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Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award
An extraordinary memoir of a small boy who spent his childhood in the Nazi death camps. Binjamin Wilkomirski was a child when the round-ups of Jews in Latvia began. His father was killed in front of him, he was separated from his family, and, perhaps three or four years old, he found himself in Majdanek death camp, surrounded by strangers. In piercingly simple scenes Wilkomirski gives us the "fragments" of his recollections, so that we too become small again and see this bewildering, horrifying world at child's eye-height. No adult interpretations intervene. From inside the mind of a little boy we too experience love and loss, terror and friendship, and the final arduous return to the "real" world. Beautifully written, with an indelible impact that makes this a book that is not read but experienced, Fragments is "a masterpiece" (Kirkus Reviews). Translated form the German by Carol Brown Janeway.
"This sunning and austerely written work is so profoundly moving, so morally important, and so free from literary artifice of any kind at all that I wonder if I even have the right to try to offer praise."--Jonathan Kozol, The Nation
An extraordinary memoir of a small boy who spent his childhood in the Nazi death camps. Binjamin Wilkomirski was a child when the round-ups of Jews in Latvia began. His father was killed in front of him, he was separated from his family, and, perhaps three or four years old, he found himself in Majdanek death camp, surrounded by strangers. In piercingly simple scenes Wilkomirski gives us the "fragments" of his recollections, so that we too become small again and see this bewildering, horrifying world at child's eye-height. No adult interpretations intervene. From inside the mind of a little boy we too experience love and loss, terror and friendship, and the final arduous return to the "real" world. Beautifully written, with an indelible impact that makes this a book that is not read but experienced, Fragments is "a masterpiece" (Kirkus Reviews). Translated form the German by Carol Brown Janeway.
"This sunning and austerely written work is so profoundly moving, so morally important, and so free from literary artifice of any kind at all that I wonder if I even have the right to try to offer praise."--Jonathan Kozol, The Nation
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
6 people are currently reading
346 people want to read
About the author
Binjamin Wilkomirski
3 books2 followersBinjamin Wilkomirski was a name which Bruno Dössekker (born Bruno Grosjean in 1941) adopted in his constructed identity as a Holocaust survivor and published author. His 1995 fictional memoirs, published in English as Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood, were debunked in the late 1990s by a Swiss journalist.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
December 27, 2013
Ok, I knew already that this book was basically fiction claiming to be fact when I started reading it and I was curious about this book that seemed to have fooled so many for such a long time.
And after reading it I could only say:
How could this have remained undetected for so long?
And that stuck with me even after 4 years. I am not gonna waste the time of anyone reading this because the book is not worth it in my eyes and what is wrong with it can be said pretty quickly. Not only is the style pretty odd (I read the German version), but also some stuff is so outlandish that I would never believe it. I guess this book escaped attention for so long because of the emotional content of the book and the Holocaust topic and because some stuff is not so outlandish. But even then some of the things the protagonist does and are generally claimed about the memory of children is totally idiotic. The book basically claimed that the memory of a child is so good at remembering things. As if, I know reports of preteen Vietnamese refugees and child Vietnamese going to school in the former GDR who quickly started to forget their native tongue simply due to lack of practice. So child memory is far from what the author claimed, actually its usually defined by being able to forget.
So if you want to read it as an interesting psychological case, since the author seemed to have believed that story, I think you will find lots of material, but for everything else, I think you can skip this book.
And stuff like this I think does more harm than good to the legacy of the Holocaust.
And after reading it I could only say:
How could this have remained undetected for so long?
And that stuck with me even after 4 years. I am not gonna waste the time of anyone reading this because the book is not worth it in my eyes and what is wrong with it can be said pretty quickly. Not only is the style pretty odd (I read the German version), but also some stuff is so outlandish that I would never believe it. I guess this book escaped attention for so long because of the emotional content of the book and the Holocaust topic and because some stuff is not so outlandish. But even then some of the things the protagonist does and are generally claimed about the memory of children is totally idiotic. The book basically claimed that the memory of a child is so good at remembering things. As if, I know reports of preteen Vietnamese refugees and child Vietnamese going to school in the former GDR who quickly started to forget their native tongue simply due to lack of practice. So child memory is far from what the author claimed, actually its usually defined by being able to forget.
