Alain Raimbault, contributor to the reading group
20 minutes Books, recommend you The Birkenau manuscript by José Rodrigues Dos Santos, continuation (and end) of Magician of Auschwitz, published on October 21, 2021 by Éditions Hervé Chopin.
Her favorite quote:
“Two hundred prisoners were lined up on the Appellplatz of the women’s camp, completely naked, their bones and ribs protruding, their skin covered with edema. In front of them stood a group of men and women in uniform. Francisco recognized the Lagerführerin Mandel, whom he had seen when the Arbeitskommandos had left. Behind them, two unloaded trucks awaited the selected to take them to the crematoria. “
Why this book?
- Because the author, José Rodrigues dos Santos, whom I interviewed, confessed to me: “I had the idea to write this novel when I met a survivor who became a magician at Auschwitz”. His name, Werner Reich. This survivor had known the man who was to become the central character of the novel, a certain Herbert Levin, known in the world of illusionism as the “Grand Nivelli”.
- Because an untenable suspense pushes us to turn the pages, because every second it is a question of life, sometimes, and often of death in this novel which does not seem to be one so much it is screaming, howling of truth, of a truth certainly rather well known but always unbearable, even incredible.
- Because the description, inside the gas chambers, is Dantesque. I have read many testimonies and historical essays on this tragic place and never have I met an author who has gone as far as JR Dos Santos. It shows the horror experienced by those who experienced it without being able to testify to it. “My intention,” explains the author, “was not so much to preserve memory as to give a voice to those who were killed. “
- Because for the author, “the great mystery of Auschwitz is not to know what happened on the side of the victims, because this is obvious, but on the side of the executioners. How is it possible that they did that? Monsters, certainly. Alas, not that simple. It was Hannah Arendt who noticed this, during Eichmann’s judgment, when she spoke of the banality of evil. Not in the sense that evil has become commonplace, but because the evil has been committed by common people. Because Eichmann was just an ordinary man ”.
- Because the novel also highlights an often overlooked key by historians: that of the irrational side of the Nazis. “It’s really incredible, but indeed they were,” the author tells me. And the most extraordinary thing is to see that these mystical beliefs are behind the drama of the Shoah. And he adds: “Historians have long thought that Nazi esotericism was only a marginal subject in Nazism, but this prejudice is starting to change. “
- Because this book is more than a novel. At the end, the author explains or justifies his creative process, then gives a really very interesting bibliography that helped him find his information. Finally, he shows photographs of the characters in his novel who really existed, which makes this work a captivating and very useful book for anyone interested in the Shoah.
The essentials in 2 minutes
The plot. This novel is the continuation (and the end) of the story of Magician of Auschwitz, published earlier by the same publisher. The SS Francisco will try to save his fiancée, as well as the Magician and his family locked up in Auschwitz. For this he will try to organize a magic show.
Characters. The magician Herbert Levin; Tanusha, Russian prisoner; Francisco Latino, the Portuguese SS, in love with Tanusha; members of a Sonderkommando who are preparing a revolt; Nazi officials.
Places. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi extermination camp.
The time. 1944.
The author. José Rodrigues Dos Santos is a journalist and featured presenter on Portuguese television. He wrote novels which are very successful internationally. The Birkenau manuscript is the continuation (and the end) of the Magician of Auschwitz.
This book has been read by wanting to know the fate of the protagonists, and I was stunned by descriptions that could not be more realistic. I knew what to expect, but the reading was louder than expected.
Do you want to recommend a book that you particularly liked? Join our community by clicking here
20 minutes of context
Some of the links in this article are sponsored. Every time you buy a book through one of them, we get a commission that helps us pay our bills. To avoid any conflict of interest, we have adopted the following method:
1. The contributors to the section choose their books, write their files and their reviews in complete independence, without worrying about any links that will be added.
2. The links are added a posteriori, each time we find the recommended product on one of our partner platforms.
Thanks in advance to everyone who clicks!