Cold Crematorium by Jozsef Debreczeni

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

About the Author: J zsef Debreczeni (Author)
J zsef Debreczeni was a Hungarian-language novelist, poet and journalist who spent most of his life in the former Yugoslavia. He was an editor of the Hungarian daily newspaper nnep in Budapest, from which he was dismissed due to anti-Jewish legislation. He was later a contributor to the Hungarian media, including the newspaper Napl , in the Yugoslav region of Vojvodina, as well as leading Belgrade newspapers. He was awarded the Hid Prize, the highest distinction in Hungarian literature in the former Yugoslavia.

Paul Olchvary (Translator)
Paul Olchvary has translated many books for leading publishers, including Gy rgy Dragoman’s The White King, Andras Forgach’s No Live Files Remain, dam Bodor’s The Sinistra Zone, Vilmos Kondor’s Budapest Noir and Karoly Pap’s Azarel. He has received translation awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, PEN America, and Hungary’s Milan F st Foundation. His shorter translations have appeared in the Paris Review, New York Times Magazine, Kenyon Review, Tablet, AGNI and Guernica. He lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

09 Jan 2025
 

Cold Crematorium: Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz by Jozsef Debreczeni ISBN 9781784878887