Publisher's Synopsis
January 1945. There are 4,800 prisoners in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Their physical degradation conditions make it impossible for them to be sent back to their places of origin in the West. Then, the Soviet troops stormed Auschwitz so fast that the SS men only managed to blow up part of the gas chambers and kill a handful of survivors so as not to leave any witnesses of what had happened there. On February 5, Józef Bellert headed for Auschwitz with a group of more than thirty doctors and nurses from Krakow. For eight months, he runs what is probably the largest field hospital in Europe. Despite the lack of sewage, water, food and medicine, they dedicated all possible resources to the released prisoners, about 5,000 men! Patients weighed an average of 25-30 kg. They suffered from typhoid fever and tuberculosis, diarrhea from hunger, edema and bedsores. In addition to the diseases, he also faces the fear most of these patients show to people wearing scrubs as uniforms and syringes as work tools. Unfortunately, good doctors are associated with the phenol injections used by the Germans to kill sick prisoners. Hard to believe under those conditions, but 4,400 out of 4,800 patients came back to life and health. Józef Bellert was a silent hero whose biography can be divided into several personalities. He was a conspirator in the PPS, the German-Soviet pact, which allowed the Germans to invade Poland without Russian intervention; soldier of the Legions and doctor of the brigade of Pilsudski; social and independence activist; soldier in September 1939 and Warsaw insurgent. Just a modest doctor from the Pińczów district. In short, we are exploring Józef Bellert´s life, a doctor who restored dignity, health and faith in human beings to those who lived at the gates of hell.