So if you want to read it as an interesting psychological case, since the author seemed to have believed that story, I think you will find lots of material, but for everything else, I think you can skip this book.
And stuff like this I think does more harm than good to the legacy of the Holocaust.
August 5, 2011
I read this book when it first appeared, and found it harrowing and nightmarish and powerful. I went back to read it a couple of years ago, after finding other books and articles on what came to be known as the Wilkomirski Affair. Simply put...there is no Binjamin Wilkomirski. The author was never a Latvian Jewish child swept up in the Holocaust and whose story is told in shattered bits and pieces. The author is Swiss-born, raised in orphanages in Switzerland, adopted by a well-to-do family, a man who became a craftsman of musical instruments and a sometime concert clarinet player. He was not a Holocaust survivor.
Now... I'm a great fan of literary hoaxes and hoaxers. Edmund Backhouse, Fr. Rolfe, Lincoln Trebitsch, Kurban Said--- I'm amused and delighted by them. But this is...different. This isn't...a hoax. The author (the Swiss Bruno Dosseker, not the Latvian Binjamin Wilkomirski) did not sit down to write a false tale of survival. There's never been any real doubt that he believes this. This is his life, the life he lives inside, the life that consumes him. He believes this, and he lives inside it. That makes him...mad, perhaps, but not a fraud. And that adds a whole tragic cast to "Fragments" and to the Wilkomirski Affair that followed.
Reading it again, reading it knowing that it wasn't "true"...that hasn't changed the experience of the book. It's still harrowing, still terrifying, still able to evoke a child's incomprehension and fear. I can't grasp the writers who, after the book was no longer a "true" memoir, suddenly found the book not worth reading. The writing hadn't changed, the structure hadn't changed--- and the emotional response to the scenes in the book shouldn't change.
Read it as a novel, read it as an example of literary hoaxes, read it as a meta-memoir. Read it even though you've read all the articles and books about "Fragments". Read it and understand that Dosseker/Wilkomirski lives inside this book as his own memories...and try to grasp what a horrifying thing that must be.
Read it, too, and accept the power of the book on its own terms. Whether or not you know it's not "true", it's powerful and well-done.
Now... I'm a great fan of literary hoaxes and hoaxers. Edmund Backhouse, Fr. Rolfe, Lincoln Trebitsch, Kurban Said--- I'm amused and delighted by them. But this is...different. This isn't...a hoax. The author (the Swiss Bruno Dosseker, not the Latvian Binjamin Wilkomirski) did not sit down to write a false tale of survival. There's never been any real doubt that he believes this. This is his life, the life he lives inside, the life that consumes him. He believes this, and he lives inside it. That makes him...mad, perhaps, but not a fraud. And that adds a whole tragic cast to "Fragments" and to the Wilkomirski Affair that followed.
Reading it again, reading it knowing that it wasn't "true"...that hasn't changed the experience of the book. It's still harrowing, still terrifying, still able to evoke a child's incomprehension and fear. I can't grasp the writers who, after the book was no longer a "true" memoir, suddenly found the book not worth reading. The writing hadn't changed, the structure hadn't changed--- and the emotional response to the scenes in the book shouldn't change.
Read it as a novel, read it as an example of literary hoaxes, read it as a meta-memoir. Read it even though you've read all the articles and books about "Fragments". Read it and understand that Dosseker/Wilkomirski lives inside this book as his own memories...and try to grasp what a horrifying thing that must be.
Read it, too, and accept the power of the book on its own terms. Whether or not you know it's not "true", it's powerful and well-done.
