The Emperor of Lies (Steve Sem-Sandberg, 2011)

This book is very unusual, and (I think) very valuable.  Over the course of 600+ pages, it made me really uncomfortable quite regularly.  Presumably that was one of the author's goals.

As to Holocaust literature - I'm slowly getting a little more perspective on this.  Reading this book helped me understand that for many years following WWII, the focus was kept only on the nations (as a whole) that were victimized by the Nazis - very little attention was allowed to the idea that the Jews were a special target - instead, they were lumped in with the rest of the population.  This changed in the 1960s - one catalyst was the 1962 Eichmann trial - one of the first times the special (mis)treatment of Jews was highlighted.  Over time following this, things changed.  The camps became memorials, the politicians starting apologizing, movies were made, books were written, museums pop up all over the world.  One profane comic in 2012 is saying, among other things, that "the Holocaust of course must not be forgotten, but that doesn't mean we are required to talk about it 24/7."

So is there too much attention, and am I personally reading too much about this?  Who knows - the circumstances are way beyond compelling.  That makes for great story lines, but also makes them perhaps less applicable to the more normal circumstances we customarily face.

This book is a novel, but based on an unusual place - the Polish city of Lodz (just a bit southwest of Warsaw) - with what became the second-largest ghetto.  Something unusual is that the Jewish administration maintained The Ghetto Chronicle - and may other written records survived.  So the novelist can piece together a story of life in Lodz during the many years (February 1940 through the end of 1944) under Nazi domination.  And include characters as to whom there was a wealth of information.

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And it's thoroughly, thoroughly depressing.  The "Emperor" is a Jewish businessman who became an authoritarian figure over the ghetto (though always under the thumb of the local Nazi administration).  The "Emperor" believed that cooperating with the Nazis was the key to survival - primarily through everyone working hard at factories.  He talked like a politician.   Collaboration.  Jewish-operated factories making parts for the Luftwaffe, uniforms for the Wehrmacht.  How strange it must have been!  But survival comes first.

Power corrupted even in this odd little world - the Emperor could indulge his unsavory habits and patronize his family, friends and favorites; payola and bribes for many in power while incredible tales of heroism by others.  The litany of awful decisions in ghetto circumstances - how much food, who gets deported, what to do with those that can't work.  Struggling to keep jobs and avoid getting transported, while always cold and hungry.  Clandestine radios.  Terrible scenes where families are split up.  Awful results for those transported out of the ghetto (which even the ghetto dwellers couldn't deny after awhile.)

The cover photo is great - the Nazis commissioned some photographer to take photos in the Lodz ghetto, equipped him with color film.  I need to track down more of the photos, I'm hoping they're sitting online somewhere.

Not an easy read.  Just amazing.