KL

Nikolaus Wachsmann

2015 • 880 pages

Ratings5

Average rating4.8

Winner of the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Literary Prize and the Wolfson History Prize In March of 1933, a disused factory surrounded by barbed wire held 223 prisoners in the town of Dachau. By the end of 1945, the SS concentration camp system had become an overwhelming landscape of terror. Twenty-two large camps and over one thousand satellite camps throughout Germany and Europe were at the heart of the Nazi campaign of repression and intimidation. The importance of the camps in terms of Nazi history and our modern world cannot be questioned. Dr Nikolaus Wachsmann is the first historian to write a complete history of the camps. Combining the political and the personal, Wachsmann will examine the organisation of such an immense genocidal machine, whilst drawing a vivid picture of life inside the camps for the individual prisoner. The book gives voice to those typically forgotten in Nazi history: the 'social deviants', criminals and unwanted ethnicities that all faced the terror of the camps. Wachsmann explores the practice of institutionalised murder and inmate collaboration with the SS selectively ignored by many historians. Pulling together a wealth of in-depth research, official documents, contemporary studies and the evidence of survivors themselves, KL is a complete but accessible narrative.

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Zed

While reading this harrowing but ultimately fascinating history of the KL system a newly elected senator made a speech to the Australian Senate saying “....the final solution to the immigration problem of course is a popular vote” As was pointed out to him at the time the use of the phrase by Nazi Germany had certain connotations that do not bear thinking about. The newly elected senator was unrepentant and defended the phrases use. At the time I was saddened to think that in this day and age a senator from a minor political faction had had to resort to the outrageous to get attention.
With that incident in mind, and reaching the end of this book, I am now of the opinion that the entire KL system and all the consequences of its existence must be part of the education curriculum in Australia. It is a historical event that must be told and understood.

With that in mind this may not be the book to be part of that curriculum and that is not criticism. The reality is that this amazing work of scholarship is for the individual that is aware of the Holocaust and the treatment of those that the Nazis deemed as enemies of their moribund ideology. The depth of research is superb. The mix of analysis, statistics and first-hand accounts make a compelling, though very tough read. I admit to having a rest several times from when I first began this in early May to finishing now in late September. The subchapter “Killing the Weak” was profoundly mind numbing and I repeat what I have said before to others, man's inhumanity to his fellow man never ceases to amaze. As I get older I am still none the wiser.

Author Wachsman has written his history in chronological order. I found his footnotes excellent and was constantly scurrying to research the new information covered in this book. There is a very good abbreviations section to assist with the various acronyms. The sources section covers archival, electronic and printed sources and if at this point in time I wished to read further on the subject it would be the ideal resource to refer to.

To quote goodreads friend Sharn ‘I cannot recommend this book highly enough, though it is of course with a heavy heart. Monumental.' With that I also recommend Sharn's superb review that has articulated this brilliant tome far better than I could ever conceive.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1295690066?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

September 22, 2018