A német halálgyárak - The German Death Factories - The story of four Jewish prisoners who survived the death camps, by Sz. Palkó Vilma, published by Áron Gábor Könyvkiadóvállalat. Budapest, 1945 - first edition. Cover in the shape of the book title on a background of skulls designed by Endre Bano. Hungarian.
The harrowing testimony of four Jewish prisoners who survived the death camps. Countless chilling descriptions of the daily events in the death camps, especially Auschwitz. An early and difficult to read account describing the death industry and the torture endured by camp prisoners from the day they arrived to the day of liberation.
One of the prisoners was captured in Budapest when he boarded a train without the yellow badge on his clothes, and was recognized and reported. He was taken for interrogation and from there transported in a cattle car to Auschwitz along with a large group of Jews. He describes how upon arrival in Auschwitz they began to realize that all the "rumors" they had heard about the horrors taking place in the camp were indeed true. Within a short time they realized there was a place in the camp where people entered but did not return, and in seeing the endless crowds entering they understood that the extermination was taking place there.
The book also includes testimony from a Jewish prisoner named Magda who was taken to Auschwitz, describing the entire process upon arrival at the camp, the selection made by Mengele who spoke Hungarian with the Hungarian Jews who arrived, the humiliation, shaving the women's hair, confiscation of property, wearing prisoner's clothes and forced labor, and more.
Another prisoner who testifies in the book provides a detailed description of the structure of the gas chambers, the pace and precise manner in which they operated daily. The recurring deception when victims were told they were entering a shower room in the gas chamber entrance hall, the number of Jews murdered in them, and more. The fourth prisoner named Peter Vajda survived after undergoing selection 9 times! Nine times he narrowly escaped certain death due to his sturdy build. Peter was taken to work on road construction near the camp, and witnessed countless executions of his comrades. Finally he managed to escape a day before the Allies broke into the camp amidst the bombings and mayhem in the camp.
When the book was written Hitler's fate was still uncertain. And the editor writes in the introduction: "This book gives a faithful picture of the terrible enterprise of the German death factories in Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, Fünfteichen and Nickelsdorf... What this book tells in the lives of four people is an indictment calling for revenge against the most inhuman man of all time, the murderer of millions - Hitler".
93 [2] p. 21 cm. Stains on some pages. Wear on cover. Condition moderate - good. .
