Additional information
by Elie Wiesel (Introduction by), Eugene Heimler (Author)
When the Germans invaded Hungary in 1944, Eugene Heimler was twenty-one. His father, a socialist as well as a Jew, was arrested by the Gestapo and never seen again. Mr. Heimler and his new wife were taken from a Hungarian ghetto and deported in a cattle truck to Auschwitz. His wife and family died there, but he survived to be taken to Buchenwald and other camps in Germany. At the end of the European war, he escaped and found his way back to his native country. NIGHT OF THE MIST is an account of a young man's experience under the Gestapo. It records the day-to-day events, the miserable conditions of existence, the physical suffering endured by the prisoners. But Eugene Heimler goes beyond a factual record of events. With a gifted insight he describes the deeper effects of suffering - on their minds. He writes not only of himself but of many others imprisoned with him: of the doctor and the architect, no longer middle-class gentlemen of authority, but near animals; of the girl, once gentle and intelligent, now offering her diseased body for a crust of bread; of the man who spent twelve years in prison for the murder of his wife, and who in the inferno of a concentration camp found meaning in life.Yet, though he knew the worst of humanity, Heimler was able to regain his faith in God and in the dignity of man. He does not hate; and the horror of his experience is transcended by his compassion and deep understanding of spiritual values. The true message of his book is not one of horror, but of hope.
Author Biography
Eugene Heimler was born on March 27, 1922 in Szombathely, Hungary. He was the son of a lawyer and prominent member of the social-democratic party. Heimler became a successful poet in Hungary with two volumes of poetry published before he was twenty. At age 21 he was deported to Auschwitz and Buchenwald and survived with the help of his happy memories about his childhood and his beloved mother. She died after a long illness shortly before the start of World War II. His wife, Eva, his father, his sister and her little son were murdered in Auschwitz. In 1946 Heimler married Lily, to whom he dedicated this book. She died of cancer in 1984, leaving two children, Susan and George. In 1947 Heimler immigrated to England where he began to write NIGHT OF THE MIST in Hungarian. Soon after he received his diploma from Manchester University as the first psychiatric social worker, he began to develop his own social-integrative method of healing, (The Heimler Method) rooted in his experiences of overcoming obstacles described in this book. His approach became well known in Europe, America and Canada. He then returned to Germany in order to teach young Germans his unique approach in which frustration and suffering are used as potential for satisfaction and creativity, and as the means to find purpose and meaning in life. He became Consultant for the Ministry of Social Security in England, the World Health Organization and the Government of the United States. For 20 years he taught his subject in England at the University of London. His fame lead to chairs at several universities in the USA and Canada. In 1985 Heimler received an honorary doctorate in Canada from the University of Calgary, where he had taught The Heimler Method for 17 years. On the day marking the 40th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe, (May 8th, 1985) he married Miriam Bracha with whom he spent the last, very happy and fulfilled years of his life. Heimler died on December 4th, 1990.
