The Tenth Circle Of Hell: A Memoir of Life in the Death Camps of Bosnia

Description

In May 1992, the Bosnian civil war arrived in Prijedor, a city where Muslims, Croats and Serbs had lived peaceably for centuries. The Serb occupation of Prijedor was an exercise in what they referred to as "ethnic cleansing"; the Muslim and Croat citizens were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. Among those who lived through this experience was journalist Rezak Hukanovic, and this memoir chronicles his time in the death camps of Omarska and Manjaca and the terror and torture he, his friends, family and neighbours endured at the hands of the Bosnian Serbs. Through his unbelieving eyes, we see how the patina of civilization is stripped away from aggressor and victim alike, and our notions of a basic human decency are called into question.

Rezak Hukanovic was a poet and journalist in Prijedor, Bosnia, prior to 1992. After being released from the prison camp in November of that year, he settled temporarily in Norway, where he was reunited with his wife and two sons. He now divides his time between Germany and Bosnia.

'Hukanovic's book merits a prominent place in the catologue of witness to twentieth century horror' LITERARY REVIEW 'The evil of those camps has never been recorded as coherently or directly as this' OBSERVER 'It is imperative to read this book... One emerges from it as from a terrible nightmare, crushed by a hatred at once ancestral and constantly present.' Elie Wiesel- from the Foreword 'Mr Hukanovic certainly deserves a place next to others who have written memorably about similar subjects: Primo Levi (the Nazi camps)' NEW YORK TIMES 'For anyone who doubts the enormity of the tragedy in Bosnia, this should be compulsory reading. And as a warning about man's capacity for inhumanity and sheer evil, this is salutary reading. Absolutely devastating.' THE TIMES 'A courageous, important book, and a truly harrowing read.' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY