Book Review

Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust
by Charles Patterson
Review by Cathe Olson

I put off reading “Eternal Treblinka” until the last possible moment. It looked too much like a history book and the subject matter sounded depressing. I had read “Diet for a New America” and “Fast Food Nation.” I didn’t want to read another gruesome description of the horrors of slaughterhouses. As my deadline approached, I finally picked up the book. I stayed up all night reading and still can'’t get it out of my mind.

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In his book “Eternal Treblinka,” Charles Patterson delves into the history of the domestication and enslavement of animals. He starts with the Ice Age when plants were scarce, causing humans to turn to meat for food. He traces the progression from hunting to herding and then to forced breeding, selective killing of the weak and infirm, sterilization of males to keep them obedient, and eventually to slaughterhouse production lines.

Patterson proposes that the domestication of animals provided the model and inspiration for human slavery. As so-called civilized people became accustomed to the enslavement, mistreatment, and mass killing of animals, they were able to condone mistreatment of races they deemed lesser than human. Europeans went to Africa and viewed the people there as beasts that they could treat as slaves. When the Spanish came to America, they saw the Native Americans not only as a lower race but as “dark, sinful, carnal, inhuman, and un-Christian” thereby justifying their vicious mistreatment of them. During World War II, the Japanese were vilified as yellow dogs or monkeys. After Pearl Harbor, they were forced to live in animal facilities like stockyards, stables, and cattle stalls in fairgrounds before being transferred to interment camps.

In Germany, Jews were referred to as rats or pigs. The Nazis packed the Jews into cattle cars, shaved their heads, and took away their clothing making them seem more like animals than humans. Using slaughterhouses as models, death camp organizers tried to make mass murder as routine, mechanical, repetitive, and programmed as possible.

I was surprised to learn that many death camp survivors became animal rights activists. One of the most powerful pro-animal voices of the 20th century was Isaac Bashevis Singer. In fact, according to Patterson, it was Singer’s stories, novels, memoirs, and interviews that inspired this book. The title comes from a passage in Singer’s short story “The Letter Writer” – “In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka.”

“Eternal Treblinka” was well-written and thought-provoking. It is evident from the numerous footnotes that the book was extensively researched and documented. I don’t think anyone could read this book and not be affected. Most people are so removed from the food they eat that they forget they are eating actual flesh and blood. Although the plight of animals seems bleak, books like this help to educate and sensitize us. So I apologize for my reluctance to read another book about slaughterhouses. I needed to read this book and I need to read more books like this to remind me of what animals are up against. I have already recommended “Eternal Treblinka” to my family and friends. I encourage you to do the same.

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Cathe Olson is the author of the new nondairy ice cream cookbook: Lick It! Cream Dreamy Vegan Ice Cream Your Mouth Will Love, as well as Simply Natural Baby Food and The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook. Visit Cathe's website at www.simplynaturalbooks.com and her blog at http://catheolson.blogspot.com.

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