Robert Jan van Pelt is chief curator of the exhibition Auschwitz: Not Long Ago. Not Far Away. Van Pelt, professor of cultural history in the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo, is known internationally as one of the leading authorities on the history and architecture of the Auschwitz concentration camp. In 1997–98, he presided over the team that developed the master plan to preserve the camp, and in 2000 he served as expert witness for the defense in the famous libel case instigated by the British historian and Holocaust denier David Irving. Born in Haarlem, Van Pelt has published several books on Auschwitz, including the award-winning Auschwitz: 1270 to the Present (with Debórah Dwork) and The Case for Auschwitz. He co-curated the exhibition The Evidence Room, displayed at the Venice Biennale in 2016.

Starred Review"In 2001, the Museum of Jewish Heritage opened in lower Manhattan, in sight of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Now the third-largest Holocaust museum in the world, it has devoted three of its floors to a major traveling exhibit. Historian van Pelt (Auschwitz: 1270 to the Present) offers not only a catalog of the exhibit but an authoritative history of the transformation of the small Polish village named after the Aramaic word for guests to a Nazi death camp where 1.1 million people were killed. As visitors approach the exhibit, they are confronted by a German National Railway freight car similar to the ones that carried men, women, and children to the camps. They then walk through hundreds of photographs, maps, architectural plans, works of art, artifacts—ragged shoes, coats, dresses, prisoners’ uniforms, a trumpet played by a jazz musician—and even a reconstruction of an Auschwitz barracks. The items come from the museum’s collection as well as from Poland’s Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and more than 20 other institutions and private collections from around the world.Whether readers have visited the Auschwitz museum or are experiencing it here for the first time, this comprehensive yet accessible work presents a sobering history. Highly recommended for both public and academic libraries.--Library Journal

• Long Shadows: Ne w York Remember sBruce C. Ratner andMichael S. Glickman 7We All Nee d Peace. Memory,Meanwhile, Bree ds Unre st.Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński 9The Heart of the MatterLuis Ferreiro 11Auschwitz Stories andthe Story of AuschwitzDr. Robert Jan van Pelt 13AUSCHWITZNot long ago. Not far away.Dr. Robert Jan van Pelt 21THE ENCOUNTERA Dot on the Map 22The Whee l Set and the Shoe 26January 27, 1945 28BEFORE AUSCHWITZOświęcim/Oshpitzin/Auschwitz32Jews, Judaism, and Anti-Judaism 36Jews and Non-Jews in Moder n Europe 40World War I 45The Afterm ath of the Gre at War 47The Third Reich:A Nation of Comrades 53Culling the Nation 57Inter nment Camps for Roma 64The Expulsion of the Jews 67The Invasion of Poland and theBeginning of World War II 76“Unworthy of Life” 81Fear 83AUSCHWITZA Germ an Concentration Campin Auschwitz86Mug Shots 90Prisoner Functionaries 95The Common Prisoner s 97Prisoner s with a “Good” Job 102Business 105The Invasion of the Soviet Unionand the Construction of Auschwitz-Birkenau 110The Beginning of the Holocaust 114Genocidal Ingenuity 118Hiding 126Dep ortations 134The Porajmos 137Disbelief and Indiffere nce 139Arr ival and Selection 141This Black Spot at the Coreof Europe , This Red Spot,This Spot of Fire . . . 146The Lethal Core 151Bearing Witness:Sonder kommandos 156A Parallel World 160Kanada 161On Innocence, Radical Loss,and Spiritual Stamina 166Strippe d 169Behind the Barr ack Walls 173Annihi lation Through Labor 176Medical Exper iments 178Resistance 181The World Must Know 185Upr ising 188Dep arture s and thejDeath March 190AFTER AUSCHWITZLiber ation 194Survivors 198The Site 206The Catastrophe in Number s 208Ar chitect(ure )’s We akest Moment. Or,When Not to Learn from Ar chitectsDjamel Zeniti 212Searching for Meaningin Traces of the PastPaul Salmons 216Conser ving Testamentsto Human SurvivalDr. Ana Galán Pérez 219Testimony in the ExhibitionDr. Michael Berenbaum, withKen Winikur 222From Gener ation to Gener ationJosé Antonio Múgicaand María Teresa Aguirre 225You Who Are Passing By 226Notes 228Further Reading 231Index 234Cre dits and Acknowledgments 239