Schadenfreude
Schadenfreude n. Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.
This is a highly disturbing read, especially so because Auschwitz and Dr Mengele are not fabrications. A well-written horrifying account of sixteen year old homosexual Erich's arrest and deportation to Auschwitz. Erich is taken on by sadistic control-freak Obersturmfuhrer Kaltherzig who works beside Mengele in the sinister Block 10.
'He knew a great many of his accepted truths and derived conclusions were deeply skewed into new Kaltherzig-ordained directions. He even vaguely understood that Kaltherzig had made him this way on purpose, remade Erich to suit himself, done addition and subtraction like a surgeon for the mind until he liked the shape the knives had left behind.'
