Overview

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 incredible story of Rudolf Vrba--the first Jew to break out of Auschwitz, a man determined to warn the world and pass on a truth too few were willing to hear--elevating him to his rightful place in the annals of World War II alongside Anne Frank, Primo Levi, and Oskar Schindler and casting a new light on the Holocaust and its aftermath. People won't believe what they can't imagine. 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.

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Reviews

A thrilling read, a piece of redemptive storytelling, and a work of important Holocaust historical research...a book that I couldn't put down. -- Simon Sebag Montefiore, New York Times bestselling author I thought I knew the Auschwitz story, but Freedland retells it from a fresh angle so powerfully that I read it with my heart beating fast, full of horror, rage, despair--and admiration for this potent demonstration of the stubborn resilience of the human spirit. -- Tracy Chevalier, New York Times bestselling author

Author Information

Jonathan Freedland is an award-winning journalist, a number one bestselling author, and a broadcaster. He is the Guardian's executive editor for Opinion and also writes a weekly column. He is a regular contributor to the New York Times and the New York Review of Books, and presents BBC Radio 4's contemporary history series The Long View. In 2014 he won the Orwell special prize for journalism. Jonathan Freedland is an award-winning journalist, a number one bestselling author, and a broadcaster. He is the Guardian's executive editor for Opinion and also writes a weekly column. He is a regular contributor to the New York Times and the New York Review of Books, and presents BBC Radio 4's contemporary history series The Long View. In 2014 he won the Orwell special prize for journalism.

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