Auschwitz

Rating:
Summary: Auschwitz, an ordinary town?
Review: I felt that this book was an extremely interesting book that gave a different view on the transformation of the Polish town Auscwitz. The book explains how it was once an ordinary town that soon became one of the leading concentration camps in the Nazi era. The book explains the different stages the town went through from 1270 to the present. It was once a small Polish town, then a production site for gravel and sand, later an execution site, a place where Himmler wanted to build a farm communities, and then the answer to the "Jewish" question.
What I liked about this book was that it gave a mass amount of illustrations, ranging from pictures to graphs to building plans. This book also had some eye witness accounts from the view of the Jewish survivals, explaining what their feelings and reactions were during this time. The book is broken into two parts: Nostalgia and Fullfillment and Ambition and Perdition. The first part explains the history of the town and the second part starts off with the concentration camp. The Epilogue, "Owning and Disowning Auschwitz" I thought gave a quick and interesting view on the town today and what happend to it after the fall of the Nazi's. It briefly explains the problmes that arose afterwards and the concentration camp today.
After giving the history of Auschwitz,the authors end with a question that still haunts the Jewish people today, Why?