Once a prisoner in Poland's notorious Jadwiga Concentration Camp, Dr Adam Kelno fled England when, though defeated, a false charge of sadistic medical practice there resulted in extradition charges to his homeland. Takign his wife and children Kelno practiced in a remote colonial outpost in Borneo, bringing a degree of civilisation to a backward and remote tribe. After much pateint work with the tribe he was able to bring about significant changes, changes that resulted in international publication, and he felt it safe to return to England, only to discover that he's been named as a Nazi collaborator, the emsculator (without anesthesia) of some 15,ooo fellow prisoners. Outraged, Kelno sues, and "one of the greatest fictional trials of the century" unfolds - first Kelno's story and then, damningly, his accusers'.
Apparently. Because I really tried but Kelno's personality was so unpleasant, and so persistently anti-Semitic, that I couldn't develop any interest in him at all, and I found the text choppy and similarly unengaging. The testimony is written, at least in the copy I read, in all caps, which I found distracting and unhelpful, as well as difficult to read.
All this is a shame, because I found the underlying premise fascinating, and am interested in many of the aspects of the book - the aftermath of the War on survivors, the the factors that allowed people to cooperate with the camps (on all sides), collaboration, resistance and, particularly, medical professionals subverted to the interests of their captors.
If you're interested in what happened after page 72, check out the Wikipedia entry - that's where I stopped. - Alex
No comments:
Post a Comment