The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan Freedland
In April 1944, Rudolf Vrba became the first Jew to break out of Auschwitz—one of only four who ever pulled off that near-impossible feat. He did it to reveal the truth of the death camp to the world—and to warn the last Jews of Europe what fate awaited them at the end of the railway line. Against all odds, he and his fellow escapee, Fred Wetzler, climbed mountains, crossed rivers and narrowly missed German bullets until they had smuggled out the first full account of Auschwitz the world had ever seen—a forensically detailed report that would eventually reach Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and the Pope.
And yet too few heeded the warning that Vrba—then just nineteen years old—had risked everything to deliver. Some could not believe it. Others thought it easier to keep quiet. Vrba helped save 200,000 Jewish lives—but he never stopped believing it could have been so many more.
This is the story of a brilliant yet troubled man—a gifted “escape artist” who even as a teenager understand that the difference between truth and lies can be the difference between life and death, a man who deserves to take his place alongside Anne Frank, Oskar Schindler and Primo Levi as one of the handful of individuals whose stories define our understanding of the Holocaust.
Review: I received a copy of this book from HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review.
In 1944, Rudolf Vrba became one of only four Jews who ever successfully pulled off the feat of escaping from the Nazi death camp Auschwitz. After a year of watching Jews unknowingly led to their deaths in the gas chambers of the camp, Rudi was determined to escape and alert the world of the atrocities being committed and to avert future deaths. Rudi and his fellow escapee defied the odds and were able to create a report that would eventually reach world leaders around the globe. While too few acted on its warning, his heroic actions did ultimately result in saving 200,000 Jewish lives, although he forever regretted that the number wasn't far higher as it should have been if his warning had been heeded.
A complicated individual, Vrba was uniquely placed to report on Auschwitz. During his time as a slave within the camp, he held positions in virtually every job within the camp, including in the morturary, sorting through the luggage and belongings of the killed, and assisting in unloading the newly arrived transports before their murders. Armed with an excellent memory, he made mental maps of the camp and committed to memory virtually every detail he could, in order to eventually report it to the outside world. For ten months, he was forced to work unloading the transports of Jews as they arrived in the camp, in the final moments before they would be ushered into the gas chambers. In those months, he saw roughly 300,00 people right before their deaths. This experience fundamentally changed him.
This book was incredibly hard to read. The gruesome details of the deaths of Auschwitz are fully laid bare. The casual cruelty and overwhelmingly death surrounding Vrba in the camp are soul crushing in every sense of the word. Despite it all, Vrba survived, although he was plagued by a temper and unresolved issues that marred his life at times. But he went on to become a father, completed a doctorate, worked successfully as a chemist, and even secured a lectureship at Harvard Medical School. Yet he never forgave those who refused to act quickly on his warning and cost the lives of thousands more people.
Author Jonathan Freedland did an excellent job researching and organizing this story. He was able to talk to many who knew Vrba and had primary documents to help organize the story. He also did an excellent job of presenting it to reel in the reader, opening the book with the hair-rising scene of Vrba lying inside the wood pile in Auschwitz, poised to run. An important story and individual that fully deserves more recognition, as hard as it was to read, I'm so glad I was able to.
Stars: 4
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