Into That Darkness: From Mercy Killing to Mass Murder

The biography of Franz Stangl, commandant of the Treblinka extermination camp - a classic and utterly compelling study of evil.

Only four men commanded Nazi extermination (as opposed to concentration) camps. Franz Stangl was one of the. Gitta Sereny’s investigation of this man’s mind, and of the influences which shaped him, has become a classic. Stangl commanded Treblinka and was found guilty of co-responsibility for the slaughter there of at least 900, 000 people. Sereny, after weeks of talk with him and months of further research, shows us this man as he saw himself, and ‘as he was seen by many others, including his wife. She takes us sharply and deeply into hierarchy of the death camps; the experiences of the very few survivors, both inmates and guards. ’ (Observer)