Eugene weekly., May 05, 2011, Page 38, Image 38

books
BY BRIT MCGINNIS
A Guide to Hell?
The Druggist of Auschwitz upends the Holocaust
LANE COUNTY’S BEST
RESTAURANTS,
STORES, AND RESORTS
34 MAY 5, 2011W
EUGENE WEEKLY
T
here are the paradigms of the
Holocaust we are given in middle
and high school: crematoriums,
torture, terrifi ed victims and merciless
Nazi torturers. We know the names:
Hitler, Himmler, Churchill, Wiesel.
Initially, Dieter Schlesak’s The Druggist of
Auschwitz tells us nothing different from
what we’ve already been taught.
But it soon becomes evident that we have
learned nothing. In Schlesak’s Auschwitz,
there are hardly any prisoners acting as
sheep being led to the slaughter. We learn
of the Auschwitz brothel, set up for offi cers
and prisoners alike. And there is the Polish
dancer who, upon refusing to change into
prison garb in front of male SS offi cers,
stole a gun and shot a soldier to death.
The roles of captor and captive become
muddied and unclear, with corruption and
negotiation frequently taking place on both
sides. This is a Holocaust that has never
before been discussed.
The book itself, however, may not be the
best start to learning about an alternative
Holocaust. It is labeled as a “documentary
novel,” a coy classifi cation that dares the
reader to question the validity of her own
perspective of the Nazi regime. Eventually,
despite the editor’s notes and citations page,
the reader begins to wonder what the true
point of this book is. Is it a historical lesson
about a time period we have nearly stopped
re-examining? Or is it merely a macabre
fable, constructed from true-life interviews
with witnesses to hell on Earth?
The book’s title fi gure is Dr. Victor
Capesius, an SS offi cer and pharmacist
who operated the Auschwitz pharmacy
from 1943 until the camp’s liberation in
1945. Maintaining a staff of Jewish doctors
and pharmacists within the camp, Capesius
may have participated in selecting prisoners
for life or death (like his colleague, Dr.
Josef Mengele). He also may have pilfered
the valuables of the prisoners he treated,
which would explain his post-war fi nances
and ability to start several businesses
despite his nine-year imprisonment for
being an accessory to murder.
But so much evidence is presented for
both points of view the reader begins to
lose grip on what is documentary and what
is fi ction. The structure of the book itself
becomes inconsistent, with sections of
chapters being named, then numbered, then
named again. Schlesak’s own indignation at
the events seeps through the latter half of the
novel, to the point where his dialogue colors
his interviews. The documentary portion of
the novel no longer seems as strong, his
anger inspiring doubt at every turn.
The most dubious character of all is
Adam, a Jewish man whose comments
surround every description of a major event.
We don’t know if Adam is indeed real, and
feel betrayed and indignant when he is
proved false. After all, he is the character
that best expresses the horror of Auschwitz
with which we are familiar. But to fi nd out
that he and all of his horrifi c confessions are
false? It’s borderline reader abuse.
The lasting effect of this book is similar
to the feeling we all had upon fi rst reading
the memos released by Wikileaks. At fi rst
we are ready to seize upon the history books
with red pens and correct descriptions
we’ve been fed for so long. But then the
source of this new history starts to sound
a little wonky. Before you know it, they’re
adding far too much of their own personal
history to the story for their work to have
the credibility it probably deserves.
We are left only to wonder what is really
true in the Schlesak’s book. A renewed
look at the Holocaust, through the eyes
of participants in its occurrence, is long
overdue. But The Druggist of Auschwitz’s
blunt-force delivery of information, mixed
with the author’s reactions, ultimately
don’t do it justice. Its publisher classifi es
the book as fi ction, which is probably
best. But vivid fi ctional stories about the
Holocaust, with incredibly believable
details, may be one thing for which the
world is not yet ready.
ew
DIVA’s exhibit, “The Last Album: Eyes from the Ashes
of Auschwitz-Birkenau,” runs May 6 - June 4; info at
divacenter.org
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM