Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz Kindle Edition

This is a scary and disturbing book. I am a middle aged woman, and have read my share of Holocaust books- and this one gave me nightmares. There's been a lot written about life in concentration and death camps, but what makes this book unique is that the author is not Jewish. She wasn't taken from her home or even forced to go- she went because her husband was sent. So she willingly went along, with her children and parents as well so the family could at least be together. The smiling authorities assured them of their safety. All would be well, they wouldn't be separated, the war would be over soon and everyone would go back to their happy lives. Of course that couldn't be further from the reality.... the author was the only survivor and her guilt is palpable. More than Ann Frank's diary, this is the book that should be given to high school students who would have a hard time understanding how normal, every day people were placed in almost unbelievable positions of master and slave. How many of us would have gone along with the Nazi regime, and followed orders? On the other hand, how many of us could survive the unspeakable conditions of the camps. The absolutely arbitrary chance of surviving is difficult to wrap your head around, there was no such thing as a predictable way to survive. And to survive and have your life but nothing else- no family, no home, nothing at all. Perhaps the most poignant moment was when the author finally found her way to the family home, the neighborhood she lived in with everything and everyone she knew gone forever. Unimaginable. Humanity at its absolute worst in this book, with very little in the way of redemption, yet highly readable and very critical that future generations never forget what happened and how easily it can happen again -and indeed, has.

“Five Chimneys” is a Holocaust memoir written by Olga Lengyel, a Hungarian woman deported to Auschwitz in 1944 after the Germans occupied her native country. From the very beginning, she is subjected to inhumane conditions of the camp which, along with learning the news of her children and elderly parents perishing right after the arrival, almost completely break her will to live. At one point, she does consider suicide (as a prominent surgeon’s wife and assistant, she managed to smuggle a syringe with poison into the camp), however, changes her mind and decides to live for the others instead, becoming a member of the inmate infirmary staff and also, a camp resistance member.Throughout the entire narration, I couldn’t help but sympathize with Lengyel. One can only imagine how difficult it must have been for an educated woman with a good social standing and a happy family surrounding her to be suddenly plunged into such a nightmare as Auschwitz and to lose it all at once. Her bitter tone reflects the loss and is evident throughout the entire memoir, but one can hardly blame her for such unconcealed hatred towards her tormentors. Unlike some other survivors, who occupied “privileged” positions or had the fortune to be in favor of a certain SS functionary, Lengyel never saw anything other than brutality and the lowest human behavior around her, so this memoir is definitely much “darker” than others that I’ve read before.My only minor criticism of this memoir is that there were several inaccuracies mentioned in it - things that Lengyel didn’t witness herself on her own admission, but which she insisted had happened. For instance, she repeats it twice that gas left many people alive in the gas chambers and they were later burned alive in the crematoriums, which is incorrect (see memoirs of the Sonderkommando survivor, who actually worked in the crematoriums and therefore dealt with the bodies firsthand, Filip Müller, “Eyewitness Auschwitz”). The only survivor of the gas chamber ever recorded in Auschwitz history was a young girl, and even she wasn’t “burned alive” or anything but brought to her senses by the inmate pathologist, Dr. Nyiszli, and then shot by an SS officer Mussfeld since the SS authority decided that they couldn’t let her go after what she had witnessed inside the chamber (chapter XIX of Dr. Miklos Nyiszli memoir, “Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eyewitness Account”). People were burned alive - rarely but it happened - during the so-called Hungarian Aktion in summer of 1944, but it happened outside in the open pits, which were under the supervision of the sadistic SS officer Moll, and almost all of the ones who shared such a terrible fate were thrown there by him personally. The Sonderkommando (inmates who worked in the gas chambers and the crematoriums) would never throw people, who supposedly survived the gassing, alive into the ovens simply because those were their fellow inmates and they treated them accordingly, with as much respect as possible, despite having to do such an atrocious job imposed on them by the SS.Another inaccuracy concerned Dr. Mengele, who, according to Lengyel, did anything possible and impossible to remain in the camp and escape the frontline service. Dr. Mengele, meanwhile, was transferred to Auschwitz from the front after getting injured and deemed unfit for further frontline service, and she clearly wasn’t aware of this fact. I understand her personal attitude towards him as he was definitely was a sadistic torturer and killer, but I love accuracy in my historical sources and this mishap was a little annoying. Same goes to Lengyel’s description of Irma Grese’s behavior right before her execution: according to her, terrified Grese had to be dragged towards the gallows by the MPs when in fact, Grese sang in her cell the night before her execution and went to the gallows almost fascinatingly calm, stood on the chalk mark, made by an MP "very firmly" (see testimony of Regimental Sergeant Major Richard Anthony O'Neill, who assisted the British executioner, Albert Pierrepoint) and as he placed the white cap over her head, "she said in her languid voice, "Schnell"." But yes. Another inaccuracy, which I found a little annoying. Again, I totally get it - the author hated her former captors and wished to present them in as bad a light as possible, but when it comes to history, I like it to be objective, without any unnecessary embellishments - for instance, “Rena’s Promise,” “Eyewitness Auschwitz” and “People in Auschwitz” which are all written by Auschwitz survivors, are much more objective and historically correct.In conclusion, I’d definitely recommend reading “Five Chimneys” if you’re interested in the Holocaust for an intimate glimpse inside the camp, but bear in mind that certain things, which the author didn’t witness personally, need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Wow, having trouble with words. I was born in 1967 and my knowledge of the haulicost was very limited. No one ever told me that Americans were interned and killed. I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't really believe or at least understand the horrific medical experiments and sterilization that happened.Normally, I don't want to read about or think about gruesome stuff. But my dear friend's grandparents perished at Auchwitz and I finally found the courage to educate myself on this topic, out of respect for the Orlowski family from Poland, that were political prisoners and were murdered. My friend Jan Orlowski bore the emotional scars of what his father went through at Auchwitz.Everyone should read this and be grateful for whatever life we have. Deep lessons found in this book. It is not depressing, dear reader. Reading this book has given me greater strength to cope with my own difficulties. Really,compared to this sad reality in our history, how bad can your life really be? Ponder that while the long line at Walmart with only one cashier gets on your nerves. Or you bounce checks AGAIN and are scared of financial problems!!! This book will educate you in many ways and you will be a better person for having read it. Thank you, dear Author and publishers for getting this book to your grateful audience.

