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This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen | Tadeusz Borowski
15 posts | 21 read | 39 to read
Tadeusz Borowski's concentration camp stories were based on his own experiences surviving Auschwitz and Dachau. In spare, brutal prose he describes a world where where the will to survive overrides compassion and prisoners eat, work and sleep a few yards from where others are murdered; where the difference between human beings is reduced to a second bowl of soup, an extra blanket or the luxury of a pair of shoes with thick soles; and where the line between normality and abnormality vanishes. Published in Poland after the Second World War, these stories constitute a masterwork of world literature.
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lonelybluenights
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Oh, look. Another book I haven‘t read yet that has been sitting on my shelf for a few years.

BarbaraBB It‘s an amazing book. Heart breaking of course but from a pov I didn‘t know before. 3y
3 likes1 stack add1 comment
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AshleyHoss820
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Pickpick

*Re-Read*
This book is absolutely one of the most powerful, moving, agonizing reads and it affects me EVERY time I read it. It is one of my most recommended books. 163/1,001 #1001Books

40 likes1 stack add
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CafeMom
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#hunsakermountain #readingtheworld
Read a book in translation. Originally published in Polish.

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CafeMom
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Pickpick

Best 180 pages I have read in a long time. Although a work of fiction, the author was imprisoned in Auschwitz & Dachau from 1943-45. This book is about the inhumanity of man. "Published in Poland after WWII, this collection of concentration camp stories shows atrocious war crimes becoming an unremarkable part of a daily routine." #1001books

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Ladygodiva7
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An unbelievably horrific time. Yet I can‘t put it down.

#Reading1001 #1001Books

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catiewithac
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Pickpick

In less than 24 hours I have finished 3 books about WWII. This was unplanned but a nice example of life‘s synchronicity nonetheless. Borowski was a Polish poet and member of the educational underground (teaching Poles anything was illegal under Nazi rule). He spent 2 years in concentration camps and wrote stories about “life” there. Such as life was. His stories have a tone of disinterested undeadness. Because life was unimaginable there.

cocomass Love book synchronicity 😍 5y
27 likes1 comment
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catiewithac
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BarbaraBB Thuis book 💔 5y
28 likes1 comment
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Mindyrecycles
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I've only read the titular story of this collection and as you can guess, it's horrifying. Borowski wrote from his Auschwitz experiences from which he never recovered. He killed himself at age 28. 😢 This book is a Holocaust classic and the writing is stark and beautiful. #poland #Augustisatrip @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @vkois88

vkois88 Such tragedy 6y
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Simona
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Pickpick

I like that title very much, because perfectly sums up the gist of this short stories collection set in Auschwitz-Birkenau. All of the stories are brutally cynical and thought provoking, exploring human nature in the extreme situations and environment, where your enemy could become your ‘friend‘ and the friend is the threat just because you need to survive. Very original, startling and sometimes even disturbing view on humanity and morality.

BarbaraBB That soccer game... 😢 6y
Simona @BarbaraBB Yeah ... I liked these stories very much precisely because of this cold, uncaring attitude towards the subject and this sentence with the soccer game represents that attitude perfectly. 6y
LeahBergen Great review. Stacked! 6y
Simona @LeahBergen Thanks 🙏 It‘s a good book, very different perspective on the topic, but it‘s interesting perception. (edited) 6y
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Simona
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Challenge for #24in48 #readathon Hour 12: Fantastic first lines
Simple but effective first line from my current book.

Cinfhen 💔 6y
Simona @Cinfhen Exactly ... and the whole collection of stories is 💔 6y
JaclynW Oh my! What a way to start. 😢 6y
54 likes3 comments
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Simona
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... decision has been made ... my selection for #24in48 #readathon

BarbaraBB The tagged book is so... I don‘t even know a word to describe it. I still think of it so often, while I read it years ago. It is WWII from another point of view. Can‘t wait to hear what you think! 6y
readordierachel I remember reading the Borowski in college. Really affecting. 6y
Nikki15 I quite enjoyed this one. It was different to things I‘d normally read 6y
Simona @BarbaraBB @ReadOrDieRachel I think that this title is genius, and after reading about his life I just have to read a book! 6y
Simona @Nikki15 I really liked We Need to Talk About Kevin, so I have high hopes for this one too. 6y
77 likes5 comments
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Tove_Reads
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Pickpick

A fast read, and a bit of a different view of life in Auschwitz. Genocide is still happening around our globe. Why do some people feel superior? Even if you survive the horror, can you live a normal life? Borowski wasn't able to.

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BarbaraBB
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'Becoming totally familiair with the inexplicable and the abnormal.'

Borowski was arrested and put to work in Auschwitz. He writes about how everybody gets numb and even indifferent when confronted with the horrors of the holocaust day by day.

When I finished the book I read that Borowski, still under 30, committed suicide by gassing himself. Unable to cope with the world. This made me shiver and still does.

#Sorrow #SeptemBowie #1001books

Cinfhen So heartwrenching 😭 7y
Centique 😱😱😱 7y
ValerieAndBooks So sad 😢 7y
See All 6 Comments
AshleyHoss820 This is such a great read. I read it before I knew about the 1,001 list. I'm looking forward to my re-read of this one. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. 6y
BarbaraBB @AshleyHoss820 I keep thinking about this book. It had such an impact on me. 6y
AshleyHoss820 @BarbaraBB Same here! The adaptability/survival instincts of humans never ceases to amaze me. 6y
55 likes4 stack adds6 comments