A Gypsy In Auschwitz: How I Survived the Horrors of the ‘Forgotten Holocaust’

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I’ve read a few Auschwitz books now, this one is more straight to the fact it doesn’t dramatize the life inside of the camp in the way that some of the other books do. What these people went through the emotional and physical hurt and loss is upsetting and you can only be so grateful to identify how far the world has come in such a short space of time. Everyone is forced to live there, in a filthy place, surrounded by a sewage farm, a place none of them would have willingly chosen because it went against their religion. This is a book that will leave its readers gasping as they struggle to understand the brutality that occurred at that time. When I cast my mind back, I can still conjure up the taste, even though I’ve never had such things since.

This was a very good read and I liked how it was told kind of choppy because it shows how the people who had to endure such horrors got a little rattled, as they should. The trauma not ending when he was liberated, but all through his life and this led to his remarkable retelling of events within the camps. I loved his pride throughout all of it, his commitment to help all the others who have gone through the same experience. It’s truly remarkable when I find myself reading true stories and I love the whole back ground building up the further you read.I think what really rattled my cage about Otto's account was recognising the bureaucracy of the German nation, which is still a foundation of their structure today. In total, around five hundred thousand Sinti and Roma fell victim to the Nazis‘ frenzy of racial hatred. However, it is something that should not have its impact lessened to make it more palatable to any reader. If you know how Roma and Sinti are still treated today, these often uncomfortable accounts of how they were turned away from aid will sound depressingly familiar. Later after the concentration camp he was back with his grandmother after living with his dad at the age of five in berlin.

Otto and his grandmother lived, studied and worked in Berlin where "Lots of Sinti people moved around constantly in their caravans, but my grandmother wasn’t keen on that sort of life. All because they were viewed as subhuman by the Aryans, and blamed for most of Germany's problems after losing WWI. He was sentenced to three months and three weeks in youth detention for sabotage - and theft of Wahrmacht property. He works, scrounges food whenever he can, witnesses and suffers horrific violence and is driven close to death by illness more than once. Otto’s journey is truly moving and his survival is both incredible and at times unbelievable in its simplicity.

The German authorities took advantage of the Romani people‘s lack of literacy and actively did whatever they could not to give them the monetary compensation they were entitled. It is a hard-hitting story through the eyes of Otto and one that needs to be learned from if we ever want to live in peace. I felt sick to my stomach the whole way through, the thought of someone going through something so horrific is just heartbreaking and unimaginable. He is just a little boy so when a shiny object catches his eye, he tries to steal it to play with it.

However, when he goes looking for reparations for his time in the concentration camps and the murder of so much of his family, he says "I had to go to the district court, only to be told that I wasn’t a real German and had no ties to Berlin.

It's a coping mechanism, keeping the memories and distress at bay, whilst making sure loved ones and victims are never forgotten.

All around them, Sinti and Roma families are being torn from their homes by Nazis, leaving behind schools, jobs, friends, and businesses to live in forced encampments outside the city. Even his children are living with the horrors seeing their father so upset and riddled with memories taunting him years later.Still able to go out, the boy is asked by a woman at the bakery, "What can I do for you today, my love?