The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World

Rudy Vrba survived Auschwitz because he had a purpose: to warn the world of the horrors the Nazis were committing. His story is told in great detail and graphically demonstrates why it was so hard for the rest of the world to believe in the magnitude of Hitler’s obsession with Jews.

Jonathan Freedland's book, "The Escape Artist," presents the story of Walter Rosenberg (who later changed his name to Rudolf Vrba), a teenaged Slovakian Jewish lad, who suffered the indignities inflicted by the Nazi governments that took over Hitler's annexed areas. At first, Jews lost their right to education, to own property, to move about freely, and were forced to wear Yellow Stars. Then in February of 1942, Walter received notice that all Jews aged 16 to 30 were being "resettled" in Poland. He tried to flee to England but was caught and assigned to a labor camp. When he escaped that camp and was caught again, he was sent to a higher security facility, the infamous Auschwitz.A great deal of the book is devoted to describing the labor assignments of men and women who were deemed fit enough to work as slaves. Although it was not an immediate realization, Walter eventually figured out that 90 percent of the Jews who departed the cattle cars that brought them to the camp were immediately killed, as soon as they could walk to the gas chambers (that were represented to them as showers). The other 10 percent were kept as slaves until death. Once Walter assessed the true purpose of the camp, he was motivated by one overwhelming desire. If only he could escape and warn the world that concentration camps were extermination camps rather than areas of resettlement, people would stop getting on the trains and walking peacefully to their deaths. Walter shrewdly learned how to gain access to the most desirable work details. When he was a sorter of the goods that the killed Jews had brought with them to camp, he could pocket some valuable materials to trade for extra food and the leverage he would gain as potential blackmail material against the SS who accepted such goods from him. I had never read such details regarding the work assignments at the concentration camps. Major corporations still in business today benefited greatly from the slave labor that built industrial complexes near the camps. At the age of 19, Walter and a companion did what no one had never done before - they actually escaped from Auschwitz after memorizing the exact protocols for searching for missing prisoners and waiting them out while hiding underneath the ground.After a treacherous journey, Walter achieved his dream. He began warning the Jews in Hungary that they were the next to be shipped to the extermination camp. Unbelievably, despite the extraordinary details that Walter had memorized, his warnings were not passed on by Jewish leaders. Even the Allies, including America and Britain, were not moved to action by Walter's written reports. Each reader will need to decide for himself if this was because Walter's story was deemed too outlandish to be believed or if there were other various unacceptable reasons for not intervening. Walter's proposed solution was not to bomb the camp itself, which would kill innocents along with the guilty, but to bomb the railroad tracks that led to the camp, which would prevent the continuing transport of Jews to their deaths. Eventually some journalists in Switzerland and other countries began to print parts of Walter's report, but not until at least 600,000 more Jews were gassed to death.The book follows the rest of Walter's life after the war ended. Disillusioned and suffering from PTSD, he had trouble finding fulfilment in life or in his personal relationships. He did become an expert witness in many trials regarding war crimes. Although the subject matter of Freedland's book is outright appalling and very depressing, I recommend it because of the light it shines on some of the lesser-known horrors of the holocaust.

I liked the book, but did not find the inclusion of much of his personal and family life as relevant to this very important historic story.This biographical story helps us understand how a 17 yr old Jewish prisoner of Auschwitz survived. He trusted no one and tried to appear strong at all times. We read not only of the genocidal destruction of European Jewry, but also, of the massive theft of all possessions of the deported Jews, 90% who would be gassed upon arrival. Walter Rosenberg worked on the railroad unloading ramp and thereafter was a prisoner registrar. Each of these positions allowed him to survive to age 19 and escape with Alfred Wexler, a Czech on April 7, 1944.After surviving the escape and travelling for 11 nights they were interrogated separately by a Slovakian Jewish council to corroborate the story of the horror of Auschwitz. Walter, now Rudolf Vrba, was most frustrated as there were repeated delays by the Slovakian and Hungarian Jewish councils to warn the Hungarian Jewish population of their impending deportation and death. Repeatedly Rudi had stated that if the targeted population would know of their ultimate fate, perhaps just a few would flee, revolt, or fight back.A very important historic incident is mentioned. This involved Walter's dealing with Rezso Kastner head of the Budapest Jewish Council. Kastner had an arrangement with Adolph Eichman to allow 1684 Jews, many of whom were friends, family, townspeople, and wealthy to escape on a train to Switzerland, if Kastner and council did not warn the Jewish population of the Auschwitz death factory. Kastner kept his deal with Eichman. This issue was a gut-wrenching political and ethical debate in Israel in the years to follow.Freedland credits the Israeli academic, Ruth Linn for presenting information about Rudolf Vrba, who escaped Auschwitz and yet whose name and exploits were missing from Israeli school textbooks and historic books, other than reference to "two Slovakian Jews" who escaped. Regardless of the political push-back, Vrba was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Haifa 1998. Although Vrba was not personally present to testify at the Adolf Eichman trial, he did testify at other war criminal trials, and in Canada was a key expert witness at the trial of a major Holocaust denier, Zundel.After the war, Vrba worked as a research scientist in Switzerland, Israel, England, and Canada. Ruth Linn discovered him as a scientific recluse in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of British Columbia and despite his many rejections of her, he finally consented to meet and to tell her his story in the book "Escaping Auschwitz, a Culture of Forgetting". It is complementary to Freedland's book.There is now an annual Rudolf Vrba Lectureship at the University of British Columbia. The topic alternates each year between Pharmaceutical Science and Holocaust History. It is most fitting that the name of this brave hero has been kept alive by outstanding scientists and historians who remember his deeds. I had the honor of knowing Rudolf Vrba. When asked how he survived he repeated said; "never show weakness".

