1 comments about Jean Moulin, 1899-1943: The French Resistance and the Republic.

1. Jean Moulin, celebrated resistance hero, creator of the 'army of the night' a national icon in France and a martyr....yet little is known about him in the English speaking world. A decent work on the man who has assumed the status of secular saint is long overdue. In France this pre-war dilettante with his leftist leanings and a talent for art has come to symbolise the courage of resistance, that enabled the re-establishment of the French Republic in 1944. Facing the German invaders, Moulin as Préfet of the Eure-et-Loir département, stayed at his post, organising what help he could for the poupulation. From his initial somewhat foolhardy dealings with the German occupying powers grew the conviction that something had to be done and Moulin turned his skills of organisation to uniting the disparate elements of resistance. As De Gaulle's representative in France he played a key role in the great drama of 'les années noires' before finally being betrayed at a meeting in a suburb of Lyons in June 1943..captured & tortured by the infamous Klaus Barbie, the story of the circumstances of his capture and subsequent death at the hands of his torturers has all the fantastic elements of the best crime thrillers and probably does much to explain the enduring appeal of his story in France. However while the author rightly takes author Patrick Marnham to task for his recent over wrought & sensationalist account of the enigma that was Jean Moulin, this new work is ultimately far too bland to recommend absolutely..In the early chapters the author concentrates on portraying Moulin in the context of France's republican & administrative tradition, not exactly riveting stuff. Building an army of resisters, living on the run, parachutages, secret rendez-vous at safe houses, all the ingredients of a fantastic thriller are here..Yet..progress was slow & painful & amateurish and the resisters themselves, in many ways careless, & bitterly divided, could have led the clumsiest of detectives to the key suspect..I suppose the authors achievement here is showing how Moulin's capture & death was perhaps a result of this inept bungling and stupidity, resulting in a banal end for a tragic hero..this book ultimately reflects this mundanity.. the best & last chapter of the book looks at Moulin's contested legacy, reviewing the literature & some of the more recent & increasingly bizarre theories of how & why Moulin died and what he represented..
   ..However the main reason for only three stars here is the incredible price tag on this work...designed perhaps for undergraduate or university libraries, anyone actually having to pay for a decent history of Moulin and France during the years 1940-44 should forgo this work and acquire Julian Jackson's superlative "France 1940-44 - the dark years", which is a book three times the size of this one for a third of the price..!

4 comments about Hanged at Auschwitz: An Extraordinary Memoir of Survival.

1. I have been studying the Holocaust in depth for a few years now, when I came across this autobiography. This novel opened my eyes to the torture techniques the Nazis used to gather information. Every appalling detail ground into my mind, until I had to openly share this novel with my colleagues and students. Sam's fight to survive with all the odds stacked against him shows the true battle between good and the most horrifying evil the world has ever seen. I highly reccomend this book to anyone who wants a good look at what life was like in a concentration camp and under the gallows.



2. Auschwitz seems a strange place to have a guardian angel. But Sim Kessel had one who in more than one case helps him to survive the hell of the camp.
   
   Sim's story is perhaps one of the saddest I've ever read. The excessive torment he describes, the grisley and disgusting squallor of the camp seems so horrific that at some points I wondered if Sim wasn't expanding the truth - and then I immediately realized that he is not. He can not. Not with this.
   
   Sim's story also is one of endurance. His beaten, starved, sickened body kept going through impossible circumstances and it's nothing short of miraculous. Yet the author does not ask your pity. He simply tells his story. I got up late yesterday and didn't have time to eat. Later I became very hungry but couldn't eat right away and started whining to myself. Then I remembered Sim. And shut up. He will be with me for a long time.
   
   I would classify this as "a must read."



3. Hanged at Auschwitz, by Sim Kessel, is the story of the author's horrific but incredible journey through the horror that was Auschwitz. Starting off with an arrest, and two weeks of torture at the hands of the Gestapo, Kessel then spends the next nine months in a French transit camp waiting to be sent to his final destination, and in the world that he lived in, final most times meant final. After the transit camp, and the infamous train rides where people were treated worse than animals, he ends up at Auschwitz. It was only due to his experience as a boxer, his athleticism, and a lot of luck that he was able to survive this "living hell." Three times he was marked for death and three times he miraculously survived. Despite the intense subject matter the book is a quick read. This is an amazing story of courage and I highly recommend it.



4. This excellent book covers the remarkable true story of Sim Kessel, a French Jew, throughout his experiences as a member of the French Resistance followed by his arrest by the Nazis and his subsequent detention at Auschwitz/Birkenau Concentration Camps.

   His numerous brushes with death at the hands of the Nazis throughout his detention are covered in some detail, including the forced death march to other Concentration Camps prior to eventual liberation at the hands of the allies at the war's end.

   There are many harrowing incidents throughout this book. It is extremely moving as Kessel describes the absolute enthusiasm in which his fellow French citizens and French Policemen participated, and indeed clearly enjoyed, rounding up their fellow Jews prior to handing them over to Nazi forces.

