Sobibor

By Michael Lev

Book Overview

Sobibor traces the life of Berek (later Bernard) Schlesinger from his Polish shtetl childhood to his life during the Holocaust - hiding in the woods, finding refuge with non-Jews, confinement in Sobibor, escape during the uprising, working with partisans' documents. A physician after the war, he follows a relentless, unfulfilled pursuit of retribution for Nazi war criminals through the courts. The Sobibor uprising and its leaders, Alexander Pechersky, are pivotal to the novel. The author, Michael Lev, a product of Soviet Jewish culture, avoids loud rhetoric and heroic pathos, keeping the narration within the limits of realism. A flowing, masterful read.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B085KCYYMZ
• ISBN13: 9798622682452
• Release Date: March 2020
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 298 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Extraordinarily Poignant

It has taken me far longer than usual to finish this book. It was the most difficult book I have read on the Holocaust and I have read The Theory And Practice Of Hell and The Survivor among many others. It is not that the tale is more horrific than others. I think it is the voice of the book which gives it its poignancy. I knew of the Sobibor camp and the escape but not in detail. The style of writing used by Mr. Lev is described as historical fiction. I have not heard of that before but it is apt. The book begins with the story of Berek, a fourteen or fifteen year old Jewish boy at the outbreak of WWII. On the run from the Nazis for awhile, he eventually comes to the Sobibor death camp. Through various fortuitous events he is not killed outright and participates in the escape, led by Alexander Pechersky. Berek also survives the escape which, in reality, few did. The power of the book lies in the voice of young Berek. I could literally see the Polish forest where he hid, his friend Rina, the camp, etc. To use such a young voice to tell the tale was a brilliant decision by Lev. This is why it was so hard for me to read. After fifty years of study of the Holocaust it is this book which hurt the most to read. There is a section on the escape told through the leaders. Alexander Pechersky was, after only a short while in Sobibor, the unelected leader of the escape and is revered still. The plan was well thought out and several hundred inmates got out of Sobibor. Unfortunately most of them perished in the surrounding forests or were shot by the camp guards while escaping. Such was the nature of the Nazi hold on Europe. Nevertheless the escape, in as far as it was known at the time, was a point of pride for all in the camps. It remains so today. The third section of the book concerns Berek, now called Bernard, who has become a doctor and is obsessed with the capture and conviction of Nazi war criminals. The chapters which took place in Brazil were, for me, impossible to understand. I did some research after finishing the book and was able to verify the fate of Stangl and Wagner. I don't know why Berek was in Brazil as it seems he did nothing there. I suppose I could be missing something but I could not figure it out. All in all if you want a poignant understanding of Europe and the death camps this is a good place to start.