This was a incredibly interesting book about a small Polish town named Bedzin that was located only 25 miles away from Auschwitz. Now, 25 miles sounds like a far enough distance that the people who lived in there might be able to say that they had no idea what was going on in Auschwitz and that is exactly what they claimed after the war ended.

In particular, the focus of this book is on the Landrat or county administrator Udo Klausa, who claimed he was innocent of any wrongdoing as far as the Holocaust was concerned, but who was only doing his job. Klausa wasn’t a fanatical Nazi, but was loyal to the party, and in doing his job, helped to facilitate the deaths of so many thousands of Jews who passed through Bedzin on their way to Auschwitz.

This is a difficult book to read. It shows how low level officials who claim they were only doing their job, actually were receiving ill-gotten benefits for the work they performed. This is an exceptionally well done book, the while text is accessible to anyone interested in reading about the Holocaust, the research is impeccable and resources reliable.

This book was an EARC received from NetGalley