   The book at times reads like a novel and grips you from beginning to end.

   The horrifying experiences of Kessel includes his shocking execution for his part in a failed (almost successful) escape attempt. Kessel was publicly hung together with his four co-escapers on a gallows in front of an audience of some 25,000 prisoners who forced to watch the execution as a deterrent to other would be escapees.

   Each prisoner was hung one at a time, with Kessel last. Viewing the deaths of his comrades, Kessel closed his eyes and awaited his own death. The trap door sprung and he fell to his death.... but the rope broke. Unaware of this due to a loss of consciousness, Kessel was then dragged away to be shot in the back of the head by another prisoner named Jacob, whose forced employment was to execute many individual prisoners in this way. Pre-war Jacob having been the trainer to former world heavyweight boxing champion Max Schmeling.

   Again awaiting his death, Kessel, himself a former professional boxer, befriended Jacob through their involvement in boxing. The latter subsequently providing Kessel with the identity of an already slain prisoner which he retained throughout the remainder of his detention.

   This is a very moving testimony, not only to Sim Kessel, but to the many millions who did not survive. A highly recommended read.

3 comments about Burned Child Seeks The Fire.

1. This is not a book for children. Rather it is a recollection of images and perceptions of the adult/child who survived the camps of World War Two to tell the tale. Cordelia Edvardson is a humanist who wants the world to abolish all that is inhumane most especially when it comes to children. She knows what its like to be taunted, terrified and have a tortured soul. A must for every policy maker, teacher, and whoever still believes in preserving a sane world.
   glenys sugarman



2. This was just a great book. No books that I've read on this subject have been quite so compelling!



3. The author mesmerizes you with the simplicity and eloquence of her writing. She moves you with her childhood, her courage in the camps and the power of her spirit in returning to choose life again.

No comments about Jurek Becker: A Life in Five Worlds.

No comments about Witness to Annihilation: Surviving the Holocaust a Memoir.

2 comments about Hitler and the Nazi Leaders: A Unique Insight into Evil.

1. I found John K. Lattimer's book, Hitler and the Nazi Leaders to be somewhat interesting and somewhat subjective in nature. He doesn't say anything that is truly insightful or new but kind of bring it together in an easy to understand style along with host of interesting photographs. He does take long leap of faith here and there but overall, I don't see anything truly awful about what he has to say. Since he was one of the doctors at Nuremberg Trials, he probably knew all the major defendants pretty well as he appears to sound.
   
   Overall, I found the photographs more interesting then his narratives. Hitler's darn socks or Goring's fancy underwear provides an interesting look at some of Third Reich more infamous leaders. The author also support Ben Swearingen's theory that Goring had inside help in committing suicide by the name of Lt. Wheelis who was stationed at Spandau at the time. Swearingen's book "Mystery of Hermann Goring's Suicide" explained this in great detail and the Dr. Lattimer support that notion himself. It was interesting that the author did note that Alfred Jodl was cleared by the German courts in the 1950s, a fact many historians don't like to point out regarding the effects of the Nuremberg Trials.
   
   Where the book fell short was when the author excluded Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler. Both men are missing from this book and while I can understand if the author did not includes them because they were not at the trials, the author did include Hitler and he wasn't at the trial either. If you put Hitler in this book, you got put Goebbels and Himmler as well. That is mandatory!
   
   Overall, a pretty interesting book with a nice photographic collection. Some figures get more then others on the photos but overall, its a type of book that will not tax you that much and while the narrative appears to be quite subjective to author's opinions rather then facts, as long as you know that, the book should be an interesting reading material.
   
   (Previous reviewer stated that this is the same book as "Hitler's Fatal Sickness". I am not sure of that myself since I never read that book myself but the page numbers do seem to be identical and from what I read on the reviews from that book, the subject matters appears to be the same.)



2. This is the same book as Hitlers fatal sickness.

No comments about In Quest for Life: Ave Pax.

No comments about Rescue and Resistance: Portraits of the Holocaust (Macmillan Profiles).

No comments about Wiesenthal File, The.

1 comments about One Family: Before and During the Holocaust.

1. Now in its second edition, One Family Before And During The Holocaust is an account of the personal lives of members of a Jewish family. Written by the son of a Holocaust survivor, One Family Before And During The Holocaust draws upon personal testimony, archival sources, photographs, and official documents to draw a vivid picture of how encroaching restrictions curtailed the family further and further until they were forced to attempt to run or hide, in effort to forstall deportation and execution. A profound and moving testimony, and a welcome contribution to Holocaust literature, the message of One Family Before And During The Holocaust is superbly summarized in its final words: "At least for those who survived, it can be said, their lives were not cut short by murderous hate. For those relatives whose lives were cut short I can only wonder what they could have accomplished if they had lived a full life."