Death Books from Auschwitz; Remnants (3 Volume set) by Debski, Jerzy (ed. State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau) - 1995

Munich: K.G. Saur Verlag, 1995. Hardcover. A Very Good Matched Set. Quarto. The massive records in three volumes with 1867 pages and many illustrations, photographs. Volume 1 which deals with the Reports, Vol. 2-3 deal with the Index of names. The text is in English with a few introductory notes in English, German and Polish. This set is of great importance with the addition of the names and death dates of 80,010 who perished in Auschwitz. There is detailed descriptions of the administrative structure and facsimiles of original documents. The local German civil registry officer (the Standesamt) kept records of those who died though they seldom noted the real causes and were given a list of forty-four maledies instead of the terms 'executed', 'shot while attempting escape, or suicide. (Historians have found some cases of those who were hanged or shot that have cause of death listed as natural causes. There is a thorough listing of names, date and place of birth and date of death as well as the archival source (so those doing research know where to go for other information). An essential reference item both for the library and the serious reseacher. No marks or underlining but endpapers of vols 2 and 3 list 7 family names from that of previous owner.