The darkness by Gitta Sereny - Book Report/Review Example

Thousands of books retelling that darkest era of human civilization, and horrified gory of the holocaust which the world witnessed have been already recorded and re-recorded in forms of chronicle, testimonies, documentaries, novels, poetry and scholarly write ups. Such is the impact of the holocaust that mankind can talk in support of it or express their disgust but can never ignore the incident in human history. The point is that the dark hand behind this holocaust was that of Hitler’s but he was not alone in his venture.

There were other thousands of men to assist him and execute a few of his darkest commands. Were all those people fighting for the same cause? Were all of them united in their mission and vision towards the holocaust? This is the point where most of the historians, social scientists, writers and research scholars on holocaust are baffled. And at this particular point, Gitta Sereny presents a very heart touching and true stories of sin, guilt and redemption directly from the regime of the commanders and chiefs executing the commands of their chief.

Gitta Sereny brings a wonderful testimony of Franz Stangl who was commandant of Treblinka which is considered to be one of the largest extermination camps during the era of holocaust. With her griping words and wonderful narrative skill, Sereny captivates in this book a true story beyond the dark walls of the extermination camp after interviewing Stangl for more than 72 hours (Schoenfeld, “Into That Darkness, Again”). . f Franz Stangl imports the mind of a reader navigating through the pages of this book into a different world beyond the walls of the extermination camp.

Testimony of various persons concerned with a few of the darkest holocaust have already been published but for the first time the world witnesses a baring of a soul who relentlessly tried to find a rational inquisition into his role played in the Hitler’s final solution (Sereny 30-77). In his most dispassionate tones, Franz Stangl expressed his view on the horrors he witnessed and inflicted in the death camp when he was interviewed by Sereny in a German prison in the year 1972. And the man goes back to the memory lane to express how they played ploy to baffle people arriving at the camp with false railway station and amazing gardens.

With the extreme play of a few of the beautiful words, the world of this man almost appears to be surreal. The book does not end by conforming to the crimes which took place beyond the dark walls of those camps and inside the gas chambers but at the same time, it tries to delve deep and investigate into the minds of those who were associated with the crime. It presents before its readers that Stangl was a very responsible and committed father, he had a very striking personality and he loved his wife very much.

Then what actually led him to sign in the regime of abnormality of such series of heinous crimes (Whitehead, “Even in the Sleeper”)? Not only Stangl’s testimony is inscribed in the book, but Sereny also interviews a few of the survivors of the Treblinka camp who sustained by working in clothe factory along with certain S.S. Guards who were entitled to look after this horrifying area. Their experience of torture is definitely painstaking and breathtaking one but the pivotal