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extremely rare,very good condition
- GenresHolocaust
121 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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101 people want to read
About the author
Ka-tzetnik 135633
13 books47 followersYehiel De-Nur or Dinur (born: Yehiel Feiner; Hebrew: יחיאל דינור), known by his pen name Ka-tzetnik 135633 also Ka-Tsetnik (Hebrew: ק. צטניק) was a Jewish writer and Holocaust survivor best known for his 1955 novel "The House of Dolls", which he claimed was inspired by his time as a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 24, 2016
Attention, shovelers! It is time we exhume this most buried of books. It is almost criminal that a book of such supernatural power has been relegated to the arcane, found only by Vollmanites who pay attention to the Endnotes. Think of a less verbose Schultz, sent to Auschwitz and living to tell the tale. Now multiply that inferior description a thousand-fold.
Author Ka-Tzetnik 135633, the assignation given to Yehiel De-Nur when entombed within that breathing camp of death, absolutely devastates here. His minimalist approach only serves to magnify the atrocity. There is no prolix to hide behind, no hyper-verbosity confusing the most brutal of events. Like Vollmann (who directed me here) at his best, the events unfold from a grotesque camera obscura onto a mausoleum’s darkened wall.
The following passage left me reeling:
“The van is full. The bleatings of the infants hang spitted on the upright rifle-bayonets. The German standing in the van lowers a long sack to the ground. The baby-carriers stuff their burdens into the sack. More. More. Until it’s full. The black boot crushed down into the bulging sack. Again. Again.
One sack tied—tossed into the van. Another sack tied—tossed into the van. Fast. Fast. Sack after sack. Sack after sack.”
When he wants to, Ka-Tzetnik can wax with the best of them. While musing over a body whose head is blocked from view by virtue of his being locked in a caged, he wonders:
“Body! Who are you?
Did you, Body, belong to a man in his spring, a young sun-god aglow in May’s dawn?
Did you belong, Body, to a man in full ripening flush, a frolicsome Apollo, to whom women’s glances lifted like prayers?
Did you, Body, belong to a man seasoned as vintage wine, laden with strength as haystacks full at summer’s end?”
Star Eternal DESERVES better than whatever trends have afforded it its fate as a footnote. The eager WTV-fan will want this immediately, as will anyone interested in the stark poetics of a writer operating at absolutely genius levels. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is one of the most affecting books of the thousands I have read—ever. It is beautiful, it is tragic, it is buried. Let us make amends on that last point, as it is within our power to do so. Let’s exhume and breathe in the bonedust that time has tried to placate with totemic placards. Our small suffering is deserved and absolutely insignificant when compared to the impetus for this book ever needing to exist in the first place.
***Money where my mouth is: if the first three people that buy this book (for a reasonable price!) are not convinced it was worth their money, I will PayPal you your money back and you can keep the book. Just contact me if you plan on doing so, so I can remove this note after 3 respondents. Hand to Grok, I think this book is that important and am that willing to spread the word.
Author Ka-Tzetnik 135633, the assignation given to Yehiel De-Nur when entombed within that breathing camp of death, absolutely devastates here. His minimalist approach only serves to magnify the atrocity. There is no prolix to hide behind, no hyper-verbosity confusing the most brutal of events. Like Vollmann (who directed me here) at his best, the events unfold from a grotesque camera obscura onto a mausoleum’s darkened wall.
The following passage left me reeling:
“The van is full. The bleatings of the infants hang spitted on the upright rifle-bayonets. The German standing in the van lowers a long sack to the ground. The baby-carriers stuff their burdens into the sack. More. More. Until it’s full. The black boot crushed down into the bulging sack. Again. Again.
One sack tied—tossed into the van. Another sack tied—tossed into the van. Fast. Fast. Sack after sack. Sack after sack.”
When he wants to, Ka-Tzetnik can wax with the best of them. While musing over a body whose head is blocked from view by virtue of his being locked in a caged, he wonders:
“Body! Who are you?
Did you, Body, belong to a man in his spring, a young sun-god aglow in May’s dawn?
Did you belong, Body, to a man in full ripening flush, a frolicsome Apollo, to whom women’s glances lifted like prayers?
Did you, Body, belong to a man seasoned as vintage wine, laden with strength as haystacks full at summer’s end?”
Star Eternal DESERVES better than whatever trends have afforded it its fate as a footnote. The eager WTV-fan will want this immediately, as will anyone interested in the stark poetics of a writer operating at absolutely genius levels. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is one of the most affecting books of the thousands I have read—ever. It is beautiful, it is tragic, it is buried. Let us make amends on that last point, as it is within our power to do so. Let’s exhume and breathe in the bonedust that time has tried to placate with totemic placards. Our small suffering is deserved and absolutely insignificant when compared to the impetus for this book ever needing to exist in the first place.
***Money where my mouth is: if the first three people that buy this book (for a reasonable price!) are not convinced it was worth their money, I will PayPal you your money back and you can keep the book. Just contact me if you plan on doing so, so I can remove this note after 3 respondents. Hand to Grok, I think this book is that important and am that willing to spread the word.
September 25, 2024
I have a beautiful version of this (signed by Yehiel DeNur) that is translated into Hebrew, Yiddish and English. The language is haunting and poetic as he describes Sosnowiec before the invasion. He really is brilliant at evoking this sense of dissociation in response to trauma and horror that most of us could not imagine.
March 31, 2009
my favorite book on concentration camps in world war II. the authors way in which he describes every horrific or beautiful scene in such unique vividness is unparalleled to the ability of any other author
July 19, 2022
what do I think? a review would be ridiculous.
May 6, 2019
Wow, what a powerful book. Only a few pages tell such deep, emotional, sad stories of the Holocaust. They each seem to come from the same narrator, yet could be told by different people because, in the end, they all had the same story.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews