Broken Oaths by Norman Mounter

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Heidelberg, 1938

Doctor Sárkány’s career is crumbling. The once eminent pathologist begins to lose everything that he holds dear – his reputation, position and pride. But what of his wife, Éva? What of his twin daughters and unborn son? Surely his family are more important than any profession? His vanity and covetousness do not see it that way. He blames his Jewish wife for his downfall.

Sárkány’s marriage vows matter less to him than his doctor’s oath as he begins to desecrate them both with adultery and Nazi ideology. He will do anything to get his career back: bribes, lies, sex, abortions… perhaps the life of his very own flesh and blood.

But all is in vain. After fleeing to Hungary, the German invasion of 1944 sees the family incarcerated in the Munkács Ghetto before being finally crammed into Eichmann’s cattle cars destined for Poland. Sárkány has betrayed his family, but can he betray his own people when he arrives outside the crematorium gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau?

Dr. Josef Mengele thinks he can. And in Auschwitz, Mengele is King.

Year first published: 2021