Emberszag

The Smell of Humans recapitulates the events following the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944, and then narrates the 19-day story of the forced march, the prison camp at the brick factory, the digging of trenches outside Budapest, the round-the-clock exposure to the elements and to the whims of the guards (ranging from taunts to summary executions), until the release of the author three weeks later, when the regular army took the labourers out of the hands of the Arrow Cross henchmen. Primarily a piece of creative writing and autobiographical literature of a very distinctive Central…