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100th out of 386 books
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1,409 voters
Treblinka Survivor: The Life and Death of Hershl Sperling
by
Mark S. Smith (Goodreads Author)
The story of a man who survived Treblinka, to be haunted by his memories for 50 years - and ultimately, to be killed by them.
More than 800,000 people entered Treblinka and fewer than70 came out. Hershl Sperling was one of them. He escaped. Why then, 50 years later, did he jump to his death from a bridge in Scotland? The answer lies in a long-forgotten, published account of
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
July 9th 2010
by The History Press
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One day I expect to read a book about the Holocaust, put it down afterwards and conclude that I gained almost nothing from it, whether in terms of new information or simply in terms of dealing with it. I am pleased to say that this was not that book.
The first thing to say is that this is not one of those tedious books in which a hack 'historian' merely rehashes a single primary source, padding it out with worthless verbiage, and then effectively claims it as their own. Mark Smith has put far mor...more
The first thing to say is that this is not one of those tedious books in which a hack 'historian' merely rehashes a single primary source, padding it out with worthless verbiage, and then effectively claims it as their own. Mark Smith has put far mor...more
Sep 03, 2011
Mark Smith
rated it
5 of 5 stars
· (Review from the author)
Shelves:
holocaust-literature
TREBLINKA SURVIVOR: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF HERSHL SPERLING
THIS BOOK TELLS HOW ONE MAN SURVIVED SEVEN NAZI CAMPS…ONLY TO JUMP TO HIS DEATH 50 YEARS LATER FROM A BRIDGE THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY IN SCOTLAND.
FOR Hershl Sperling in the far away city of Glasgow, surviving was a daily curse.
Mr Sperling, a Polish Jew who settled in Scotland after the war, survived seven Nazi camps including the notorious extermination centre at Treblinka.
Between 1939 and 1945, he withstood everything the Nazis could throw...more
THIS BOOK TELLS HOW ONE MAN SURVIVED SEVEN NAZI CAMPS…ONLY TO JUMP TO HIS DEATH 50 YEARS LATER FROM A BRIDGE THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY IN SCOTLAND.
FOR Hershl Sperling in the far away city of Glasgow, surviving was a daily curse.
Mr Sperling, a Polish Jew who settled in Scotland after the war, survived seven Nazi camps including the notorious extermination centre at Treblinka.
Between 1939 and 1945, he withstood everything the Nazis could throw...more
3 likes
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"Treblinka Survivor: The Life and Death of Hershl Sperling" by Mark S. Smith is a great book. It gives the personal account of a camp survivor: His life in Poland before the war and almost more importantly, his life since his liberation.
Told both in his own words in an appendix and told by the author as he researches and discovers the life of Hershl Sperling it covers a broad range of issues. Smith travels to Europe several times to get a picture of the past and discovers a present that is far f...more
Told both in his own words in an appendix and told by the author as he researches and discovers the life of Hershl Sperling it covers a broad range of issues. Smith travels to Europe several times to get a picture of the past and discovers a present that is far f...more
1 like
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Treblinka Survivor, by Mark S. Smith, is based on a 22-page document by Hershl Sperling. At the age of 15, Sperling was shoved into a railroad car and sent to the Nazi death camp. His family, along with 800,000 other Jews who stumbled through Treblinka’s gates, were slaughtered. Sperling was one of the lucky few who escaped, to be shuttled from one concentration camp to another. He described them as ‘summer camps’ in comparison with Treblinka.
Sperling’s stark description of unspeakable events is...more
Sperling’s stark description of unspeakable events is...more
More than 800,000 people entered Treblinka and fewer than 70 came out. Hershl Sperling was one of them. He escaped. Why then, 50 years later, did he jump to his death from a bridge in Scotland? The answer lies in a long-forgotten, published account of the Treblinka death camp, written by Hershl Sperling himself in the months after liberation, discovered in his briefcase after his suicide, and reproduced here for the first time. Including previously unpublished photographs, this book traces the l...more
I began the journey through Treblinka Survivor in a most unusual way. The author, Mark S. Smith, is my friend on Goodreads but I acknowledge that it is often God who directs the course of my studies, most recently of WWII and the Holocaust. Therefore it is with divine intervention that this particular book arrived into my hands. The cover is hauntingly beautiful in design. A torn photograph of Hershl Sperling, whose story is to be told, is superimposed upon rusting remnants of an earlier photogr...more
I think it's an oxymoron to say this book is brilliant or amazing when the subject matter is so unbelievably sad and at times grotesque.
