones. One thing that was mentioned was that ‘fleas couldn’t jump that high’ so that was about the only advantage Hans was privy to. The others looked down at the Dutch and they were always at the dirty end of the details.Lines, lines and more lines..didn’t matter what one was doing there was a line to get into…Meals, sick call, getting ready for work there was always a line. Speaking of meals…which is a questionable term….the book states the amount of each food that was given to each prisoner. As one might expect, the caloric intake was insufficient to maintain body weight.Some of the work parties involved maintaining the gravel roads, carrying corpses from the cella and also carrying cement bags which weighed in excess of 165 #. Hans was indeed happy to be placed in quarantine for a short period of time. He was also grateful that he could see his wife, Friedel, from afar and even a real visit at times.I kept wondering what kept these prisoners alive and the answer, I believe, was that of hope. He told Friedel to ‘be brave’… One other thing is that the iron gate at the entrance to Auschwitz had the inscription ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ which translates to ‘Work sets you free’…Hans did not agree with that translation…A couple of items within the book concerning the Germans and their progress in the world of inventions…One was a synthetic rubber plant located in Buna and also an area in which they were also building a plant to extract energy from sludge. Of course, the prisoners were doing the labor.Just a horrific true story which contains details never read before. The reader knows the ending when starting this one but it doesn’t make the details any less horrendous. A true story of survival against all odds.Felt the translation was well done and that the addition of pictures enhanced the text.A must read for anyone interested in this period of time and in events that occurred in Auschwitz.Most highly recommended. I’ve never understood why Victor Frankel’s Man’s Search for Meaning was so well received. It is not written well and really needed a good editor. Yet it still sold well; still does. This is contrasted by this story — Eddy’s story — it just flows. This book is very hard to put down. It was written during stolen moment while during this ordeal. From the time when he states, “Why did I say I was a Jew when asked?” to the liberation, you get a peak at life before, during and after Auschwitz, and that some really knew what it meant to be sent there. Then there is the “appearances” the Germans did for the so call auditors who were checking in to make sure the prisoners were not being mistreated, until the fateful time when all pretense was set aside.It’s also sad that this was buried, that the West never knew this manuscript existed until essentially now. This belongs aside the Diary of Ann Frank, and Hiroshima. They color this time with heart and the horror of events you cannot escape.I initially purchased the electronic version because I would not have received the physical copy in time for a trip, and they physical copies were not yet available. I knew this was not the kind of book I’d skim through. It was one that DESERVED a place in my library. So I ordered a hard copy the day they could be sold. It follows me through my home.What I found sad about this whole story is Eddy. He was aloof in many ways before being seized. He tried to find love during this ordeal and his distracted by it repeatedly in a system that couldn’t care less. After liberation, his marriage fell apart, he underwent experimental psychedelic drugs treatment to help with his obvious trauma (they didn’t work), and he found professional success in sexology, being one of the founder of the first Dutch abortion clinic. I cannot even fathom how someone who lived through the pervasive and suffocating horrors of Auschwitz could found an abortion clinic, especially after the Jewish population had been decimated by genocide. Nothing in the book delves into why, just that he did.Eddy never made peace with his pain, and he states that this type of pain was felt in his children through his struggles. Despite all of this, I am grateful to his progeny who made sure we in the West heard his story. Thank you.Several weeks ago, I wrote a brief review of this book and placed in my Facebook feed, linking it to the book cover. That review is now gone. So how do you let others know this work exists? Tell them. Better yet, buy them a copy.