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A review by gheath
The Chief Witness: escape from China’s modern-day concentration camps by Sayragul Sauytbay
5.0
Invaluable first-hand testimony from inside one of China’s fascist concentration camps
The Chief Witness was actually written in German by Alexandra Cavelius based on interviews with Sauytbay done in Sweden that was subsequently translated into English by Caroline Waight. I think it’s worth mentioning this because a lot go can go wrong in such a process, and indeed Cavelius did have a problem with the first-pick interpreter who turned out to be less than loyal to the project. It is therefore remarkable that the end result is so well done and readable. The first third of the book, an account of a normal and interesting childhood in essence, is quite delightful, but this only multiplies the affect of horror that we feel as the story progresses. I was quite familiar with what is going on in Xinjiang before picking up this title, and have some expert knowledge of the CCP, but even for me it was really horrible to hear an account of how the noose tightened around Sauytbay, her family, and her people. It was in 2017 when the hammer fell and the long-prepared camps went into operation. Despite doing everything required of her and trying to play it safe, it wasn’t long before Sauytbay, along with many thousands of others, ended up in one of these camps. She worked as a teacher there and so had it slightly easier than most, although she also ended up being tortured. It was on a brief release that she made a run for it, crossed over into Kazakhstan where her husband and children had been living, and after many difficulties finally found asylum in Sweden. Needless to say, this book is a gripping read, and absolutely essential rare testimony. A few details were of particular interest to me. Firstly, the camps were run very secretly and in a highly cruel and carefully thought out way. Prisoners were allowed to be aware of torture and torture was routine, but they did not witness death; evidence of death was concealed. It’s impossible to know how many have died in the camps, therefore, but many thousands is likely given the regimen, so in a sense the camps are exactly death camps. Almost no one survives because they are scarred for life on release, if they are released at all. Others, strong and healthy people, are murdered in military hospitals for their body organs; some are taken to be used as forced labour somewhere in Xinjiang or inner China — their files were marked with an X. Sauytbye has done the world a singular service by speaking up and recounting her experience in such detail. Although it is not easy to read parts of this book, everyone should read it to find out what the Chinese Communist Party is really like, and why we should not be cooperating with the government of China at all. For many innocent people in Xinjiang, it is already too late.
The Chief Witness was actually written in German by Alexandra Cavelius based on interviews with Sauytbay done in Sweden that was subsequently translated into English by Caroline Waight. I think it’s worth mentioning this because a lot go can go wrong in such a process, and indeed Cavelius did have a problem with the first-pick interpreter who turned out to be less than loyal to the project. It is therefore remarkable that the end result is so well done and readable. The first third of the book, an account of a normal and interesting childhood in essence, is quite delightful, but this only multiplies the affect of horror that we feel as the story progresses. I was quite familiar with what is going on in Xinjiang before picking up this title, and have some expert knowledge of the CCP, but even for me it was really horrible to hear an account of how the noose tightened around Sauytbay, her family, and her people. It was in 2017 when the hammer fell and the long-prepared camps went into operation. Despite doing everything required of her and trying to play it safe, it wasn’t long before Sauytbay, along with many thousands of others, ended up in one of these camps. She worked as a teacher there and so had it slightly easier than most, although she also ended up being tortured. It was on a brief release that she made a run for it, crossed over into Kazakhstan where her husband and children had been living, and after many difficulties finally found asylum in Sweden. Needless to say, this book is a gripping read, and absolutely essential rare testimony. A few details were of particular interest to me. Firstly, the camps were run very secretly and in a highly cruel and carefully thought out way. Prisoners were allowed to be aware of torture and torture was routine, but they did not witness death; evidence of death was concealed. It’s impossible to know how many have died in the camps, therefore, but many thousands is likely given the regimen, so in a sense the camps are exactly death camps. Almost no one survives because they are scarred for life on release, if they are released at all. Others, strong and healthy people, are murdered in military hospitals for their body organs; some are taken to be used as forced labour somewhere in Xinjiang or inner China — their files were marked with an X. Sauytbye has done the world a singular service by speaking up and recounting her experience in such detail. Although it is not easy to read parts of this book, everyone should read it to find out what the Chinese Communist Party is really like, and why we should not be cooperating with the government of China at all. For many innocent people in Xinjiang, it is already too late.