July 28, 2011
This book was discovered to be a hoax in 1998, which is why it is no longer in print. The man who wrote it was never in a death camp, nor is he of Jewish ancestry. The book may not be a first-hand account of the holocaust, but it is an example of the effect of holocaust memoirs on the people who read them.
The writer, Binjamin Wilkomirski, or his given name Bruno Doesekker, was supposedly obsessed with the holocaust and read thousands of memoirs and documents. Although it has not been confirmed, he likely wrote the book to express the trauma that he did actually suffer in his childhood, though not related to the holocaust.
This book is full of disturbing images and events. For this reason, it has been called "Holocaust Gothic". If you are looking for a really gross, disturbing book, this one's a good reccomendation, but remember that it is not true.
The writer, Binjamin Wilkomirski, or his given name Bruno Doesekker, was supposedly obsessed with the holocaust and read thousands of memoirs and documents. Although it has not been confirmed, he likely wrote the book to express the trauma that he did actually suffer in his childhood, though not related to the holocaust.
This book is full of disturbing images and events. For this reason, it has been called "Holocaust Gothic". If you are looking for a really gross, disturbing book, this one's a good reccomendation, but remember that it is not true.
February 1, 2014
This book was discovered to be a hoax in 1998, which is why it is no longer in print.
The Author isn't even Jewish.
Knowing that going into the book, I had the same mind frame as when I read "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas", I knew it was a work of fiction but I still cried and hurt to think how people turn against each other and how children oft-times pay the price for adults mistakes, ignorance, stupidity, etc.
I have to admit that when I first found out that this book was a hoax, I was furious.
How dare ANYONE cash in on this topic by making things up and saying they were there when they weren't and dishonor the real, true survivors of The Holocaust just to pad their own pockets.
Disgusting!
The Author could have told the truth, that the book is a work of fiction, and still made plenty of money.
So, why, after this long rant, have I given the book 4 stars ?
Because all of it could have been true, but the voices that could have told this story were silenced. And, if people read this book and think, "Never Again", then the book has served its purpose.
We must never forget so that this will never happen again.
The Author isn't even Jewish.
Knowing that going into the book, I had the same mind frame as when I read "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas", I knew it was a work of fiction but I still cried and hurt to think how people turn against each other and how children oft-times pay the price for adults mistakes, ignorance, stupidity, etc.
I have to admit that when I first found out that this book was a hoax, I was furious.
How dare ANYONE cash in on this topic by making things up and saying they were there when they weren't and dishonor the real, true survivors of The Holocaust just to pad their own pockets.
Disgusting!
The Author could have told the truth, that the book is a work of fiction, and still made plenty of money.
So, why, after this long rant, have I given the book 4 stars ?
Because all of it could have been true, but the voices that could have told this story were silenced. And, if people read this book and think, "Never Again", then the book has served its purpose.
We must never forget so that this will never happen again.
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September 23, 2019Avrei dato 5 stelle a quest’opera,ma dato che l’autore,che in realtà non si chiama Binjamin Wilkomirski,bensì Bruno Dössekker (nato Grosjean),ha inventato tutto di sana pianta,senza aver mai vissuto in prima persona la Shoah,ritengo impossibile dare un giudizio a un falso.
Tuttavia,trovo innovativo il fatto di adottare la prospettiva di un bambino per raccontare l’esperienza della Shoah,usando un linguaggio semplice per narrare episodi di una violenza inaudita. Innovativo,secondo me,è anche la tematizzazione della memoria,data già dal titolo (in italiano reso come “Frantumi”),una memoria frammentata,vaga,incerta,che il narratore definisce Geröllfeld (campo di detriti),i cui episodi sono difficili da collegare seguendo un discorso logico,ma che nonostante tutto bisogna far emergere,poiché,come afferma il narratore nell’ultimo capitolo,bisogna riappropriarsi della propria sicurezza,della propria identità,superando,così,il silenzio voluto da molti nel secondo dopoguerra,i quali definivano l’esperienza dei lager come un sogno da dimenticare,relegando la Shoah a un tabù di cui non bisogna parlare.
