The Review of Contemporary Fiction

Village of a Million Spirits: A Novel of the Treblinka Uprising by Ian MacMillan
Michael J. Martin

Ian MacMillan. Village of a Million Spirits: A Novel of the Treblinka Uprising. Steerforth, 1999. 257 pp. $24.00.

In his most recent novel, Village of a Million Spirits, Ian MacMillan makes clear the work’s purpose through one of its own characters. Upon realizing that his friend has died at the hands of the Nazi guards, Janusz Siedlecki comes to understand why he must survive: “All these people have been made to vanish from the earth, the reality of their existence wiped away, but for one thing: the presence of one person to see and remember. And in fact he was ordering Janusz to see Treblinka according to the long view. I order you to survive. I order you to see and remember, and then to survive.” MacMillan not only recognizes the importance of remembrance, but the greater importance of retelling. Through what starts as a myriad of voices each telling its own story of life in the concentration camp, MacMillan comes to weave together the individual voices to tell a single story: the uprising at Treblinka. In doing so, MacMillan does indeed offer the long view; the stories told are those not only of the victims, but of the victimizers; not only of the living, but of the dead.
His story both fact and fiction, MacMillan does not fall victim to hiding the reader from the truth of this moment in history. In an expertly woven and highly moving narrative, the author struggles to bring to light the incomprehensible horrors that occurred behind the fences of Treblinka: the victims’ struggle to survive, the torture and joy that victimizers found in carrying out their duties, the gruesome reality of the gas chambers, and the inspiring story of one people’s decision to re-obtain their humanity through revolt. It is through MacMillan’s adept style and desire for remembrance that he has been able to provide readers with such an unforgettable and invaluable work concerning such a dark moment in history. [Michael J. Martin]


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The Review of Contemporary Fiction Village of a Million Spirits: A Novel of the Treblinka Uprising by Ian MacMillan Michael J. Martin Ian MacMillan. Village of a Million Spirits: A Novel of the Treblinka Uprising. Steerforth, 1999. 257 pp. $24.00. In his most recent novel, Village of a Million Spirits, Ian MacMillan makes clear the work’s purpose through one of its own characters. Upon realizing that his friend has died at the hands of the Nazi guards, Janusz Siedlecki comes to understand why he must survive: “All these people have been made to vanish from the earth, the reality of their existence wiped away, but for one thing: the presence of one person to see and remember. And in fact he was ordering Janusz to see Treblinka according to the long view. I order you to survive. I order you to see and remember, and then to survive.” MacMillan not only recognizes the importance of remembrance, but the greater importance of retelling. Through what starts as a myriad of voices each telling its own story of life in the concentration camp, MacMillan comes to weave together the individual voices to tell a single story: the uprising at Treblinka. In doing so, MacMillan does indeed offer the long view; the stories told are those not only of the victims, but of the victimizers; not only of the living, but of the dead. His story both fact and fiction, MacMillan does not fall victim to hiding the reader from the truth of this moment in history. In an expertly woven and highly moving narrative, the author struggles to bring to light the incomprehensible horrors that occurred behind the fences of Treblinka: the victims’ struggle to survive, the torture and joy that victimizers found in carrying out their duties, the gruesome reality of the gas chambers, and the inspiring story of one people’s decision to re-obtain their humanity through revolt. It is through MacMillan’s adept style and desire for remembrance that he has been able to provide readers with such an unforgettable and invaluable work concerning such a dark moment in history. [Michael J. Martin]

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