Tea & A Good Book Brewing- Installment 21, The Auschwitz Escape
This book was hard.
Harder, even, than I expected.
Hard to the point that at times it was almost agony to turn the page, and yet it would have been equal agony not to!
And yet, if I thought reading it was hard, analyzing it for this review was even harder, and that was something I didn't anticipate when I chose it for March's book of the month.
I tried to come up with a list of discussion questions, like I did in January and February, but it just wasn't coming, and I think it was because of how complex and sensitive the subject matter is, as well as what I am working through with this book.
And that is the horrifying clash between good and evil and the clash between the book's worldview and mine.
Because of this "clash", I intend to give a few thoughts on the book, instead of a list of questions, and hope those of you who have read it will do the same!
First of all, it must be said that The Auschwitz Escape is a riveting work of historical fiction, and while it is horrifying, it is also one of the best book I have read on the Holocaust. The author, Joel C. Rosenberg, apparently writes to keep people awake, for this book kept my eyes open when I normally would have fallen asleep!
Thankfully there were no accompanying nightmares.
And thankfully there were rays of hope & redemption woven through the story. Without them, the story would have been unbearable.
The two main characters in the book are Jacob, a Jew from Germany who loses his family early on in the war and then goes on to join the Jewish resistance, and Luc, a Protestant pastor from France who involves himself in a relief movement to shelter Jewish families.
That they will both end up at Auschwitz, and then on a team together attempting an escape from the death camp, puts them in the same boat, but does not make them alike.
Luc is a believer. Jacob wonders if there is a God.
Jacob is afraid of death, Luc is not.
Throughout the story, it was the life of Luc that gave me the most to ponder...
When Luc is first arrested & tortured by the Gestapo, something very unusual happens:
"The most vile obscenities were being hurled at him, but rather than recoil, Luc felt an involuntary smile slowly spread across his bloodied face. How was it possible that he, of all people, was worthy of being cursed and beaten like his Savior? It made no sense, but it gave him a strange, unspeakable joy."
Another time, Luc says the question shouldn't be, "Why are you, a Christian, here in a death camp, condemned for for trying to save Jews?" The real question should is: "Why aren't all the Christians here?"
I find this very gripping, especially as he chose to lay down his life for the life of his fellowmen... and he did it like it was an honor.
I just have to stop here and wonder...would I do that?
Or would I play it safe to save my own skin?
Luc died after they had escaped, and while they were still on the run, but his testimony of faith stayed strong.
Jacob lived to see freedom, but he did it by killing others, and while the author would appear to imply that the end justified the means, I would have to say that it does not.
There are parts of this story that I cannot reconcile with the way of Jesus, which is the way of peace, and scenarios for which I have no answers, save to say this: I have great confidence in God's ultimate justice.
My human mind simply cannot comprehend the eternal threads that are being woven by the hands that created the universe, but they are there all the same, and my little endeavours of justice just mess up the tapestry.
I know it can sound trite and pithy to say such things when I am so far removed from what Jacob and millions of others faced, but without the confidence that God, not me, will make everything right in the end, I have no hope for this world or the next.
At the end of the book, we get a peek at Jacob once he is old, and we learn that the God of Abraham and Isaac has become the God of Jacob, too, and in these words lies the most beautiful picture of redemption...
For Jew and Gentile alike.
Harder, even, than I expected.
Hard to the point that at times it was almost agony to turn the page, and yet it would have been equal agony not to!
And yet, if I thought reading it was hard, analyzing it for this review was even harder, and that was something I didn't anticipate when I chose it for March's book of the month.
I tried to come up with a list of discussion questions, like I did in January and February, but it just wasn't coming, and I think it was because of how complex and sensitive the subject matter is, as well as what I am working through with this book.
And that is the horrifying clash between good and evil and the clash between the book's worldview and mine.
Because of this "clash", I intend to give a few thoughts on the book, instead of a list of questions, and hope those of you who have read it will do the same!
First of all, it must be said that The Auschwitz Escape is a riveting work of historical fiction, and while it is horrifying, it is also one of the best book I have read on the Holocaust. The author, Joel C. Rosenberg, apparently writes to keep people awake, for this book kept my eyes open when I normally would have fallen asleep!
Thankfully there were no accompanying nightmares.
And thankfully there were rays of hope & redemption woven through the story. Without them, the story would have been unbearable.
The two main characters in the book are Jacob, a Jew from Germany who loses his family early on in the war and then goes on to join the Jewish resistance, and Luc, a Protestant pastor from France who involves himself in a relief movement to shelter Jewish families.
That they will both end up at Auschwitz, and then on a team together attempting an escape from the death camp, puts them in the same boat, but does not make them alike.
Luc is a believer. Jacob wonders if there is a God.
Jacob is afraid of death, Luc is not.
Throughout the story, it was the life of Luc that gave me the most to ponder...
When Luc is first arrested & tortured by the Gestapo, something very unusual happens:
"The most vile obscenities were being hurled at him, but rather than recoil, Luc felt an involuntary smile slowly spread across his bloodied face. How was it possible that he, of all people, was worthy of being cursed and beaten like his Savior? It made no sense, but it gave him a strange, unspeakable joy."
Another time, Luc says the question shouldn't be, "Why are you, a Christian, here in a death camp, condemned for for trying to save Jews?" The real question should is: "Why aren't all the Christians here?"
I find this very gripping, especially as he chose to lay down his life for the life of his fellowmen... and he did it like it was an honor.
I just have to stop here and wonder...would I do that?
Or would I play it safe to save my own skin?
Luc died after they had escaped, and while they were still on the run, but his testimony of faith stayed strong.
Jacob lived to see freedom, but he did it by killing others, and while the author would appear to imply that the end justified the means, I would have to say that it does not.
There are parts of this story that I cannot reconcile with the way of Jesus, which is the way of peace, and scenarios for which I have no answers, save to say this: I have great confidence in God's ultimate justice.
My human mind simply cannot comprehend the eternal threads that are being woven by the hands that created the universe, but they are there all the same, and my little endeavours of justice just mess up the tapestry.
I know it can sound trite and pithy to say such things when I am so far removed from what Jacob and millions of others faced, but without the confidence that God, not me, will make everything right in the end, I have no hope for this world or the next.
At the end of the book, we get a peek at Jacob once he is old, and we learn that the God of Abraham and Isaac has become the God of Jacob, too, and in these words lies the most beautiful picture of redemption...
For Jew and Gentile alike.
Thankyou for not asking the hard questions!! I was so afraid you'd ask questions that were impossible to answer!! This was definitely the worst book I've ever tried to read, and sorry to say, I skipped some in the middle!! The ending was perfect, in that Jacob was a believer and did not hold bitterness in his heart. You know, this book was a good reminder not to turn a blind eye to other's pain. We cannot be a help to people if we do not take the time to listen to their heartaches and trials. There are "death camps", so to speak, all around us. Situations that people have no control over and no way out.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Joanna, for stretching me with this book!! I must admit, when I was through, I did something that was uncharacteristic of myself- checked out a Janette Oke book and thoroughly enjoyed it!! Looking forward to April's book-of-the month.