The Death's Head Chess Club

Posted on 02 April 2018 by John Donoghue

SS Obersturmf hrer Paul Meissner arrives in Auschwitz from the Russian front After being badly wounded he is fit only for administrative duty and his first and most pressing task is to improve flagging camp morale He sets up a chess club which thrives, as the officers and enlisted men are allowed to gamble on the results of the games However, when Meissner learns from a chance remark that chess is also played by the prisoners he hears of a Jewish watchmaker who is unbeatable Meissner sets out to discover the truth behind this rumour and what he finds will haunt him to his death..A deeply moving novel about an impossible friendship, The Death s Head Chess Club challenges us to consider what might be the very limits of forgiveness and what might be the cost of a lifetime of bitterness. Download The Death's Head Chess Club – kino-fada.fr Much in the same way as the tradition I have with my mum by sharing books like Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher semi regularly my dad and I have this thing going where he grabs a library book and passes it on to me Books past have been Foal s Bread great book and Me and Rory Macbeath even better Love...This is a moving and poignant novel, set around events in Auschwitz during the war SS Obersturmfuhrer Paul Meissner arrives in Auschwitz, having been injured in Russia In charge of overseeing satellite industrial labour camps, he is ordered to improve morale and, bizarrely, is told that SS officers should take an interest in culture Meissner s answer is to start a chess club Competition becomes fierce between the officers and the men, but then a suggestion occurs which causes the camp This is a moving and poignant novel, set around events in Auschwitz during the war SS Obersturmfuhrer Paul Meissner arrives in Auschwitz, having been injured in Russia In charge of overseeing satellite industrial labour camps, he is ordered to improve morale and, bizarrely, is told that SS officers should take an interest in culture Meissner s answer is to start a chess club Competition becomes fierce between the officers and the men, but then a suggestion occurs which causes the camp hierarchy to feel extremely unsettled Rumours abound in the camp about a Jewish chess player who is unbeatable and this challenges Nazi ideology Emil Clement has arrived at Auschwitz with his wife, mother and two young sons Now he has no idea whether they are alive or dead, but his love of chess gives him a s...Read most of the book in one day Couldn t put it down The story goes like this in the Auschwitz concentration camp, there is a Jewish prisoner known as The Watchmaker who plays chess There is a legend that he is unbeatable And there is an SS officer, who is like the second in command of the camp, who is given the task of improving the morale of the officers by introducing a cultural activity After consulting with other officers, he decides to start a chess club and a competition Things Read most of the book in one day Couldn t put it down The story goes like this in the Auschwitz concentration camp, there is a Jewish prisoner known as The Watchmaker who plays chess There is a legend that he is unbeatable And there is an SS officer, who is like the second in command of the camp, who is given the task of improving the morale of the officers by introducing a cultural activity After co...The Death s Head Chess Club Fantastic ReadThe Death s Head Club by John Donoghue has written a wonderful book that draws you in and delivers a book that may seem bleak with the background of Auschwitz but delivers a clever and entertaining book Each chapter is given a title that tends to reflect a chess move, but then that should be no surprise as a book that is set around chess games This is a moving novel that examines an impossible friendship between a Jewish inmate of the death camp and The Death s Head Chess Club Fantastic ReadThe Death s Head Club by John Donoghue has written a wonderful book that draws you in and delivers a book that may seem bleak with the background of Auschwitz but delivers a clever and entertaining book Each chapter is given a title that tends to reflect a chess move, but then that should be no surprise as a book that is set around chess games This is a moving novel that examines an impossible friendship between a Jewish inmate of the death camp and a Waffen SS Officer in which forgiveness, survivor guilt and bitterness are challenged.SS Obersturmfuhrer Paul Meissner is an officer of the Waffen SS who has been badly injured on the deadly Eastern Front and he is only fit for administrative duties and a position has been found for him at Auschwitz organising the work at the Monowitz slave labour factory complex He is charged with raising...It is a brave person, I think, who bases a novel around events in Auschwitz the very name of the place is so resonant with belief, symbolism, brutality and evil There is a risk that to create a work of fiction might appear to trivialise what happened there I always felt slightly uncomfortable about the content of The boy in the striped pyjamas , as its central premise seemed so unlikely, given our knowledge of the truth of the place Similarly the central conceit of this novel, that a It is a brave person, I think, who bases a novel around e...I was sent a free copy of this book to review, by Real ReadersThis is a very intelligent debut novel, covering issues of guilt, forgiveness, hatred and religion Paul Meissner is an officer from the Waffen SS who was wounded on the Russian Front Only fit for administrative duties, he is sent to Auschwitz, where he is set the task of improving morale among the camp staff He sets up a chess club, which thrives when the officers and enlisted men are allowed to gamble on the results of the games I was sent a free copy of this book to review, by Real ReadersThis is a very intelligent debut novel, covering issues of guilt, forgiveness, hatred and religion Paul Meissner is an officer from the Waffen SS who was wounded on the Russian Front Only fit for administrative duties, he is sent to Auschwitz, where he is set the task of improving morale among the camp staff He sets up a chess club, which thrives when the officers and enlisted men are allowed to gamble on the results of the games Eventually, Meissner learns that the prisoners also play chess, and that there is a Jewish watchmaker who is considered unbeatable The novel shifts between life in Auschwitz toward the end of the war...I was a little disappointed in this novel I expected it to be ratherintense than it turned out to be Moving backwards and forwards between Auschwitz in 1944 and Amsterdam in 1962 it tells a story of the game of chess, and the relationships between the characters who are inextricably linked together through this game and their past.The premise of the story is the relationship between German Officers who were stationed in Auschwitz and a chess playing Jew that was interned in the camp I I was a little disappointed in this novel I expected it to be ratherintense than it turned out to be Moving backwards and forwards between Auschwitz in 1944 and Amsterdam in 1962 it tells a story of the game of chess, and the relationships between the characters who are inextricably linked ...An excellent novel About Auschwitz very saddening but, books like this need to still be written so we never forget Along the lines of Pretty Birds, City of Thieves and Warsaw Anagrams, all moving books On a lighter note I am a chess addict which is why I picked up the book in th...The Death s Head Chess Club by John Donoghue is another book for my book club Not a book I would normally pick up, but I thought it was very good.A fictional book with a researched factual background set around events which happened in Auschwitz during the war got to love footnotes in a work of fiction The book tells the story of two main characters Emil Clement, a Jew known as The Watchmaker, who is a prisoner in Auschwitz and SS Obersturmfuher Paul Meissner, a German Officer The structure The Death s Head Chess Club by John Donoghue is anothe...The Death s Head Chess Club John DonoghueI suppose this is a timely publication given the 70 year anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Birkenau.But it is a brave writer who attempts a work of fiction about the Holocaust Is there room for sentiment or poetic licence The history of the Holocaust is well documented so there is no room nor excuse for inaccurate research There are survivors for whom the subject is too painful for them to speak of so there is an argument for those who can, The Death s Head Chess Club John DonoghueI suppose this is a timely publication given the 70 year anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Birkenau.But it is a brave writer who attempts a work of fiction about the Holocaust Is there room for sentiment or poetic licence The history of the Holocaust is well documented so there is no room nor excuse for inaccurate research There are survivors for whom the subject is too painful for them to speak of so there is an argument for those who can, to perpetuate, by whatever means, fact or fiction, the knowledge of this atrocity And so Mr Donoghue receives a mark for that.The use of the chess game as metaphor in the cultural arts is not a new one...

English
02 April 2018

John Donoghue