Well, it is about time I place a new blog and I do have a couple of things to share with everyone. First, the people at Amacom have been keeping me very busy, which is better than them not returning my phone calls. SCHEISSHAUS LUCK will be in bookstores this September. Galley copies were passed out at the Book Expo that was held here in Los Angeles the last week in May. A relative told me there is a copy of the galleys is for sale on Ebay…. Is that legal?
Here is the book cover of my memoir
My co-writer, Brian and myself are pretty happy with it. What do you think?
When Brian and I decided on the title, SCHEISSHAUS LUCK, I had an idea for the bookcover that Brian's oldest friend, Tom Teschner, sketched up for me. Here it is.
Shithouse Luck
Brian has a new blog on his MySpace page. On it you can read the Forward to my memoir and see an old rejection letter of mine. It's from 1954. Go HERE to read his blog.
I've now been on MySpace for almost two years and I never expected to meet so many people who would be so supportive and helpful in my quest to publish my memoir. I would love to use my blog more often for my friends to share their thoughts on the Holocaust, Auschwitz, Holocaust deniers, racism, hatred…. Or whatever you feel like sharing.
One of my favorite friends, Leah, wrote to me last year wondering if she should go on this trip (a relatively expensive trip) to Poland and Auschwitz. I told her that when you are young always take the opportunities to travel to places that interest you. She did go to Poland and she took pictures of Auschwitz that she shared with me. Now I'd like to share them with you.
Birkenau Train Yard Building… The same building on the cover of my book.
From the Glossary of SCHEISSHAUS LUCK:
BIRKENAU....
(German) Birch grove--Auschwitz II The extermination camp was built in October 1941 and located near the Polish village of Brzezinka. In the spring of 1942 the "showers" and crematoriums were operational. October 10th, 1944 was the Uprising of the Sonderkommando. The Sonderkommando crew of crematoria IV revolted and destroyed their crematories. In November, Himmler shutdown the gas chambers and efforts were put into place to conceal the mass murder that had taken place.
This is where most of the other prisoners of Auschwitz arrived. I arrived there. As you well know, so many went straight to the gas chambers of Birkenau. Some were kept at the Birkenau Camp (Auschwitz II). Some were sent to Auschwitz I. Others were sent to Monowitz (Auschwitz III). Monowitz is where I spent 12 months of my life.
Here is a map of the location of the three major Auschwitz camps:
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The Birkenau Train Yard
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A guard tower in Auschwitz I
From the Glossary of SCHEISSHAUS LUCK:
AUSCHWITZ....
The original Auschwitz camp (Auschwitz I) was built in 1940 in the suburbs of the Polish city of Oswiecim. On June 14, 1940, the first convoy of Polish political prisoners, 728 men, arrived at the camp. By 1943 Auscwitz was the largest Nazi camp complex with three main camps, Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Auschwitz III-Monowitz and some 40 sub-camps. Over 50% of the registered Haeftlinge in the Auschwitz complex died. 70-75% of each transport was sent straight to the gas chambers. Untold numbers of victims of the gas chambers were never registered. The total number of Jews murdered in Auschwitz will never be known, but estimates range from one and two and a half million. The next highest groups were Poles, Russian POWs, most of them dying in the construction of the IG Farben plant and as gas chamber "guinea pigs", and Gypsies. Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviet Army on January 27th, 1945.
From the museum at Majdanek -- A Kapo's Armband
KAPO....
(German) Inmate supervisor of a Kommando. Assigned by the SS and usually a German convict.
Thank you, Leah!
I will be back next week with a new blog.