Final Solutions

In this collection of eight stories, masterful writer David Stier weaves fictional tales out of the real-life horror of the Holocaust. Set in the six major death camps (Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz, and Majdanek) and the Eastern Front, these powerful tales relate both the enormity of the crimes committed in the name of Hitler and the relentless small acts of cruelty that prisoners endured. And perhaps most important, these stories capture the humanity and compassion that persisted despite all the odds.Among the collection is "Roosevelt's Five Acres," a tale of conscience and courage reborn. In "Death Obsession" Stier takes on the fetishization of Nazi and Death Camp relics. In "Kristallträumen," a Jewish prisoner, who has been cursed by the family of his Roma lover and tormented by the Nazis, finds a way to use the curse to find salvation. Other stories are "Dancing to a Different Tune," "Winner Take All," "For the Good of the Reich," and "Parallel Movements."Bonus materials include short histories of the six camps as well brief biographies of notable Auschwitz escapees Rudolf Vrba and Sammy Wetzler, and the anti-fascist Hungarian composer Béla Bartók and his wife Ditta.With vivid, unforgettable detail, Stier takes us inside these most infamous places. But these stories are not about death. They capture human beings living and working in impossible situations. They still have their goals and dreams, hopes and fears, and how they must go about pursuing them is alternately haunting, uplifting, and astonishing."--Jeanne Cavelos, bestselling author of THE PASSING OF THE TECHNO-MAGES