80629: A Mengele Experiment

Jack or as I called him, Mr. Oran was a big influence when I was young. I worked for him and for a time, dated one of his daughters. I saw this number (80629) on his arm every day when I worked for him. He told me that he had survived the war, in a concentration camp, when I asked one day many years ago. Last week, I was buying a car at a friend's dealership in Dallas and ran into someone that had worked with Mr. Oran at his business. As we reminisced, he mentioned that this book had been written about Mr. Oran's experiences during that time. Details that he shared with me stopped me cold. While I had a sliver of knowledge about what had happened, I had no idea the extent of suffering that Yakov (Jack) and the rest of the prisoners had endured!

I do not have possesion of this book at the moment, but am purchasing it tonight. And, I'll know, as Paul Harvey is want to say, the rest of the story. Pray that these attrocities are never visited on the human race again. And just so the reader knows, I am a Gentile.

It literally took me several months to get through this book. I study the holocuast from every aspect. Have been to the Museum in D.C. and still can't fix my mind or heart on what these people have endured. This is a heart experience. I was at the signing of this man's book and was confounded to realize after I had read it that in his eyes he looked evil in the face. I will never know how they endure these horrors of man hating man and nations hating nations. I truly believe if I could phathom this I would understand evil to this degree and God knows I don't want to understand this kind of hate. Read the book and study! I pray history never repeats itself but it does. When I looked into this man's face and then read the book my heart broke. I keep it out in the open for those around to see and hopefully they will ask. I will tell them to read it and pray. As the saying goes...For evil to succeed it takes good men to do nothing!

The true story of Holocaust survivor Jack Oran, aka Yakoff Skurnik in the days that he passed through the web of concentration camps that marked the baseline of WWII in Nazi Germany. Yakoff's ability to make the best of a bad situation is remarkable in itself as each moral and ethical dilemma raises its head. What allows the human being to survive man's inhumanity to man is a crucial awareness, now more than ever. When concentration camp prisoners were being fed/starved on a scientifically devised diet that actually calculated how long it would take them to starve, the ability to forage for food allowed Yakoff to stand out as a man among men. When he was able to provide warm clothing in trade for other items camp members were in need of, his importance in camp society increased. When the number tatooed on his arm spoke of his ability to outlive many, many others, he even earned the wry respect of the camp guards.

Beyond these factors, written clearly as a labor of love, is the tale of the experiment itself -- whose purpose is never explained, as it is never clearly understood. Yakoff and several others were physically and medically castrated by camp doctors, without effective anesthesia. This is really not the story of the experiment, but one man's story of how he experienced it, lived with it, and overcame it in a world where manhood is defined by what your genitals are capable of. For Yakoff, it is a loss beyond comprehension, as even his own father, beyond compassion, is humiliated in his own ego when he hears of it -- his son is no longer his son. Yakoff's father, himself facing remarkable odds and having to perform incredibly horrendous "chores" as a Kapo preparing fellow Jews for the gas chamber by reassuring them they are "only showers" so there will be no panic, cannot face his son when next their paths cross because of the shame of the castration, a shame that surpasses his own.

What makes the Nazis stand out is far beyond their physical brutality. What makes the Nazis, and others like them, stand out is their morbid focus on playing with peoples minds, hearts and souls and breaking their spirit. In many cases and in many ways they were successful, as in the case of the "musselmen" who simply caved in to death and refused to eat and waited for the inevitable. Those who made difficult choices in the name of survival do not consider themselves to be heroes. Still, they do point to the ability of the human spirit to survive in the face of adversity. Not all of us do -- but many of us can. It is all in the choices we make.

In the last few years I have read many books relating to the Holocaust, but none as detailed and well-written as this one. The book was one of the best I've read in a while, and nicely illustrates most of the aspects of the Holocaust. I would recommend this book for anyone who already knows a lot about the subject, or anyone who knows nothing. 80629: A Mengele Experiment, has made me want to read more books on the subject. This is an excellent book that I encourage you all to read.

`80629' A Mengele Experiment by Gene Church is the story of Yakoff Skurnik's journey through the hell that was known as Auschwitz. The horrors that are described in this book are almost beyond belief, beyond comprehension, beyond the brain's ability to register them, yet they were common place in Skurnik's world. The fact that he was able to survive any portion of this monstrous existence is a testament to his inner strength and to a great deal of luck. The book is extremely well written and the reader will find himself going through life, if one can call it that, with Skurnik as if he or she were there with him. Mr. Church should be commended for telling the story of this remarkable man and `80629' should be mandatory reading for all.