Tuttavia,trovo innovativo il fatto di adottare la prospettiva di un bambino per raccontare l’esperienza della Shoah,usando un linguaggio semplice per narrare episodi di una violenza inaudita. Innovativo,secondo me,è anche la tematizzazione della memoria,data già dal titolo (in italiano reso come “Frantumi”),una memoria frammentata,vaga,incerta,che il narratore definisce Geröllfeld (campo di detriti),i cui episodi sono difficili da collegare seguendo un discorso logico,ma che nonostante tutto bisogna far emergere,poiché,come afferma il narratore nell’ultimo capitolo,bisogna riappropriarsi della propria sicurezza,della propria identità,superando,così,il silenzio voluto da molti nel secondo dopoguerra,i quali definivano l’esperienza dei lager come un sogno da dimenticare,relegando la Shoah a un tabù di cui non bisogna parlare.
April 27, 2013
I have no clue. Is it a good book? It is it powerful? It's hard to tell when I know it's fake. I'm more fascinated that someone could make up a story like this.
October 15, 2020
I read this for my English literature course and adored it. I cried so much. And then I found out about the issues behind its publication and the whole thing changed for me.
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February 7, 2025My prof hit me with the bomb that this was a fake account AFTER I finished reading. The shock I felt!
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May 23, 2009This book has been discovered to be a fiction, in spite of that it is an excellent book in that it causes you to think of what it might have been like for a child to experience the holocaust. If one's whole experience of life had been in a camp, considered as something less than human, less than an animal, what might that do to one's perception of himself as a human being or a creature?
I am sorry that the author felt the need to lie, because holocaust deniers will seize on anything to discredit the real survivors, but I still believe this story is incredibly valuable. It speaks for the children who really did not survive, it gives a voice to those who were forever silenced before they even had a chance to live.
I am sorry that the author felt the need to lie, because holocaust deniers will seize on anything to discredit the real survivors, but I still believe this story is incredibly valuable. It speaks for the children who really did not survive, it gives a voice to those who were forever silenced before they even had a chance to live.
January 1, 2018
This was a fascinating book. It's different from other Holocaust nonfiction that I've read in that it's not a chronological story per se, but rather, as the title indicates, fragments of childhood memories. I've read enough about the Holocaust that I was able to piece together some of what might have happened that wasn't included in some of the fragments, but piecing those things together only made the book even more powerful. We're looking back and know what happened back then. How much more terrible must it have been for a child going through this aaloneffThe author was separated from his family at a very young age. He has no definite memories of his parents and only snippets of his older brothers. He's not even completely sure the name which he uses is his real name or the birth date he considers his own is really ttrueddThe book starts with flashbacks between his early life and when he was a bit older and in various children's homes. He doesn't realize, at his young age, that most of his early memories are obviously from when he and his brothers are in hiding, but neither of his parents are there. What he comes to expect and believe is normal life is life in the barracks of various concentration camps. He has some memories of being transported, but of course he doesn't really know where he is. It's the only world he grows up knowing though, so it's utter chaos when he finally leaves the camp for good. He doesn't realize the camps are gone and expects to be returned to the life he's always known. He'd even rather go back to his barracks. This new world is too frightening for him. He doesn't know the new rules. He doesn't know what's normal behavior in the outside world. He'd even been told, by older children in the camps, that the outside world didn't even exist anymore, so he's terrified when he's finally taken out of the camps...to where? There's no other world out there. It doesn't exist anymore.
My heart just broke for the children who went through all of this, and the idea that many children spent so many of their formative years growing up that way. The author writes the book just like his memories. Some memories are more detailed, but many are just pieces. Some don't make sense unless you consider the bigger picture, but he didn't know the bigger picture, so you can feel his confusion and terror during many of the experiences he remembers. Most of the Holocaust books I've read stay with me for a long time after I've read them and this one will be no different.
