I Escaped From Auschwitz by
Rudolf Vrba
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
**************************************SPOILERS*************************************************
"Arbeit Macht Frei" Work will make you free. As 17 year old Rudi Vrba got off a packed cattle car in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Rudi thought I can work hard then I will be free. Little did he know that he was entering one of the most horrific places on earth.
This is Vrba's account of what he faced and lived through as a Jewish teen during WWII. This book brought me to tears, at some points I wanted to scream at the pain and horror that any person who faced Auschwitz.
Vrba wrote through his 17 year old eyes. A boy who had to become a man. A Man who had to fight to survive. A man who wanted to save more from the horrific gas chambers at Auschwitz.
Faced daily with the threat of dying. Rudi had to be strong and his will to survive beyond any means. In his struggle all he could think of was to escape and warn others. He calculated that if the perscuted Jews rose and faught that the senseless murders would stop. Risking his own life, Rudi and his friend Wetzler. A struggle to get to safety both Vrba and Wetzler gave the accounts and numbers of those being murdered in cold blood in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Within the book not only is there the account of Vrba's escape but the Vrba-Wetzler report with the diagrams of Auschwitz-Birkenau. It includes the tattoo'd numbers on the prisioners of Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Nations of which the Jews, Gypsi's, Russian POW, Ayrans and others captured by the Nazi's. Detailed numbers of the amount on the transports from each country.
When they Vrba and Wetzler completed their report it was to be sent to Hungry in order to save the lives of the Jews scheduled to be transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the distribution of the report. Hungrian Jewish leaders instead negotaited to save the lives of their famiy and close friends.
Thank goodness the report still made it to Britian, America, The Vatican and other influential Allies. Thought approximately 400,000 Hungrian Jews were tortured and murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau Thanks to Vrba and Wetzler the over a million scheduled to be transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau over 600,000 lives were spared and saved.
There has been a lot of controversy over the facts and the amount of people actually killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Vrba had a job at Auschwitz-Birkenau which gave him the upper hand in seeing just how many people were senslessly murdered. Between Vrba's account and Hoess, one of the head SS officers at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the number both discussed was extremely similar.
The Nazi's knew what they were doing was srong, they tried to hide the evidence by burning their victims then using the ashes as fertilizer. We will never know exactly how many were murdered. How many families were wiped off the face of the earth beause of hate and prejudice.
An eloquently written account of the terrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Courage to escape and to warn other intended victims. A must read for anyone who is a history buff, or interested in WWII. Sad, and amazing. You will need tissues.
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