Despite all that this book is one of the those magic books where at the end of it, a part of you is changed, quite literally changed. How can I complain about anything after reading this book?
Hershl Sperling lived through seven concentration camps during world war 2. The tasks he had to do in Treblinka are jaw dropping and so so sad. Anyone who comes out of A...more
As with every book you read about the Holocaust, you are left feeling spent. Emotionally exhausted. Written by Mark S. Smith, this book tells the life story of Holocaust survivor Hershl Sperling. Mr. Sperling was one of only 67 people who survived the Treblinka extermination camp in eastern Poland.
The author was a childhood friend of the Sperling family and had a close relationship with his two sons. It is this perspective—that of the family of a survivor—that is unique and interesting. Mr. Spe...more
The author was a childhood friend of the Sperling family and had a close relationship with his two sons. It is this perspective—that of the family of a survivor—that is unique and interesting. Mr. Spe...more
A combination memoir and biography. As a child the author, Mark Smith, was friends with the sons of Hershl Sperling. Hershl, at fifteen, was one of less than 100 or so people to come out alive from the Treblinka Extermination Camp, where almost a million people were killed, including his entire family. After Treblinka he passed through a series of Nazi camps and with ingenuity, courage and a lot of luck, survived them all. He had in my opinion one of the worst Holocaust experiences I have EVER h...more
4 likes
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This book is incredible and although difficult to read, I am glad that I have read it. A full six months after I finished it, I continue to think about this story and look forward to reading more of the author's works.
An excerpt from my review on A Passion to Understand: "Treblinka Survivor: The Life and Death of Hershl Sperling is an extremely well-written book. It is an authentic historical account and not dry as one might imagine, but highly readable. Having said that, there were parts that...more
An excerpt from my review on A Passion to Understand: "Treblinka Survivor: The Life and Death of Hershl Sperling is an extremely well-written book. It is an authentic historical account and not dry as one might imagine, but highly readable. Having said that, there were parts that...more
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Oh my goodness! What Hershl Sperling survived, or did he?
This account is written by a friend of Hershl's son. Mark Smith went back to document and revisit the life of Hershl. Smith comments on his emotions, the emotions of his friends, Hershl's sons, Alan & Sam.
The book is not just about surviving, but the effects of that survival upon the spouse, the children and the individual.
The introduction was written by Sam Sperling and he poignantly states "...it is about all people and their righ...more
This account is written by a friend of Hershl's son. Mark Smith went back to document and revisit the life of Hershl. Smith comments on his emotions, the emotions of his friends, Hershl's sons, Alan & Sam.
The book is not just about surviving, but the effects of that survival upon the spouse, the children and the individual.
The introduction was written by Sam Sperling and he poignantly states "...it is about all people and their righ...more
A powerful and important book - perhaps more so for non-Jews. Apart from documenting insane cruelty and systematic murder on a terrifying scale, Mark Smith's work is a simple plea for decency (which he doesn't really expect to find). Only the stoniest heart will fail to be moved and haunted by this story. Afterward, you will want to find Mark Smith and the sons of the titular survivor (who really wasn't a survivor at all) and hug them close.
This is not a book for the faint hearted. But it is a Holocaust book, so that is to be expected. A reminder that the world went crazy and drove people to madness can never be an easy read.
May 19, 2013
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Mark S Smith is an award-winning, Jewish-American journalist and writer currently living near Loch Lomond, in Scotland. He is the author of Treblinka Survivor: The Life and Death of Hershl Sperling (2010), a personal journey of historical and literary non-fiction, the novel Masel (1993) and literally thousands of newspaper and magazine stories. He was born in Los Angeles in 1960, and has traveled...more
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Thank you Petra !
Apr 17, 2011 09:49am
Apr 17, 2011 09:54am