Based exclusively on retrospective memory, the account is authentic.
A book about the raw existential experience of a Holocaust survivor.... His ability to express the most painful of moments is the book's greatest achievement.
In simple, straightforward prose, Jacobs reveals the relentless and senseless brutality of concentration camp existence and—finally—the miracle of survival.
A book about the raw existential experience of a Holocaust survivor.... His ability to express the most painful of moments is the book's greatest achievement.
"A book about the raw existential experience of a Holocaust survivor.... His ability to express the most painful of moments is the book's greatest achievement." -- Bridges
"A moving testament to Jacob's willpower and courage. His story reveals the senseless brutality of the Holocaust and the miracle of survival." -- McCormick (SC) Messenger
"Based exclusively on retrospective memory, the account is authentic." -- Choice
"In simple, straightforward prose, Jacobs reveals the relentless and senseless brutality of concentration camp existence and -- finally -- the miracle of survival." -- Booklist
"Jacobs is a compelling witness." -- Publishers Weekly
Jacobs, a Polish Jew, was a first-year dental student before he spent five years in Nazi extermination camps, including Auschwitz. Here, he vividly recalls that time, during which his elementary professional skills enabled him to practice primitive dentistry on inmates and SS officers alike, as well as to obey orders to extract gold teeth from corpses after gassing. Jacobs's understated tone conveys all the more forcefully the daily horror of camp life: bitter cold, near starvation, the smell of burning human flesh. Worst of all, notes the author, born Berek Jakubowicz, Auschwitz became a perverted ``way of life'' as he tried to survive it. Jacobs, who now practices dentistry in Boston, is a compelling witness. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Dec.)
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Jacobs tells of his deportation from his Polish village and his imprisonment in Nazi labor and concentration camps. As a dental student, he was able to survive his four-year ordeal in Buchenwald, Dora-Mitelbau, and Auschwitz by working on the teeth of inmates and SS officers. He was one of 1,600 prisoners who survived bombing at sea when prisoners were herded onto German ocean liners and sunk. Includes b&w photos. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
