Upon seeing Dachau for the first time, Timothy Ryback set out to investigate the way the older generation dealt with a past they knew first hand, and how the younger generations lived life under its shadow. The focus of the book slowly shifted to Martin Zaidenstadt, a man who claimed to be a Holocaust survivor, and who became both guide and gadfly. In this complicated and troubled man, Ryback found a living symbol of the paradox that is Dachau-a place that was so successful at producing death, that it has become impossible for anyone who resides there to live a normal life.

(Key Words: holocaust, bound proof, Dachau, Judaica, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Europe, History, Germany).