Quiz

Dr. Miklos Nyiszli's memoirs were the first publication on the unknown subject of the 'Sonderkommando' prisoners and shed new light on the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp when it was first published in March 1946. For many years Nyiszli's book was also the only source on the 'Sonderkommandos' and on the 'medical experiments' carried out by the infamous SS-physician Dr. med. et Dr. phil. Josef Mengele. The importance of the book has not diminished despite the presence of some factual mistakes, that were corrected by historians in new, annotated editions. The perspective is unique because of the duality of the author's duties in Auschwitz-Birkenau: Nyiszli simultaneously worked as a pathologist for Mengele and as a physician for the SS staff and the Sonderkommando-prisoners.

Dr. Nyiszli's memoirs were first published as a book in March 1946 under the title "Dr Mengele boncolóorvosa voltam az Auschwitz-i krematóriumban" ("I was Dr Mengele's autopsy doctor at the Auschwitz crematorium") and in a serialised form in the Hungarian newspaper "Világ" ("The World"). Fragments from the 1946 Hungarian edition of the memoirs were first published in Jean-Paul Sartre's monthly review, "Les Temps Modernes", in 1951, which was followed immediately by an English translation in the avant-garde journal "Merlin" under the title "SS Obersturmführer Doktor Mengele." The same translator produced a full English version of the memoirs in 1960 under the title "Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account" [with a preface by psychoanalyst Dr. Bruno Bettelheim which has been included in most reprints]. When re-edited in 1986 the book was published under the title "Auschwitz: An Eyewitness Account of Mengele's Infamous Death Camp". The first French edition, published in 1961, was entitled "Médecin à Auschwitz: Souvenirs d'un médecin déporté". The standard Hungarian edition was published in Bucharest in 1964 under the title "Orvos volt am Auschwitzban" ("I was a Doctor in Auschwitz"). Since then translations appeared in Italian, Romanian, Polish and so on. The first German version was published in 1992 by Karl Dietz Verlag Berlin. An new edition with many scientific remarks and notes, including corrections of mistakes in Nyiszli's text, was prepared by German historian Andreas Kilian and published in 2005. Israeli historian Gideon Greif hailed Kilian's annotated edition as important. The latest English edition, published in 2012 by Penguin, is entitled "Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account" with a new preface by acclaimed British historian Dr. Richard John Evans.

His memoirs "Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account" inspired later (in part) the feature films La zona grigia (2001) and Il figlio di Saul (2015). His character appears in both films.

Dr. Nyiszli was born into a Hungarian-speaking Jewish family living in Transylvania with Austro-Hungarian citizenship. After WWI and the Treaty of Trianon (4 June 1920) Transylvania officially became part of Romania. While he was born in Austria-Hungary, Nyiszli then had Romanian citizenship. On the final page of his dissertation, published in 1930, he writes himself: "I am a Romanian citizen.".