Audiobook6 hours
The Pharmacist of Auschwitz: The Untold Story
Written by Patricia Posner
Narrated by Julian Elfer
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
The Pharmacist of Auschwitz is the little-known story of Victor Capesius, a Bayer pharmaceutical salesman from Romania who, at the age of thirty-five, joined the Nazi SS in 1943 and quickly became the chief pharmacist at the largest death camp, Auschwitz. Based in part on previously classified documents, Patricia Posner exposes Capesius's reign of terror at the camp, his escape from justice, and how a handful of courageous survivors and a single brave prosecutor finally brought him to trial for murder twenty years after the end of the war.
The Pharmacist of Auschwitz is much more, though, than a personal account of Capesius. It provides a spellbinding glimpse inside the devil's pact made between the Nazis and Germany's largest conglomerate, IG Farben, and its Bayer pharmaceutical subsidiary. The story is one of murder and greed, with its roots in the dark heart of the Holocaust.
Set against a backdrop ranging from Hitler's war to conquer Europe to the Final Solution to postwar Germany's tormented efforts to confront its dark past, Posner shows the appalling depths to which ordinary men descend when they are unrestrained by conscience or any sense of morality.
Contains mature themes.
The Pharmacist of Auschwitz is much more, though, than a personal account of Capesius. It provides a spellbinding glimpse inside the devil's pact made between the Nazis and Germany's largest conglomerate, IG Farben, and its Bayer pharmaceutical subsidiary. The story is one of murder and greed, with its roots in the dark heart of the Holocaust.
Set against a backdrop ranging from Hitler's war to conquer Europe to the Final Solution to postwar Germany's tormented efforts to confront its dark past, Posner shows the appalling depths to which ordinary men descend when they are unrestrained by conscience or any sense of morality.
Contains mature themes.
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Reviews for The Pharmacist of Auschwitz
Rating: 4.346774193548387 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
186 ratings10 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5...and I hated it because of the truths it revealed again. Heartbreakingly sad...heartbreakingly another testament of man’s inhumanity to man.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I feel Holocaust stories are some of the most important records of our history. It is important to remember our past so that we can have a better future. Stories like this remind us how horrible people can be.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It was a good book to listen to but it broke up through the whole story there was times when it was still playing but there was no audio so you missed out on some real pivotal moments and you cannot rewind it and play it back because it would just go blank again so that was frustrating
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The narrator was great . Very classic voice . Would listen to every book by him . The book is distressing but factual and very interesting perspective on the Nazis at Auschwitz.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Emotionell and breathtaking, made me feel like i was there!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Well written, horrifying, sobering truth, I pray we never forget!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Disturbing how greediness mixed with fear and power over the weak can do.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Not historically accurate, art of fiction written for profit. If you looking for historical facts about Auschwitz look somewhere else there are better books on this topic
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Never heard of this story. Very interesting and what an ego he had.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is an incredibly well-researched history of an odious, morally handicapped man, who never felt one bit of remorse for helping the Nazis towards their goal of exterminating Europe’s Jews. He lied about his thievery and cruelty and assistance in murder. I won’t state the loser’s name. Highly recommended. The bibliography is helpful for further study.