Well, this is a new one. I've never read a Holocaust memoir like this and I hope I never read the likes of it again. It's the first time I've read a Holocaust memoir and deeply loathed the author.

Harfenes was an extremist Jew, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi descended from a long line of the same. He strictly adhered to the Jewish laws, even in the camps, even at great risk of his life. He was always referring to Jewish stuff I had to look up. For instance, whenever he spoke of dates he always used the Hebrew calendar, and he never bothered to define the religious objects and rituals he practiced. Clearly the book was written for people who think like him and have lived his kind of life, not for atheists from Ohio like me.

He came from an extremely large family, 141 of whom passed through Auschwitz, 13 of whom survived. He lost his wife, two sons and one daughter. One son and one daughter survived. He was at the Auschwitz, Mauthausen and Gusen camps, the last of which I'd never heard of and which he says was the worst of all. Clearly, he suffered much. But I was still really repulsed by him.

Around page 100, Harfenes encountered a Catholic priest who'd been born a Christian but was sent to the camps because of his Jewish ancestry. The priest remained strong in his Christian faith and Harfenes launched on a three-page diatribe against "Christianity, which is no more than an extension of Satan's arm to poison hearts with a vile hatred." Later in the book, Harfenes met a friend of his, a fellow rabbi who was also a very conservative Jew. This friend had a friend who was a Reform rabbi. Harfenes refered to him as a "rabbi" in quotes. The Reform rabbi subsequently committed suicide by running against the electric fence and Harfenes said he was a "weak character," a fact made obvious by his Reform beliefs. A few days later, Harfenes's Orthodox rabbi friend also ran into the fence. Harfenes was like, "I never thought a man of God, a man of such pure faith, would have done such a thing. Obviously it was the Reform rabbi's bad influence that caused him to do it."

Towards liberation, Harfenes described in cold, clinical detail how he and some other camp inmates surrounded one of their own, who had been an informer, and beat him to death. I can understand why otherwise decent people would do such a thing, under the circumstances, but I wish he had at least acknowledged that it was a terrible/brutal/animalistic thing to do. He didn't. He didn't seem at all regretful, even forty years later, simply finishing the chapter by saying, "It did not take long for us to complete the job begun outside."

Maybe I shouldn't be so shocked. It's just that I've never read the likes of this before. It seems the Holocaust really didn't teach this guy anything. He comes off as, at minimum, a sanctimonious prick, and actually kind of scary. ( )