My heart just broke for the children who went through all of this, and the idea that many children spent so many of their formative years growing up that way. The author writes the book just like his memories. Some memories are more detailed, but many are just pieces. Some don't make sense unless you consider the bigger picture, but he didn't know the bigger picture, so you can feel his confusion and terror during many of the experiences he remembers. Most of the Holocaust books I've read stay with me for a long time after I've read them and this one will be no different.
September 6, 2022
Have you ever been through something so crazy that your life was changed forever? In the book Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood by Binjamin Wilkomirski, I read about a young boy going through life in Nazi death camps during World War II. Although this book was about such a horrific time in his life. It really brought out the loss of childhood throughout these camps.
After spending most of his childhood in these camps, his life was forever changed. Confused, he doesn’t know right from wrong. The author, Binjamin Wilkomirski, did a good job making me feel for this young boy.
An example of these children not knowing right from wrong was all the times they were so used to death. “And every morning the cart comes by, pulled by gray people in rags. They’re grown-ups but they don’t have any definite shape, you can’t tell if they’re men or women. They throw the dead women on the cart and move on again,” Wilkomirski (87). This was unsettling to me and made me feel so uneasy to think they saw this happening daily.
Unfortunately, the author, who was supposed to be a Jewish survivor of these Nazi death camps, lied. The book which was supposed to give a personal insight of surviving these camps turned out to be fake. The book was not a memory, it was a fictional assumption. Although I thought the book did a good job of showing any reader how awful a camp was, I am very disappointed that it was not a true event. Before I read this book I didn’t know this information, which, in a way, I'm glad so I could really get more feelings for the young boy. Yet after looking into a few different reviews on the book, I was shocked and disappointed that someone could lie about an experience like that.
Quotes from the book like these, “They were speaking in a mixture of Yiddish and Polish. I was so frightened that I got goose pimples and began to sweat. My stomach clenched with fear. I stared at them,” Wilkomirski (57). Made me feel like the author knew exactly what he was talking about. Still so disappointing how fake it all was.
Overall, the story is good but I wouldn’t recommend it. As good as the author did covering up his fake life, it’s unfair for readers to read untruthful events while being told something different by the author. I’m also happy about reading how the book is not being printed anymore because of the fraud within.
After spending most of his childhood in these camps, his life was forever changed. Confused, he doesn’t know right from wrong. The author, Binjamin Wilkomirski, did a good job making me feel for this young boy.
An example of these children not knowing right from wrong was all the times they were so used to death. “And every morning the cart comes by, pulled by gray people in rags. They’re grown-ups but they don’t have any definite shape, you can’t tell if they’re men or women. They throw the dead women on the cart and move on again,” Wilkomirski (87). This was unsettling to me and made me feel so uneasy to think they saw this happening daily.
Unfortunately, the author, who was supposed to be a Jewish survivor of these Nazi death camps, lied. The book which was supposed to give a personal insight of surviving these camps turned out to be fake. The book was not a memory, it was a fictional assumption. Although I thought the book did a good job of showing any reader how awful a camp was, I am very disappointed that it was not a true event. Before I read this book I didn’t know this information, which, in a way, I'm glad so I could really get more feelings for the young boy. Yet after looking into a few different reviews on the book, I was shocked and disappointed that someone could lie about an experience like that.
Quotes from the book like these, “They were speaking in a mixture of Yiddish and Polish. I was so frightened that I got goose pimples and began to sweat. My stomach clenched with fear. I stared at them,” Wilkomirski (57). Made me feel like the author knew exactly what he was talking about. Still so disappointing how fake it all was.
Overall, the story is good but I wouldn’t recommend it. As good as the author did covering up his fake life, it’s unfair for readers to read untruthful events while being told something different by the author. I’m also happy about reading how the book is not being printed anymore because of the fraud within.
