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The escape artist : the man who broke out of Auschwitz to warn the world / Jonathan Freedland.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2022]Copyright date: ©2022Edition: First U.S. editionDescription: x, 376 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 0063112337
  • 9780063112339
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Prologue -- Part I: The preparations. Star ; Five hundred reichsmarks ; Deported ; Majdanek -- Part II: The camp. We were slaves ; Kanada ; The final solution ; Big business ; The ramp ; The memory man ; Birkenau ; "It has been wonderful" --- Part III: The escape. Escape was lunacy ; Russian lessons ; The hideout ; Let my people go ; Underground ; On the run ; Crossing the border -- Part IV: In black and white ; Men of God ; What can I do? ; London has been informed ; Hungarian salami -- Part V: The shadow. A wedding with guns ; A new nation, a new England ; Canada ; I know a way out ; Flowers of emptiness ; Too many to count.
Summary: "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"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Notes Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 940.5318 F853 Available 33111011075799
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 940.5318 F853 Available Patron reported that book smells of perfume. 3/7/23 33111010905764
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Winner of the National Jewish Book Award · New York Times Bestseller

"A brilliant and heart-wrenching book, with universal and timely lessons about the power of information--and misinformation. Is it possible to stop mass murder by telling the truth?" -- Yuval Noah Harari, bestselling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

A complex hero. A forgotten story. The first witness to reveal the full truth of the Holocaust . . .

Award-winning journalist and bestselling novelist Jonathan Freedland tells the astonishing true story of Rudolf Vrba, the man who broke out of Auschwitz to warn the world of a truth too few were willing to hear.

In April 1944, Rudolf Vrba became one of the very first Jews to escape from Auschwitz and make his way to freedom--among only a tiny handful 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. Against all odds, Vrba 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 eventually reached Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and the Pope.

And yet too few heeded the warning that Vrba had risked everything to deliver. Though Vrba helped save two hundred thousand Jewish lives, 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, understood that the difference between truth and lies can be the difference between life and death. Rudolf Vrba 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.

"Originally published in Great Britain in 2022 by John Murray (Publishers), a Hachette UK company"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-359) and index.

Prologue -- Part I: The preparations. Star ; Five hundred reichsmarks ; Deported ; Majdanek -- Part II: The camp. We were slaves ; Kanada ; The final solution ; Big business ; The ramp ; The memory man ; Birkenau ; "It has been wonderful" --- Part III: The escape. Escape was lunacy ; Russian lessons ; The hideout ; Let my people go ; Underground ; On the run ; Crossing the border -- Part IV: In black and white ; Men of God ; What can I do? ; London has been informed ; Hungarian salami -- Part V: The shadow. A wedding with guns ; A new nation, a new England ; Canada ; I know a way out ; Flowers of emptiness ; Too many to count.

"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"-- Provided by publisher.

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