A very interesting take on experiences in Auschwitz and Dora by a non-Jew, something of a rarity in current literature. Highly recommended, but not for the weak stomach. ( )

Pierre Berg should have not gone to Auschwitz. He was not Jewish by birth or belief; in fact he was an atheist. But he was visiting a friend when the Gestapo came to that house in Nice, France. He had a fake I.D. because he was a messenger for the French underground. If the Gestapo knew that, he would have been executed right away. Instead he was taken to do cleaning in a quarantined ward. This is where he fell in love with Stella, another prisoner. He always smelled back from cleaning the outhouses and was named the Dandy of the Shithouse. They had a store room of clothes there, they had plenty to eat. Then everyone was taken away to Germany. The previous prisoner experiences were like a wonderful dream world to him.

The experiences that he had were not those of the Jewish people, wearing the yellow triangles but of a political prisoner. He was not taken to be gassed or burnt. He still could have been `selected" for death. This book is filled with details because he wrote everything down after two years of being released. He still has a serial number; every day ate a strange thin brown soup that may have been made from beets, a small portion of bread and a token piece of butter. Sometimes there was no food or water. He still wore gray and blue pajamas like clothes that were never washed all the time. He still saw many atrocities committed by the Nazis.

One scene in this book literally made me sick so this book needs to be approached with a strong stomach. There is another scene that I will never forget. The the darkness when their train arrived at Auschwitz and when families were torn apart by dividing up by sex and age. Then they were told to strip, only keeping their belts.

This is not the "one" book about the Holocaust or even the main one, but this is one of the very many that you need to read in order to know what went on. I believe to get the whole picture; you need to read many books by different kinds of survivors and books about those who did not. Pierre used his memory of Stella, his girlfriend to stay alive. Without that he may not have.

I highly recommend this book to people wanting to learn about the Holocaust but also hope that readers will make a constant effort to keep learning more. ( )

"Scheisshaus Luck" is a memoir by Pierre Berg with Brian Brock that is a fascinating and thoroughly engaging read that you will want to read straight through without putting it down. This is not a normal Holocaust survivors memoir, for Mr. Berg was not only a teenage French citizen but a gentile. The Gentiles consisted of over half of the people the Nazi's killed in these infamous death camps and there are very few accounts from a gentile that were incarcerated at Auschwitz-Mononwitz; this is the only one I am aware of from this particular camp.

Though you will want to continue reading this teenagers life as a political prisoner of the Third Reich be warned that the raw telling of this story holds nothing back. As you read his account it is hard to believe that one human could do such a thing to another....yet horrifying events seem to never stop. Only the country and the victim changes. And the book is appropriately titled, Berg's survival was mainly predicated by luck. Yes he had the ability to translate four languages and had some rudimentary electrical and mechanical skills. But it is obvious the role luck played on his survival. In the end notes we learned he was luckier than he even thought...for it was shown later in the German records of Auschwitz that the young Mr. Berg was recorded in the medical ward as being a Jew.

Do not get me wrong, this is not an enjoyable book but one that must be read and you will want to read once you start. Not only the horrible atrocities of the SS related but what the other camp prisoners did to one another. On the forced march as the Germans moved the prisoners from Auschwitz on what would be known as the death march you see how some of the prisoners cannibalized their own companions. It is humanity at its worst, basic survival and for Mr. Berg the greatest string of lucky breaks anyone ever had. And yet his arrest was just very bad luck of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. There is strong language, sexual content and violence yet it is all in context what transpired during this horrific period of human history. ( )

This is the second review I have done for this book as my first one has disapeared somehow. I liked the very honest and straghtforwardness of this book. There is no BS just the truth of what a nightmare really is. ( )

Pierre Berg narrates the reader through his chilling and heartfelt journey as a labor camp prisoner during the Nazis reign. Nearly meeting death a few times, Berg chronicles the events of his excruciatingly horrific time under the rule of the Nazis in some of the most well-known concentration camps. This story is a roller coaster of emotions as the reader feels like he/she is walking in Berg's worn-down shoes.

This story moved me in a way I cannot explain. The events Berg had to endure had my spine tingling with goosebumps and my heart aching for him and his fellow prisoners. It was a narrative that grabs hold of the reader and doesn't let go. It was a hard book to out down. I highly recommend this book. ( )