March 30, 2019
I read this without knowing the history. It is a hoax and a very, very good one. I was taken in by this story. There are very harrowing, emotional scenes and the choppy writing style makes it feel realistic. But it is not a memoir. The author was never in Latvia nor is he Jewish. The hoax was exposed in 1998, so this is not "news." But I did not know it when I started to read.
From further reading about the subject I believe the author may be mentally ill. From what I can gather, it seems he believes these are his memories, even though the evidence against it (which is considerable) denies it. Having learned all this after being emotionally invested in his story, I'm most angered by the publishers and editors who let it be published as a memoir, rather than a work of fiction. Prior to being outed, the book won awards and rave reviews, without anyone investigating the veracity of the story.
I also think Goodreads should change the blurb about this book. Even the publisher has pulled it from publication over 20 years ago due to the fact that it is a fraud.
From further reading about the subject I believe the author may be mentally ill. From what I can gather, it seems he believes these are his memories, even though the evidence against it (which is considerable) denies it. Having learned all this after being emotionally invested in his story, I'm most angered by the publishers and editors who let it be published as a memoir, rather than a work of fiction. Prior to being outed, the book won awards and rave reviews, without anyone investigating the veracity of the story.
I also think Goodreads should change the blurb about this book. Even the publisher has pulled it from publication over 20 years ago due to the fact that it is a fraud.
April 28, 2021
Difficult to say that I really liked this book, although it was very well written. Translated from the German, it still manages to be truly shocking the way that this little boy is treated by the Nazis in one of the German concentration camps. Written in a fragmentary memoir style, like the broken up thought of a child, it is very moving and poignant. I think it is worse in many ways than similar books written by adults because it is written by a very young child who doesn't realise where he is, thinking it is a very bad orphanage where terrible things happen to the children. He sees things that no child should ever have to see. However, what is almost more shocking than the terrible images is when he is liberated and arrives in Switzerland. No one tells him the war is over and even worse, he is told never to talk about his experiences but to forget them all as just a bad dream! This would never be allowed to happen nowadays. Sadly, it takes the author years to come to terms with what happened to him, so that even in the mid-1990's he is still coming to terms with these events.
February 18, 2019
I approached this knowing full well it was a fake memoir and read it more as a curtain-raiser to Blake Eskin’s ‘A Life in Pieces’. I expected to read it through gritted teeth and give it no rating. I emerged from it conflicted. I wish Wilkomirski had published it as a novel so I could rave about his imaginative sympathy, the brilliant realisation of a child’s perceptions, and his handling of incredibly dark set pieces. As it is, the dude tried to pass it off as autobiography and that’s where things get extremely problematic, not least because the debunking of a memoir supposedly by a concentration camp survivor gives ammunition to Holocaust deniers. But it’s still a damn powerful piece of writing. I should give it no stars from a moral/ideological standpoint, but I want to give it four stars for the writing. Split the difference and call it two.
March 31, 2020
I really really like this book. It has strong "Night" vibes stylistically, and I appreciated the narrative of Binjamin as he moved through the world as a child growing up in one of the most tragic events of the world. It's interesting to see into his experiences and his trauma responses even past the genocide.
Update: I have learned this book is false and frankly, I'm not pleased that someone would pretend to be a Jewish Holocaust survivor. That distinctly changes how I feel about this book. I do indeed like the writing but I'm horrified at the fact it was peddled as a memoir when it is a work of fiction.
Update: I have learned this book is false and frankly, I'm not pleased that someone would pretend to be a Jewish Holocaust survivor. That distinctly changes how I feel about this book. I do indeed like the writing but I'm horrified at the fact it was peddled as a memoir when it is a work of fiction.
April 3, 2018
This book left a strong impression on me, despite the controversy over whether it was a memoir or a novel. The mere concept of spending one's formative years in such a horrible place, having one's perceptions of reality shaped by such an environment, was fascinating to me. I found myself repeatedly trying to imagine how strange a "normal" life would seem to one so tortured at such a young age. The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars was because it was originally promoted as a memoir, only later revealed to be a fictionalized version of the truth.
