{"product_id":"the-last-consolation-vanished-the-testimony-of-a-sonderkommando-in-auschwitz-9780226833231","title":"The Last Consolation Vanished: The Testimony of a Sonderkommando in Auschwitz","description":"\u003cb\u003eA unique and haunting first-person Holocaust account by Zalmen Gradowski, a Sonderkommando prisoner killed in Auschwitz.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e On October 7, 1944, a group of Jewish prisoners in Auschwitz obtained explosives and rebelled against their Nazi murderers. It was a desperate uprising that was defeated by the end of the day. More than four hundred prisoners were killed. Filling a gap in history, \u003ci\u003eThe Last Consolation Vanished\u003c\/i\u003e is the first complete English translation and critical edition of one prisoner's powerful account of life and death in Auschwitz, written in Yiddish and buried in the ashes near Crematorium III. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Zalmen Gradowski was in the \u003ci\u003eSonderkommando \u003c\/i\u003e(special squad) at Auschwitz, a Jewish prisoner given the unthinkable task of ushering Jewish deportees into the gas chambers, removing their bodies, salvaging any valuables, transporting their corpses to the crematoria, and destroying all evidence of their murders. Sonderkommandos were forcibly recruited by SS soldiers; when they discovered the horror of their assignment, some of them committed suicide or tried to induce the SS to kill them. Despite their impossible situation, many Sonderkommandos chose to resist in two interlaced ways: planning an uprising and testifying. Gradowski did both, by helping to lead a rebellion and by documenting his experiences. Within 120 scrawled notebook pages, his accounts describe the process of the Holocaust, the relentless brutality of the Nazi regime, the assassination of Czech Jews, the relationships among the community of men forced to assist in this nightmare, and the unbearable separation and death of entire families, including his own. Amid daily unimaginable atrocities, he somehow wrote pages that were literary, sometimes even lyrical--hidden where and when one would least expect to find them. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The October 7th rebellion was completely crushed and Gradowski was killed in the process, but his testimony lives on. His extraordinary and moving account, accompanied by a foreword and afterword by Philippe Mesnard and Arnold I. Davidson, is a voice speaking to us from the past on behalf of millions who were silenced. Their story must be shared.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-15304583\"\u003eZalmen Gradowski\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/06\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 248\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.69lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.70d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226833231\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0226833232\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-BIO\"\u003eBiography \u0026amp; Autobiography\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-BIO037000\"\u003eJewish\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-HIS\"\u003eHistory\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-HIS043000\"\u003eModern | 20th Century | Holocaust\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-REL\"\u003eReligion\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.njcorrectionsbookstore.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-REL040030\"\u003eJudaism | History\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eZalmen Gradowski \u003c\/b\u003e(1910-44) was a Jewish-Polish prisoner in Auschwitz-Birkenau and a member of the \u003ci\u003eSonderkommando\u003c\/i\u003e who was murdered in Auschwitz. \u003cb\u003eArnold I. Davidson\u003c\/b\u003e is Distinguished Professor of Humanities at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he teaches principally in the Department of Jewish Thought and the Department of Romance Studies. He is also the Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago. \u003cb\u003ePhilippe Mesnard\u003c\/b\u003e is professor of comparative literature in the Department of Literature at the Université Clermont Auvergne, France. He is also a member of the Institut Universitaire de France and editor of the journal \u003ci\u003eMémoires en jeu\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cb\u003eRubye Monet\u003c\/b\u003e is an English teacher and scholar, writer, and translator of Yiddish living in France.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43827391004811,"sku":"9780226833231","price":20.27,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0626\/5100\/7115\/files\/img_fe2bd0a6-86a8-4bbb-855e-8eed4c02048f.jpg?v=1755531894","url":"https:\/\/cacorrectionsbookstore.com\/products\/the-last-consolation-vanished-the-testimony-of-a-sonderkommando-in-auschwitz-9780226833231","provider":"CA Corrections Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}