Not an easy read
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Are you allowed to criticise books about such a profoundly important subject as this? Let me try to be clear at the start that I totally separate the importance of the Holocaust from whether the way this book was written worked for me. The Holocaust was a tragedy of unprecedented dimensions and a lesson to the world as relevant today as ever on the dangers of racism and amorality.
But having said that it does not make every book about the Holocaust a good book. Martin Gilbert, a superb historian who has written a range of outstanding books, writes this in a very personal way. He was the leader of a tour of postgraduate students in Holocaust Studies revisiting key sites in the history of the Holocaust. He prepared materials in advance and read them out loud to the students as the stood on the same spot where they happened. The book is about the first tour and what the students saw and experienced.
There are several problems with this format. First, Gilbert chooses a diary format where he records pretty well everything that happens. This might be helpful if you wanted to follow the same route but to a general reader it gets in the way. I bought the book to find out about the Holocaust, not to hear about the domestic arrangements of the tour, and this just irritated me. Second and related to this, Gilbert's skill is as a historian rather than as a storyteller (or a journalist); this makes you very sure it is an accurate historical record of what happened but it doesn't always make it a flowing read.
Then there is the issue of how you do justice to the topic. For me, this was a problem on two levels. Gilbert describes the places the students visit but I would have liked to see more pictures to give a better feel for the places. (It's easy to say the reader should visit them herself, but that is no easy task!) The prose did not quite make them leap off the page for me. And finally - and I am ashamed to say this in one way - the repeated accounts of the brutality and inhumanity of the Nazis became deadening after a while. The book is over 400 pages long and may be all I am saying is that it is overwhelming.
I don't want my history reduced to a soundbite or a neat story. I really, really care about the significance of the Holocaust as a warning to history, but for the great material available I thought a book half the length, written with an eye to impact on the reader rather than as a journal of a tour, would have had far more impact and conveyed the crucial message to far more people. Gilbert is a great historian, but Spielberg will touch far more people with Schindler's List. As the Holocaust deniers prove, we need great historians to be reminded of the truth, but without great stories as well the lessons will only be learned by a few.
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A book that reaches out
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This is an extraordinary book and one from which almost any reader - irrespective of their level (or lack) or prior knowledge will acquire a deeper knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust and its continuing impact. In 1996, Holocaust authority (and Churchill biographer) Gilbert accompanied a group of students (mixed faith, mixed experience, some with considerable expertise of their own) on a tour of the death camps and killing fields of the Second World War (although going no further East than Poland). It was a punishing schedule by any standards - virtually every night spent in a different place - to say nothing of the emotional energy expended on visiting six death camps, key locations in Berlin, numerous Nazi-erected ghettos and the former domiciles of countless vanished Jewish communities. Approaching the subject through place - whether death camp, ghetto, town or rail track - and accompanying the two-week long trip with a wealth of apposite readings - recollections, historical accounts, political speeches and so on, most of them included in the book - lend the facts an immediacy not easily achieved with this subject matter. This immediacy is conveyed superbly in the book, through a combination of skilful writing, diary-like reconstruction of the trip, and occasional and poignant - but not overbearing - personal reflection. Contrasts with Gilbert's previous visit to some of the places in 1980, ongoing controversies and policy shifts over monuments, and conversations en route with people unconnected to the group add further interest to the book.
The book is equally valuable for anyone planning to undertake such a trip themselves, anyone who has already done so, or indeed anyone who has no such intention. Just as the members of the group were undoubtedly grateful to Gilbert for agreeing to organize the trip (it was not his idea) so I found myself profoundly appreciative of the fact that he took the trouble to write it up for the benefit of others.
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An interesting history/travel book
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I first came across this book when I was on a tour of Krakow and Auschwitz on a history teachers tour. The Travel guide often quoted from it when we reached various sights in Krakow. I found it very interesting and when I returned to the UK I bought my own copy.
Its an interesting fusion of history and travel writing, in that we discover details of the holocaust as we travel across Europe with Gilbert's group.
As the other reviewers have pointed out its packed full of info about the holocaust and the camps and I found it very interesting and moving.
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A thought-provoking guide to the Holocaust
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This thought provoking guide of the experiences of those who suffered during the Holocaust in the style of a guided tour of the main places and routes which were central to the events which took place at that time, is a reminder of the impact which it had on the whole of Europe. Coupled with individual stories and experiences, this book makes for an interesting and compelling read and is highly recommended.
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You really go on a journey through the holocaust
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I thought it was a great book. It is an excellent source to go to if you have research to do for a report! It has pictures of entrances to concentration camps and some other very clear photos.
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