"Belsen Express" is a 1975

horror fiction Horror is a genre of fiction which is intended to frighten, scare, or disgust. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which is in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J ...

short story, by

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Robert ...

. It first appeared in his collection ''The Second Book of Fritz Leiber''.

Synopsis

George Simister is a racist bigot, but also has a fear of Nazis. As he commutes to work each day, he begins to notice that his journey is apparently recapitulating elements of

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, including a destination sign which he thinks says " Belsen". After traveling in an uncomfortably full bus permeated by exhaust fumes, he arrives at his office, where he dies of what one doctor believes to be

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...

poisoning.

Reception

"Belsen Express" won the 1976

World Fantasy Award—Short Fiction The World Fantasy Awards are given each year by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy fiction published in English during the previous calendar year. The awards have been described by book critics such as ''The Guardian'' as a "presti ...

The 2nd World Fantasy Convention
at WorldFantasy.org; retrieved March 12, 2020 and the

August Derleth Award The August Derleth Award is one of the British Fantasy Awards bestowed annually by the British Fantasy Society. The award is named after the American writer and editor August Derleth. It was inaugurated in 1972 for the best novel of the year, was n ...

for short fiction.Fritz Leiber
by

Malcolm Edwards Malcolm John Edwards (born 3 December 1949) is a British editor and critic in the science fiction field. An alumnus of The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, he received his degree from the University of Cambridge. He was Deputy CEO at the Orion ...

and

John Clute John Frederick Clute (born 12 September 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part o ...

, in ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and f ...

''; last updated February 7, 2019; retrieved March 12, 2020 ''

SF Signal ''SF Signal'' was a science fiction blog and fanzine published from 2003 to 2016. The site was launched by John DeNardo and JP Frantz and focused on writings, events, and other topics focusing on the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and other ...

'' called it "spooky stuff", rating it three stars out of five.REVIEW: Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories edited by Charles N. Brown and Jonathan Strahan
by John DeNardo; at ''

''; published April 20, 2010; retrieved March 12, 2020

References

External links

* {{World Fantasy Award Best Short Fiction World Fantasy Award-winning works Short stories by Fritz Leiber