Skip to content
Scan a barcode
Scan
Hardcover Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz Book

ISBN: 1250290538

ISBN13: 9781250290533

Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz

Select Format

Select Condition ThriftBooks Help Icon

Recommended

Format: Hardcover

Condition: New

$20.83
Save $7.17!
List Price $28.00
50 Available
Ships within 24 hours

Book Overview

One of the New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of 2024

A lost classic of Holocaust literature translated for the first time--from journalist, poet and survivor J zsef Debreczeni

"As immediate a confrontation of the horrors of the camps as I've ever encountered. It's also a subtle if startling meditation on what it is to attempt to confront those horrors with words...Debreczeni has preserved a panoptic depiction of hell, at once personal, communal and atmospheric." --New York Times

"A treasure...Debreczeni's memoir is a crucial contribution to Holocaust literature, a book that enlarges our understanding of 'life' in Auschwitz." --Wall Street Journal

"A literary diamond...A holocaust memoir worthy of Primo Levi." --The Times of London

J zsef Debreczeni, a prolific Hungarian-language journalist and poet, arrived in Auschwitz in 1944; had he been selected to go left, his life expectancy would have been approximately forty-five minutes. One of the "lucky" ones, he was sent to the right, which led to twelve horrifying months of incarceration and slave labor in a series of camps, ending in the "Cold Crematorium"--the so-called hospital of the forced labor camp D rnhau, where prisoners too weak to work awaited execution. But as Soviet and Allied troops closed in on the camps, local Nazi commanders--anxious about the possible consequences of outright murder--decided to leave the remaining prisoners to die in droves rather than sending them directly to the gas chambers.

Debreczeni recorded his experiences in Cold Crematorium, one of the harshest, most merciless indictments of Nazism ever written. This haunting memoir, rendered in the precise and unsentimental style of an accomplished journalist, is an eyewitness account of incomparable literary quality. The subject matter is intrinsically tragic, yet the author's evocative prose, sometimes using irony, sarcasm, and even acerbic humor, compels the reader to imagine human beings in circumstances impossible to comprehend intellectually.

First published in Hungarian in 1950, it was never translated into a world language due to McCarthyism, Cold War hostilities and antisemitism. More than 70 years later, this masterpiece that was nearly lost to time will be available in 15 languages, finally taking its rightful place among the greatest works of Holocaust literature.

Related Subjects

History

Customer Reviews

1 rating

Horrors

5 stars, Horrors COLD CREMATORIUM Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz by Jozsef Debreczeni Jozsef Debreczeni barely survived the Land of Auschwitz. He was able to tell the world of the horrors he and the other prisoners experienced there. We should all always remember and not allow it to happen again. Book quotes: ..."where the people of this tightly locked train of hell were transformed into animals." "The Nazis are not only murderers. They are also cowards." These quotes cause a lump in my throat, to know that someone did horrifying things to other humans. I received a complimentary copy of #ColdCrematorium from #StMartinsPress and #NetGalley I was not obligated to post a review. #WWII #War #History #NonFiction #Memoir #Holocaust #Survivor
Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
GoDaddy Verified and Secured