Cold Crematorium

A lost classic of Holocaust literature translated for the first time - from journalist, poet and survivor J zsef Debreczeni

This lost classic, a crystal clear eyewitness account of the Holocaust, has been translated into English for the first time, 70 years after it was first published.

'A literary diamond... A holocaust memoir worthy of Primo Levi' The Times

'A masterpiece' New Statesman

SELECTED AS ONE OF THE 10 BEST BOOKS OF 2024 BY THE NEW YORK TIMES

For many years this powerful classic of Holocaust literature was forgotten. J zsef Debreczeni was a journalist and poet who arrived in Auschwitz in 1944. He survived the initial selection and endured twelve months of incarceration and slave labour in a series of camps. He ended up in the 'Cold Crematorium', the so-called hospital of the forced labour camp D rnhau, where prisoners too weak to work were left to die. Debreczeni beat the odds and survived. This is his story, written in haunting, lyrical prose, compelling us to imagine the unimaginable.

Although published in Hungarian in 1950, the book was then lost for the next seventy years. Now, finally, this important eyewitness account takes its place among the great works of Holocaust literature.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JONATHAN FREEDLAND