Do You like book Into That Darkness: An Examination Of Conscience (1983)?
I've read countless books about the Holocaust and recently I started to question what my fascination is with the subject. I came to the conclusion that it's the psychology of what leads a country towards genocide and the mentality that enables individuals to carry out such terrible crimes against humanity. Whilst undoubtedly some individuals were sadistic what is apparent in so many books that I've read is how un extraordinary most of the perpetrators were, it's this aspect that I find the most disturbing.This book is based on a series of interviews carried out by Gitta Sereny with Franz Stangl who was the Kommandant of Treblinka one of the most notorious death camps of which there were only a handful of survivors. I found it chilling when he described his normal working day at Treblinka, the paperwork that he completed in his office while a few metres away Men, women and children from all over Europe were being gassed in the gas chambers. The author also interviewed his wife and what was apparent is how both she and her husband mentally glossed over his work .The author asked him how he felt when he saw for example a beautiful child being sent to the gas chambers to which he responded that he never thought about it. This total lack of empathy and lack of thinking really conveys the "banality of evil". How could he not have thought about it? When I read any books on this subject I am always thinking, what would I have done if I was one of those mothers being led to the gas chambers with my children? What would I have done if I was put in a position where I was playing a part in the mass murder of millions? It's chilling to think that this never crossed his mind. Or probably it did, but the reality of his guilt was too horrible to bare.In any other period in time ,it's clear to me that Franz Stangl would have been a very average individual and quite unremarkable. That is the most frightening thing of all. When bigotry and scapegoating take hold and the moral veneer of society is chipped away evil takes over.
—Ruby Tuesday
this book really makes you think about went on the minds of those who were in charge during the horror of the holocaust. this book looks at the complex character of Franz Stangl head of Treblinka extermination camp and what the method to his madness was. it includes interviews with those he worked with, his wife who stuck by his side and even from the few survivors of the camps that he worked at. this work has the reader on edge as whether or not one should sympathize with something of this nature. I read this book for a university history class on the holocaust.
—Alyssa Bellows
Gitta Sereny is perhaps the most thorough, meticulous interviewer I've ever read. As if she's unpeeling an onion layer by layer, she leads us into the life and mind of her subject, the former Kommandant of Treblinka, Franz Stangl, and makes us feel, whether we want to or not, as if we know him and understand him. And that is a huge accomplishment, because it isn't easy to understand what motivated a man like Stangl, what kept him loyal to and even proud of his "work," and how he (and his family) lived with the knowledge of what he was part of.With infinite patience, Sereny investigates everything he says, cross-checking each assertion with other witnesses and/or family members, determined to arrive at the truth. And by telling Stangl's story, she sheds new light on what the Holocaust was and how it was carried out by "ordinary men." It is to her credit that after countless hours of interviewing she finally got Stangl, at the very end, to acknowledge his guilt. It is no surprise that 19 hours after his admission to Sereny, Stangl feel dead of heart failure.In what readers will probably find the most controversial aspect of the book Sereny makes quite clear that she believes Pope Pius XXII knew about what was going on in Poland and did next to nothing to help. The Vatican is part of the story, as it was the Vatican that helped Stangl (and many other Nazis) to flee Germany and settle in Brazil. While the section on the Vatican is long, it's also intriguing. I'll leave it to others to decide what the Pope could or should have done. It's clear, however, that Sereny believes he failed humanity.My only issue with the book is that Sereny tries a bit too hard to footnote and (over)explain every detail that arises. Some of her sentences are so thick with parenthetical phrases they're hard to read, and she sometimes dwells on small things. But that is a tiny criticism. This is absolutely required reading for anyone interested in the Holocaust in general and Treblinka in particular. Her profiles of the death camp's survivors such as Richard Glazar are especially vivid and unforgettable. A superb, important book.
—Richard Burger