June 5, 2018
I cannot being to imagine the horrors this little boy lived through. I felt so bad when people in his adopted country denied what he went through. How he survived is a miracle of God.
Addendum: I just found out this book was not true. This from wiki "His fictional 1995 memoir, published in English as Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood, was debunked by Swiss journalist and writer Daniel Ganzfried in August 1998."
This is a shame....the book should have been labeled as fiction. I am revising my rating to reflect the duplicity.
Addendum: I just found out this book was not true. This from wiki "His fictional 1995 memoir, published in English as Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood, was debunked by Swiss journalist and writer Daniel Ganzfried in August 1998."
This is a shame....the book should have been labeled as fiction. I am revising my rating to reflect the duplicity.
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December 16, 2020I hate how this site automatically assumes that we read a book when we just add it to our shelves.
So, yeah... this book.
Literary fraud. Fake. And I am happy that it is no longer in print. I am adding this book to my shelves because on the off-chance I come across this book in a secondhand bookshop, I will know NOT TO BUY IT. Who lies and says that they are a victim of the Holocaust?
Wait, do not answer that. There's at least several authors that are going to be joining scummy old Binjamin, here... or should I say Bruno Dössekker instead?
So, yeah... this book.
Literary fraud. Fake. And I am happy that it is no longer in print. I am adding this book to my shelves because on the off-chance I come across this book in a secondhand bookshop, I will know NOT TO BUY IT. Who lies and says that they are a victim of the Holocaust?
Wait, do not answer that. There's at least several authors that are going to be joining scummy old Binjamin, here... or should I say Bruno Dössekker instead?
November 3, 2017
As I started reading this, I felt that this book couldn’t be true. It didn’t sound right, so I did some research and discovered that the author of this book created this story, but he was never in a concentration camp. He made up the whole story. I’m okay with reading WWII fiction but not when it is presented as fact. This bothers me a lot. The author isn’t even Jewish or Polish. He lived in Switzerland during the war. I didn’t finish this book.
March 15, 2021
This is the infamous "memoir" that drew praise from Maurice Sendak, Bill Moyers, and Mary Karr; won numerous awards; was translated into a dozen languages. Several years later a journalist came forward and exposed it as a hoax. "Wilkomerski" did not survive the Shoah. He wasn't even German or Polish. What a shame. If only he had published it as a novel, it would be recognized as the powerful, deeply felt work it is.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2018
Low rating because of the fact it was supposed to be a real story but was proven to be fake. It ruins the story itself and I just couldn't enjoy it knowing that. Only read for my class on the Holocaust.
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January 30, 2020'Once the professed interrelationship between the first-person narrator, the death-camp story he narrates, and historical reality are proved palpably false, what was a masterpiece becomes kitsch'
imagina ser así de vil................
imagina ser así de vil................
October 21, 2022
I was completely taken in when I read this when it came out in 1997, and I thought it was a masterpiece. Does a book count as a fraud or hoax if the author seems to really believe it is true? This would have been great as a novel.
April 16, 2025
The underlying conversation of fragmented memories is a good conversation that could be had. However, the morality of reading from someone who has not experienced it is a little unsettling. I mean if it's fiction, call it what is it... fiction. not your memoir.
May 16, 2017
Such a sad experience n memories for a child..even though it was just fragments..
August 30, 2019
The voice of the voiceless - how everything is a stage set hiding darkness -
June 29, 2020
Difficile de croire à tant de cruauté de la part de l'Homme même qd l'HISTOIRE ns l'a appris
August 7, 2020
I found out halfway through reading this that it was entirely fabricated by the author’s delusions and I have no idea how to feel. Messed up.
August 19, 2020
Heartbreaking
April 5, 2021
I read this, not knowing about it's later debunking as a hoax. The story itself was harrowing but now I have read the details of the hoax it leaves me unsettled in some respects.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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