A fine account of the first prisoners to escape Auschwitz and live to tell its story to others in real time. How the information is then utilized becomes another story in and of itself, and is not so pretty. Well worth the read.

This is a very well written book. Well researched and intriguing. It captures the readers imagination from the beginning to the end. What a story!

Heart wrenching. NEVER AGAIN. The world should never allow tyrants to dictate who shall live and who shall die. Wake up. Educate yourself. Be informed. Pay attention. Flourish. Don't just survive. Shalom.

This is one of the best books I have Ever read! I could not wait to see what happened next. It was sad what this man went through but such an amazing story of determination, strength, and survival. Definitely a must read!!!!!

This is the fascinating story of Rudolf Vrba, who in 1944 became the first Jew to break out of Auschwitz and one of only a tiny number who achieve this feat (many others tried, but as the book painfully relates, most failed and ended in death for the prisoners - and others).It is as I said a fascinating story, with the details of how Vrba achieved his feat described at great length - achieved through a combination of intelligence, tenacity and (as the narrative frequently acknowledges) a fair dollop of good luck at crucial points. The overwhelming tragedy of life and death in a Nazi concentration camp is portrayed at great length - the random pointless cruelties contrasted with the occasional flashes of humanity and courage, the everyday precariousness of an existence which could be extinguished at any moment, and the brutally efficient and utterly merciless killing machine behind "the final solution". Reading all this is as powerful and sobering as always. We must never forget.So why only three stars? Partly I think the book was just too long and repetitive. There is such a thing as too much detail sometimes - and this can get in the way of the story and risks blunting its impact. What's more, even after Vrba finally escapes to inform the wider world about what is going on in the death camps, there's still a lot of the book left. Some of this is, in a way, even more difficult to read than the parts set within Auschwitz, as we learn of the opportunities missed by the Allies to possibly put a stop to the appalling genocide sooner than they finally did, even once they knew what was happening - and, every day, more and more jews were being shipped to their doom. (Although, as the book also acknowledges, ending the slaughter quickly - before Germany was actually conquered - was not necessarily straightforward; but it seems likely that at least more could have been done.)The later part of the book focuses on Vrba's later life, and this is frankly less interesting. I suspect most readers will be most interested in the actual escape, which is what the book is after all mean to be about, rather than a complete biography of this admittedly fascinating character.

This is a fantastic True story of the Holocaust. It's both quite horrific and uplifting at the same time. I thought I knew quite a bit about the Holocaust,but this really opened my eyes. Should be essential reading in schools.

I would recommend this book to everybody.It's hard to say why except to say it's both undeniable and unbelievable.

Having heard this story on the Amazon podcast "the rest is history" I had to buy this book.Very graphic and although in good with my history I have certainly learnt a whole lot more reading this book.Some of it is very harrowing, but one you've started you can't put it down, finished in a day and a half it was that captivating

This is a truly harrowing book about one man's experiences during the war and how his mission was to escape from Auschwitz to tell the world of the horrific atrocities being carried out.I was truly shocked at some of the lethargy and inaction of those 'in power' who finally understood what was happening. It is clear that the effects of the war carried on into the whole life of this man.A book that needs to be read for anyone studying or with an interest in the history of World War 2.