Five Chimneys

Rating:
Summary: disappointed
Review: I FOUND THIS BOOK HARD TO UNDERSTAND WITH THE WORDS THE AUTHOR USED, IT WAS NOT A GOOD READ, IT TOOK ALOT FOR ME TO GET THROUGH IT. SHE REPEATED HER SELF SEVERAL TIMES AND SOME THINGS DID NOT MAKE SENSE. I CAN NOT UNDERSTAND HOW THIS WOMEN VOLUNTARILY WENT TO THE CONCENTRATION CAMP WITH HER PARENTS AND CHILDREN. IF SHE WANTED TO BE WITH HER HUSBAND WHY DIDN'T SHE GO AND LEAVE HER CHILDREN WITH HER PARENTS. ALSO THE ENTIRE BOOK WAS TO CLINICAL. I HAVE READ SEVERAL BOOKS ABOUT THE HOLCAUST AND THEY WERE REMARKABLE THIS ONE WAS NOT , I SHOULD HAVE SAVED MY MONEY.

Rating:
Summary: A memorable, chilling and intelligent account
Review: A realistic of the author's life and consience told in stark and unrelenting detail. The pangs of guilt as she persuades her Mother and son to join the ranks of the old and very young during the selection, believing them protected from brutal work only to make the shocking later discovery - their line led to death. The moral question of delivering live babies in camp - where a Mother was spared death only if the baby was declared stillborn. If not, both met their end immediately. Told with a calm sincerity. Memorable! A book worth reading- and reading again.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing and invaluable
Review: Although books on the Holocaust continue to be produced, and witnesses are continually gaining the strength to bear witness (thankfully!), I have not seen a book with the power of this one in years of searching.

Written just after the war - lending credibility to all those deniers who think that Auschwitz is a lie - the author gives tremendous detail of the struggle that was everyday life in the camp. Watching death all around her, it is amazing that she or anyone could garner the will to keep going with every new dawn.

If ever you search for a book that sums up the Holocaust, look no further.

Rating:
Summary: This book gives us an insight into the Auschwitz- Birkenau
Review: camp system. Instead of an epic length, statistic and detail filled account we are instead presented with one woman's ordeal, and the author does not fail to convey the full brutality of her treatment at the hands of the Nazis and their accomplices. While her recollections are vivid (this book was originally written in 1947) the author is able to convey events without focusing on the grotesque in excrutiating detail. This book is not for the faint of heart, but it is a rewarding account of a life in the camps. The book will stay with you long after you've read it.

Rating:
Summary: A clearly written account of the horrors of Auschwitz
Review: First published in 1947, it has never gone out of print. Olga Lengyel recounts her experiences as a prisoner at Auschwitz, bearing witness to the unfathomable cruelty at the hands of the Nazi soldiers. It expains the cunning with which the Jews and other political prisoners were tricked into compliance with the ghastly plan for extermination. Not for the faint of heart, it is nevertheless a compelling account of the depravity of the time.

Rating:
Summary: The best book I've ever read
Review: Five Chimneys was the best book I've ever read on the subject of the Holocaust and believe me I've read 'em all. Olga Lengyel does a wonderful job of showing the real Auschwitz, not the Auschwitz that everyone else writes about. I have so much respect for this book and it's author because they are both amazing in evey way possible. rteccomend this book, but only if you wnat the real thing.

Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable
Review: Having first read this book in the 1960's and recently re-read it, it definately stands out as one of the most informative and incredible of all the many holocaust books written. Raed it, you won't want to put it down.

Rating:
Summary: So we shall never forget
Review: Having members of my family (two still alive) that survived Auschwitz this was a book that I felt I had to read. It is like many other books that I have read about the Holocaust but the first from strictly a women's account of Birkenau. It may be a difficult read for some because of the stark descriptions that exist. The story does not sugar-coat nor mince words. This is a true to life account as best as can be expressed. The book will compel the reader to pose questions of their own abilities to survive and withstand the horrors that the author did. This book is a fairly easy read and once you pick it up, it is hard to put down. We need books like this because the numbers of those who survived are becoming fewer and fewer and the words that they write are testimonials to TRUTH and must never ever be forgotten.

Rating:
Summary: Death of a human spirit
Review: I have been priveleged to read books on those people who survived the Holocaust. Until I read "Five Chimneys" I had not gotten a woman's perspective of this horror. From the first page on and through her work she portrays the day to day horror that the Nazis inflicted on her and her family. A Mother's heart is shown in her love for her sons that she left behind, as well as for her husband whom she vigorously searches for. I've often read where survivors write of unusual events that would be inexplicable due to the relationship between the Nazis and the prisoners. One that stands out in this book is Mrs. Lengyel's "relationship" with ss doctor Fritz Klein. In spite of all the evil, a somewhat "human" side is portrayed here by her. I would recommend this book to any serious student of the Holocaust, not only for its content, but also for the courage of Mrs. Lengyel to write this account.

Rating:
Summary: Death of a human spirit
Review: I have been priveleged to read books on those people who survived the Holocaust. Until I read "Five Chimneys" I had not gotten a woman's perspective of this horror. From the first page on and through her work she portrays the day to day horror that the Nazis inflicted on her and her family. A Mother's heart is shown in her love for her sons that she left behind, as well as for her husband whom she vigorously searches for. I've often read where survivors write of unusual events that would be inexplicable due to the relationship between the Nazis and the prisoners. One that stands out in this book is Mrs. Lengyel's "relationship" with ss doctor Fritz Klein. In spite of all the evil, a somewhat "human" side is portrayed here by her. I would recommend this book to any serious student of the Holocaust, not only for its content, but also for the courage of Mrs. Lengyel to write this account.