I cried at this book, the hardship that they lived through and they pain they had daily is beyond the imagination and to think that it was inflicted on human beings by other human beings is horrible. What they all endured to survive is vile and things like this and what they experienced should never be forgotten. This is a part of history that should never be forgotten and this is makes you feel like you are there with her enduring it all, it is very well written, throughout the book you will need a lot of tissues.

A very good and well written book. It’s very moving reading this account of the hell those innocent people had to go through! I have visited both camps and could relate to where was being described in this book. My heart breaks reading what these people had to endure! It’s a good read and it’s interesting to hear a true account of what actually happened and knock on the head those stories saying it didn’t happen!

It is so easy to read a book like this and feel sorry for the inmates of the camps then to put the book down and go to sleep in a warm comfortable bed, but we must really try to understand just what theses people really endured.I have nothing but the highest respect for the.Please do read this book in the hope that in our own small way this can never be repeated.

Some comments about this book show they are either calling the author a liar,questioning certain figures Olga Lengyel quotes as being incorrect and copying parts of other books on this subject. As this was written in 1946 and most other memoirs not published until later I don't see how this could be the case. She may have not been accurate about the figures she quoted but it is a fact that massive numbers of men, women and children were killed by gas and cremated. The point is that the suffering in those camps was appalling right up until the Americans, British and Russian soldiers liberated them in 1945 and the film footage shown of the evacuated survivors and dead bodies are testimony to that fact.If certain people don't want to believe that this happened or haven't any knowledge about the vile perpetrators being questioned about the FACTUAL EVIDENCE and being found guilty then don't read survivors memoirs and make disrespectful, hurtful comments.This lady, like thousands of others suffered more than we can ever really imagine and putting this down on paper must go a little way to not only getting her head around it all, but feeling the strong need back in 1946 to tell the world what they all went through.

A brutal, horrifying account of the misery endured at the hell hole Auschwitz. The depravity and callous lack of humanity is just heart breaking. How anyone survived the pure misery of life in these camps is a miracle. It's hard to comprehend how humans could treat other humans in this way. I could not put this book down. The accounts of the holocaust survivors need to be read by every human being on this earth in my opinion because their truth could be our tomorrow. We must never forget what happened when humanity died, we must never forget what happened to them.