Review: Scheisshaus Luck by Pierre Berg

genre: Holocaust memoir
rating: 4/5

It doesn't matter how many Holocaust memoirs I read, I am always amazed by the fact that the human spirit can withstand so much and still survive. Scheisshaus Luck provides a new perspective - that of Pierre Berg, an 18 year old from France who was involved with the Maquis (the French Resistance) and ended up spending time in Auschwitz.

Pierre glosses over nothing. His experiences give depth to the inhumane treatment of all prisoners in death camps. Part of this story were almost more than I could handle - and like I mentioned, I've read many memoirs. I needed my strong stomach when I read about the treatment and conditions that Pierre had to endure. I think part of what made this book feel darker than others is the fact that, since Pierre was an atheist, he had no faith in God or some higher being to turn to when things were at their worst. To Pierre, it was all luck, so there are few, if any, passages of beauty found in hardship or faith.

In his opinion, bad luck sent him on that first train ride East and that landed him with horrible duties in the camps. And it was only good luck when over and over again random events would transpire to enable him to survive another day. One thing he did recognize was that a friend, even one good friend, was enough to provide the hope and support one needed to get out of bed each day.

This book is not for the faint of heart. There are images in my mind, still, that horrify me. And yet - memoirs like this one serve an important purpose, and as trite as it sounds, it's absolutely true: they convince us that events like the Holocaust must never happen again.