⋙ PDF Free The Dentist of Auschwitz A Memoir Benjamin Jacobs 9780813190129 Books

The Dentist of Auschwitz A Memoir Benjamin Jacobs 9780813190129 Books

Download As PDF : The Dentist of Auschwitz A Memoir Benjamin Jacobs 9780813190129 Books

The Dentist of Auschwitz A Memoir Benjamin Jacobs 9780813190129 Books

In 1941, Jacobs, a Polish Jew was forced to abandon his dental studies when he and his family were transported to a Nazi labor camp. He brought along his dental tools and did his best to help his fellow inmates. Once he was sent to Auschwitz, he worked in the dental clinic, working on inmates and SS officers. The book describes in detail the horror of camp life, including the near starvation, cold and horrors of the crematoriums. Despite his struggles to survive, Jacobs shows great courage and determination in a horrible situation.

Well written, this is an unusual holocaust memoir. Jacobs, compared to the other inmates, is lucky to have a skill that allows him to survive. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the holocaust and survival.


Tags : The Dentist of Auschwitz: A Memoir [Benjamin Jacobs] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In 1941 Berek Jakubowicz (now Benjamin Jacobs) was deported from his Polish village and remained a prisoner of the Reich until the final days of the war. His possession of a few dental tools and rudimentary skills saved his life. Jacobs helped assemble V1 and V2 rockets in Buchenwald and Dora-Mittelbau; spent a year and a half in Auschwitz,Benjamin Jacobs,The Dentist of Auschwitz: A Memoir,University Press of Kentucky,0813190126,Europe,Auschwitz (Concentration camp),Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) - Poland,Jacobs, Benjamin,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Historical,Biography & Autobiography,Biography Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Biography: historical,CentralEastern Europe,European history: Second World War,General Adult,HISTORY Holocaust,Historical - General,History,HistoryHolocaust,Holocaust,InspirationalDevotional,JEWISH HOLOCAUST PERSONAL NARRATIVES,Jewish studies,Non-Fiction,Oral history,Poland,The Holocaust,UNIVERSITY PRESS,United States,History: World

The Dentist of Auschwitz A Memoir Benjamin Jacobs 9780813190129 Books Reviews

In Holocaust literature, this testimony is far and above one of the best I've read. The author's desire to preserve his family at all costs is gripping, yet the finality of their humanity is inevitable. One shocking exposure was the author's experience with ss-sargeant Otto Moll, one of the Holocaust's bloodiest executioners. His kindness portrayed here is in direct contrast to the testimony of Filip Muller, in "Eyewitness Auschwitz", another must read for the serious student of history. I would recommend this book for its human interest value.
"The Dentist of Auschwitz" is the memoir of a young Polish Jewish man (Berek) who, along with his father and brother, was rounded up by the Nazi's during World War II and sent to several concentration camps. As it turned out, he owed his survival to the fact that he had been a first year dental student before the war, and he was able to parlay those basic skills (along with his set of dental tools) into becoming the "dentist" for the camp inmates and eventually even for the camp guards.

Although he owed his survival to those skills, this is not a book about dentistry, it's about surviving (barely) the horrors and arbitrary death inflicted upon the inmates. This is not a deeply introspective work or one showing the all of the camps' gore and sheer brutality as do some other memoirs, such as the excellent books written by Primo Levi. That's not to say that this work is not chilling or hides any details, but in this book, Berek tells more the story of his life in and out of the camps, and what he did to survive. The book is highly entertaining, and is probably a good book for someone who is just starting to read survivor autobiographies, as it's not too dark.

My only (slightly) negative comment is that the book is perhaps too "entertaining". The book was written 40 to 50 years after the war was over, but many of the details and conversations seem much too clear, and occasionally improbable. Also, in the book, Berek meets up with infamous Nazi's (Mengele and Eichmann, among others), something I haven't seen in other survivor's memoirs. Please note that I'm not doubting the basic facts and import of Berek's story, but it feels at times as if the story has been embellished a bit.

Overall, this is an excellent account of one man's survival against desperate odds and demonic captors. Four stars.
Benjamin Jacobs has written a vivid and poignant account of his experiences as a young Jewish boy caught up in the horrors of the Holocaust. This Holocaust tale is not overly grim though it has its disturbing moments. Benjamin was a dental student who did not get a chance to complete his studies at the time the Nazis invaded Poland. He and his father were sent to work in a labor camp run by Poles and Nazis. Some of the Poles are shown to have a human side to them and not as monstrous as depicted in some other accounts. In Jacobs' account, some of the Poles are depicted as sharing a common hatred of the Nazis, such as the Polish supervisor who is bitter about his sister being sent off to work as a slave for Nazi Germany.

Jacobs' account of the horrors he witnesses and experiences are balanced by some light-hearted accounts, such as his romance with a Polish Gentile which unfolds despite the horrors. In one funny account, Jacobs describes the lovers' futile attempts to kill the lice that have invaded Jacobs' body. This story is told with a comic element, yet it is also poignant as it conveys the impossibility of their circumstances and the horrors the Jewish prisoners had to endure.

The dentistry tools Jacobs' possesses sees him through some difficult times, though these same tools also cause him to witness some truly horrible things. In spite of everything, Jacobs' story is one of hope and perseverance, of a young man's dreams and memories, and of the losses he suffered.
By now I have read all but about five of the Holocaust memoirs on . I've read them in a sort of numb frenzy, sort of shocking myself into just short of feeling the experience. Many of the memoirs are expectedly similar because the experiences were similar, though each one s still individual enough to be meaningful. Through these memoirs, I feel I almost know the people who experienced Nazi persecution n World War II. You can actually contact some survivors who are happy to answer questions or just touch base with someone who's interested.
Berek Jakubowicz's (now Benjamin Jacobs) story is one of unrelenting misery. But he held out through the typical journey of being thrown from one camp to another. His intelligence, likeability, and skills as a dentist helped tremendously to keep him alive. Reading about his experiences, I often find myself thinking enough already, leave them alone! But it doesn't look like the Germans let go of their obsessive persecution and killing until the very last second possible. It's so sad that so many of them just got away with what they did and even went on to live "normally" to a ripe old age of 90+. I once again saw, from reading this book, how the post Liberation struggle must have been the last straw for people who were exhausted and drained of mental and physical energy.
This book spans an entire gamut of experiences and is interesting to read even after I've read so many memoirs.
In 1941, Jacobs, a Polish Jew was forced to abandon his dental studies when he and his family were transported to a Nazi labor camp. He brought along his dental tools and did his best to help his fellow inmates. Once he was sent to Auschwitz, he worked in the dental clinic, working on inmates and SS officers. The book describes in detail the horror of camp life, including the near starvation, cold and horrors of the crematoriums. Despite his struggles to survive, Jacobs shows great courage and determination in a horrible situation.

Well written, this is an unusual holocaust memoir. Jacobs, compared to the other inmates, is lucky to have a skill that allows him to survive. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the holocaust and survival.