"The Hell and Paradise of Dachau" – A Harrowing Testimony by a Dutch Prisoner from the Dachau Death Camp. Kampen ...

"The Hell and Paradise of Dachau" – A Harrowing Testimony by a Dutch Prisoner from the Dachau Death Camp. Kampen (Netherlands), 1946 – Second Edition

"Hel en Hemel van Dachau" – "The Hell and Paradise of Dachau, " by the Prisoner Ds. J. Overduin. A harrowing account of the horrors of Dachau, as personally experienced by prisoner Jacobus Overduin. Published by J.H. Kok N.V., illustrated with grim sketches of prisoner scenes from the camp by Henk Poeder. Kampen (Netherlands), 1946 – Second Edition. Dutch.

"The content of this book, based entirely on truth from beginning to end, speaks for itself… Writing such a book is a dangerous task. That is why I had to overcome quite a bit before daring to do so… First and foremost, the danger of being too subjective. That is obvious. It is extremely difficult to remain sober, factual, and objective when one has endured nearly two years of the most profound injustice… It is hard to prevent the bitterness of anger and deep injury from seeping through too much… Nowhere is a person affected and wounded so deeply in their human dignity as in a concentration camp, where the prisoner is stripped of honor, stripped of rights… Seeing other prisoners suffer is often at least as unbearable as experiencing it oneself. We will try to let the facts speak for themselves as much as possible…" (From the author's introduction).

A Shocking Testimony of Nazi  Atrocities by Dominie Jacobus Overduin (1901–1977). Overduin, a Dutch Protestant minister, was arrested in 1942 by Nazi spies infiltrating churches due to his outspoken opposition to restrictions imposed on Christian education in the Netherlands. His arrest was part of a broader policy to suppress religious leaders who stood against Nazi ideology. Following his arrest, the Nazis transferred him between several prisons, including Arnhem, Assen, Würzburg, and Nuremberg, before ultimately sending him to the notorious Dachau concentration camp. Overduin vividly describes the brutal daily conditions he endured—constant hunger, unbearable cold, torture, and daily acts of cruelty by the guards. "The chance of staying alive or living a somewhat bearable existence depends on one question: Which camp commander, which barracks, which kapo do you have? … In a concentration camp, all spiritual achievements are considered crimes—except those of the Party. Anyone accustomed to respect and decent treatment by fellow human beings must now endure the deepest contempt and the lowest insults. The purpose of the concentration camp is not only to break a person physically but to shatter and weaken him mentally—to destroy the man who dared to resist in any way against the great idol: the State… Life in the camp is a battle against death, and you are, in fact, already half-dead all the time…". 

Overduin describes the role of the SS in running the camp and the brutal treatment of prisoners, where punishments for even the most trivial infractions were constantly invented by the Nazis. He details the horrific medical experiments conducted by Nazi doctors. The book contains extremely harrowing chapters, in which he meticulously describes the unimaginable torture methods inflicted upon the prisoners—a level of human suffering so extreme it defies comprehension. 

In one chapter, he recounts: "A prisoner had ten baskets filled with malaria-infected mosquitoes placed on his body, severely infecting him. When the malaria fever truly took hold of him, the professor came and applied various medications he had prepared. All kinds of toxic substances were injected into his bloodstream, and then the gentleman waited for a reaction, meticulously recording everything. In this way, he served science. When I was in the area for five weeks in 1943, I saw soulless malaria patients, groaning day and night, in pain from head to toe. Many succumbed to it... In addition, there were experiments involving hot and cold water to measure sexual stimulation. I will not describe in greater detail how this was done, as I do not know how to do so in a decent manner… All of this was entirely in line with the speech an SS officer gave us upon arrival: ‘Know well that a prisoner is worth less than a paving stone. A paving stone is productive—it can be walked upon, and it does not ask for food. But you… you eat and are useless.’” Beyond the physical suffering, Overduin describes the mental struggles of the prisoners, many of whom lost hope and fought to maintain their sanity. Despite the terror and pain, Overduin draws strength from his religious faith. He describes how prayer and belief in God helped him retain his humanity and endure the horrors of the camp. Through detailed accounts, he reveals not only the atrocities of the concentration camp but also the small moments of human kindness—sharing food, offering mutual support, and providing emotional comfort among the prisoners. He underscores the stark contrast between the “hell” of Dachau and the “heavenly moments” that emerged from acts of compassion and humanity.

Extremely rare. This edition is not listed in the WorldCat global library catalog.

267, [1] pages. Very good condition.