This book started out with great intrigue and actions to understand what happened to a love-one during the holocaust and the concentration camps. While the premise is good, the story is hard to follow and difficult to read at times. The ending gets a bit confusing as well. The story deals with hardships and unthinkable crimes perpetrated against people and the betrayal of what they went through by others. Overall, an interesting read,

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany carried out a campaign to "cleanse" German society of individuals viewed as biological threats to the nation's "health." The Nazis enlisted the help of physicians and medically trained geneticists, psychiatrists, and anthropologists to develop racial health policies. Unethical medical experimentation (without patient consent or any safeguards) was carried out during the Third Reich.On December 9, 1946, an American military tribunal opened criminal proceedings against 23 leading German physicians and administrators for their willing participation in war crimes and crimes against humanity. In Nazi Germany, German physicians planned and enacted the Euthanasia Program, the systematic killing of those they deemed "unworthy of life." The victims included the institutionalised mentally ill and physically impaired. Further, during WWII, German physicians conducted pseudoscientific medical experiments utilising thousands of concentration camp prisoners without their consent. Most died or were permanently impaired as a result. The American judges pronounced their verdict on August 20, 1947. Sixteen of the doctors were found guilty. Seven were sentenced to death.Unfortunately, notorious prison doctors such as Josef Mengele managed to escape punishment by changing their identity and relocating elsewhere and lived a normal life. The Nuremberg Military Tribunal's decision in the case of the United States v Karl Brandt et al. includes what is now called the Nuremberg Code, a ten point statement delimiting permissible medical experimentation on human subjects.Other doctor perpetrators were Friedrich Entress, Helmuth Vetter, Eduard Wirths, Fritz Klein, Werner Rhode, Hans Wilhelm Koenig,Victor Capesius, Bruno Weber,Horst Fischer, Heinz Thilo, Carl Clauberg,Horst Schumann,Johann Paul Kremer,August Hirt and Emil Kaschub.
To add insult to injury, there are people who have a parasitic need for money and attention, so they pretend to be Holocaust survivors or claim to know someone who is. They fabricate the truth through writing fake memoirs or making statements that don't add up when under scrutiny.

The Fake Prison Doctor of Auschwitz is a true crime monograph about released notes stored in Switzerland and recovered much later, written and interpreted by Bogdan Musial. Originally published in German in 2019, this English language translation is due out 30th Sept 2024 from Pen & Sword on their History imprint. It's a compact 224 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

There was so much misery, horror, and trauma on such an immense scale from the concentration camps during WW2 that the entire scope and damage to humanity may never be known. Many of the most complex and most compelling philosophies of modern medical ethics (informed consent, beneficence, non-maleficence (avoiding harm) autonomy (giving the patient the freedom to choose freely, where they are able) and justice (ensuring fairness), to name a few) arose -directly- from the aftermath of the horrific abuses which happened in these camps.

This book is written from the author's personal experiences, coming into contact with historical records locked in a bank vault. Musial's expertise was sought in establishing the authenticity of the journals and records as a historian and expert of the subject. The process eventually uncovered discrepancies and this monograph covers the fraud, the investigative work done, and the fallout. Possibly the book's biggest takeaway is cautionary; academics are also vulnerable to being swept up in the excitement of discovery. Dr. Richard Feynman's famous quote comes to mind: “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.”

Much of the book is related by the author as recollection and as such, it's quite scattered and definitely not a linear (or easy) read. Additionally, the translation work (uncredited, possibly done by the author himself?) is not seamless and the prose is choppy and disconnected in places.

It's well annotated throughout, but readers who aren't fluent in Hungarian and/or German will struggle. Some of the references are possibly also available in translation, it wasn't clear from the links.

The book contains a number of facsimile pages from the journal and other sources, historical photos, and archival materials which are likely worth the price of the book.

Three and a half stars (mostly for the disjointed narrative which is difficult to follow). It's an interesting case, but could have been elucidated much more clearly. It would potentially be a good choice for public or post-secondary school library acquisition, or for readers of history.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. These opinion are completely my own.

DNF not the author's fault the book was too detailed and could not hold my attention. The subject matter is really fascinating though.

This book was completely intriguing and I was drawn in from the start. Like a lot of people, I couldn't believe the atrocities that took place in Auschwitz, and particularly at the hands of Dr Mengele. To read about memoirs from his assistant was very interesting and shocking. Then came the twist. Not to give away any spoilers, but what came next was shocking. How anyone could do that, and create such an elaborate plan and deceive so many people, just doesn't make sense to me. There are truly heartless people in this world, but I like to think there are more good people than bad.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I requested this as I found the write up intriguing

I absolutely loved this
I was gripped throughout

Written in a lovely way, it was a real page turner

I definitely would recommend this

Was hard to read! To many twists and turns. I had just finished “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” and “Night” thinking that this book would give me more insight into the insanity of the drs and Nazi’s during this horrible time in history. It was difficult to finish.

The Fake Prison Doctor of Auschwitz by Bogdan Musial is a meticulously-researched book about Josef Mengele's records and his barbaric experiments on innocent Auschwitz victims, including sterilization. But it's also about investigations into fraud and hoaxes of other doctors at the killing camp who literally got away with murder. After World War II, doctors changed their names and disappeared. One in particular is discussed here.

Though the topic is fascinating, after reading the book I felt a bit more perplexed than when I started. I need to do more research to gain a better understanding of the investigations and charges. At times details and their origins were unclear to me.

My sincere thank you to Pen & Sword and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book.

As someone who studied the Holocaust as my thesis in college I was really interested in this book. I enjoyed reading this book and found the premise interesting. However, I was hoping for a little more clarity. I found it to be a little hard to understand what the author was trying to say in the way that it was worded. I do think that it was a good read and anyone interested in the Holocaust or Dr. Death would do well to read this book.

You would like to think that no one would want to make up a hoax about something involving the holocaust but as we all know, some people have no shame. This book had an interesting premise and some of the information shared was wow-worthy. I think I would have liked more information about the fraudster and her reaction to getting caught, along with more details on after she was caught.
Thank you to the author and publisher for this advanced reader copy, 3 stars.

Having taught the Holocaust for over a decade and done as much reading as I could on Dr. Josef Mengele, I was excited to dive into this book and learn a bit more about him and those around him.

I, instead, struggled to keep pace and interest here. The story weaves through some convoluted organization that had me criss-crossing experiences, people, and time periods. While there were moments of enlightenment and edification there, I was wholly underwhelmed by the overall point of the story--an elaborate hoax. Without feeling a connection to the people involved, I felt removed from much of the injustice and the unraveling of decades of events.

Overall: 2 stars (It was fine)

**Thank you to NetGalley & Pen & Sword | Pen & Sword Military for the free ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

Took a lot of concentration and remembering of what was going on . Dates, names and time periods were a lot.

This was a hard book to review. It is a very tough subject to read about I am afraid to say I didn't really enjoy this

Thank you for the opportunity to review

Absolutely fascinating. I particularly enjoyed learning about the logistics of gaining access to the historic materials and even more intriguing was the role of the Vatican. As with all Holocaust memoirs, it is so important that we keep these accounts at front of mind in every generation so we never forget what happened. The twist in this tale does not detract from this fundamental message.

The Fake Prison Doctor of Auschwitz - Uncovering the Truth Behind Holocaust Fraudsters by Bogdan Musial took me by surprise and shocked me to my core. For a person to create fraudulent records based on true facts in order to profiteer from one of the greatest atrocities of all time is absolutely mind-shattering. How can anywone do this? Why? That is exactly what this book does, it tells the story, step by step of how Professor Salamon Ferencz Fulop Grosz Chorin (who changed his name to Ferencz Kiss during rising anti-semitism in 1931) was betrayed while on a visit to Budapest and as such, claimed he became the assistant to the Angel of Death - Dr Josef Mengele whose inhumane and unethical experiments shook the world to its core

However, despite initial intrigue and excitement, the author tells of how cracks began to show in the narrative, which ultimately ended in Professor Kiss being charged with 22 counts of fraud

I was left utterly bewildered by this book. Highly detailed, it describes many of the sickening practices undertaken in Auschwitz and the international condemnation of the fraud. A fascinating account of one of the darkest times in global history and those who would seek to take advantage of it

Thank you to Netgalley, Pen & Sword | Pen & Sword Military and the author Bogdan Musial for this ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own)