Diary of the Fall by Michel Laub

Diary of the Fall

Michel Laub

Auschwitz claimed victims from the children and grandchildren of the survivors. This book is about the evils of the past reaching into the future, and still ruining lives. A grandson, having learnt that his father has Alzheimer's, is struggling to come to terms with his life. A difficult but beautiful, brave and necessary story.

Extract
8

Is it possible to hate an Auschwitz survivor in the way my father did? Is it permissible to feel such pure hatred, without feeling guilty for placing one's own emotions above something like the memory of Auschwitz?

9

Is it possible that one's hatred of an Auschwitz survivor could indicate a kind of indifference towards Auschwitz, as if hating the survivor, which can sometimes amount to wishing him ill, meant that you were indifferent to and might even endorse any evil done to him, even if that evil was carried out in Auschwitz?
Parallels
  • You Will be Safe Here by Damian Barr
  • The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
  • If This Be a Man by Primo Levi