About the Book

Of all the concentration camps built by the Nazis during World War II, it is Auschwitz that has the greatest hold on our collective memory. The grim imagery of barbed wire, guard towers, and railroad tracks that lead nowhere is augmented by the haunting images of thousands of emaciated prisoners and the sign hanging over the camp’s entrance that cruelly promised Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Brings Freedom) to the trainloads of people destined to die. Particularly horrifying was the fact that the many technological advances of the 19th and 20th centuries were utilized for the specific purpose of killing large numbers of people as efficiently as possible.

Otto Friedrich, author of Blood and Iron and Before the Deluge, presents a meticulously researched history of Auschwitz that is factual, emotionally wrenching and that reminds us as human beings that we must never allow another such tragedy to take place.

Otto Friedrich (1929-1995) majored in history at Harvard, where he received a degree magna cum laude in 1948. He was an editor at the Daily News, Newsweek, and the Saturday Evening Post. Friedrich’s account of the Post’s last years, Decline and Fall, won the George Polk Award. His other books include Before the Deluge: A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920’s and The End of the World: A History.

“Otto Friedrich’s powerful portrayal of Auschwitz is both an extraordinary reminder of the human capacity for evil and an eloquent message to humanity never to let such things happen again.” — Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

Product Details

• ISBN: 9780060976408
• ISBN 10: 0060976403
• Imprint: Harper Perennial
• On Sale: 08/19/1994
• Trimsize: 5.310 in (w) x 8.000 in (h) x 0.290 in (d)
• Pages: 128
• List Price: $14.99
• BISAC1 : HISTORY / Europe / Germany
• BISAC2 : HISTORY / Jewish
• BISAC3 : HISTORY / Holocaust
• BISAC4 : PSYCHOLOGY / Social Psychology
• BISAC5 : SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination & Race Relations