Bei uns in Auschwitz

The stories of Polish Auschwitz survivor Tadeusz Borowski are among the most harrowing testimonies of the 20th century. Seemingly morally indifferent, Borowski describes the horrors of the Nazi extermination camps without drawing a clear line between victim and perpetrator. From the perspective of the kapo, who supervises fellow inmates in exchange for privileges, he depicts the prisoners' desperate struggle for survival with cynical realism. With a precision that offers no leniency to the reader, he recounts the mother who denies her child during the selection process and the arrogance of long-term inmates towards newcomers in the camp. Imre Kertész admires Borowski's clear, self-torturingly relentless narratives, which are unique in European camp literature.