George Mantello, First Secretary of the El Salvador Consulate in Geneva from 1942 to 1945, defied strict censorship to launch a press campaign against the daily deportation of 12,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz. This is the true story of one man’s efforts to bring horrific news of the Nazi genocide to the Swiss public and to the rest of the world. Armed with this information, prominent Swiss church leaders and theologians condemned the unfolding Holocaust from their pulpits, spurring large public demonstrations. In 400 articles appearing in 120 newspapers, Mantello reached opinion makers throughout the world community. International pressure halted the Hungarian deportations, and Mantello distributed thousands of Salvadoran citizenship papers to Jews in Nazi-occupied territories. In addition to Mantello’s role, Kranzler shows how Swiss theologians such as karl barth and paul Vogt mobilized thousands of Christians against the Germans and against the indifference of the Swiss government and the International Red Cross. This fresh look at the intersection of politics and religion also allows for a new assessment of Swiss complicity in the crimes of the Nazi Third Reich.
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Frank Baron emigrated to the United States in 1947. After studies at universities in Illinois, Indiana, Marburg and Göttingen, he received his doctorate from the University of California in Berkeley. He began teaching German language and literature at the University of Kansas in 1970. Together with the Hungarian journalist Sándor Szenes, he published a study about the Auschwitz Report of Vrba and Wetzler. His work as director of the Max Kade Center for German-American Studies resulted in a digital library for Alexander von Humboldt and a book on Abraham Lincoln and the German immigrants. He has published books and articles on the history of Renaissance humanism, origins and evolution of the Faust legend, and the works of Rilke, Thomas Mann, and Herman Hesse.
From the publisher. Marion Schreiber's gripping book about the only Nazi death train in World War II to be ambushed draws on private documents, photographs, archive material, and police reports, as well as original research, including interviews with the surviving escapees. One day in April, 1943, resistance fighter Youra Livchitz, a young doctor, discovered the departure date of the next transport train and recruited two school friends to pull off one of the most daring rescues of the entire war. Equipped with only three pairs of pliers, a hurricane lamp covered in red paper, and a single pistol, the men ambushed the train, which was transporting 1,618 Jews to Auschwitz. These three lone men freed seventeen men and women before the German guards opened fire. Miraculously, by the time the convoy had reached the German border another 225 prisoners had managed to escape unharmed and found shelter with the locals. In a testament to the solidarity of the Belgians, no one was betrayed. No one, that is, except the three young rescuers, who were turned in by a double agent, imprisoned, and killed. Like Schindler's List, The Twentieth Train creates a vivid, moving portrait of heroism under impossible circumstances.
The Stunning and Emotional Autobiography of an Auschwitz Survivor April 7, 1944—This date marks the successful escape of two Slovak prisoners from one of the most heavily-guarded and notorious concentration camps of Nazi Germany. The escapees, Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, fled over one hundred miles to be the first to give the graphic and detailed descriptions of the atrocities of Auschwitz. Originally published in the early 1960s, I Escaped from Auschwitz is the striking autobiography of none other than Rudolf Vrba himself. Vrba details his life leading up to, during, and after his escape from his 21-month internment in Auschwitz. Vrba and Wetzler manage to evade Nazi authorities looking for them and make contact with the Jewish council in Zilina, Slovakia, informing them about the truth of the “unknown destination” of Jewish deportees all across Europe. This first-hand report alerted Western authorities, such as Pope Pius XII, Winston Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, to the reality of Nazi annihilation camps—information that until then had only been recognized as nasty rumors. I Escaped from Auschwitz is a close-up look at the horror faced by the Jewish people in Auschwitz and across Europe during World War II. This newly edited translation of Vrba’s memoir will leave readers reeling at the terrors faced by those during the Holocaust. Despite the profound emotions brought about by this narrative, readers will also find an astounding story of heroism and courage in the face of seemingly hopeless circumstances.
Written in Auschwitz itself and translated for the first time ever into English, this one-of-a-kind, minute-by-minute true account is a crucial historical testament to a Holocaust survivor's fight for his life at the largest extermination camp in Nazi Germany. "We know that there is only one ending to this, only one liberation from this barbed wire hell: death." -- Eddy de Wind In 1943, amidst the start of German occupation, Eddy de Wind worked as a doctor at Westerbork, a Dutch transit camp. His mother had been taken to this camp by Nazis but Eddy was assured by the Jewish Council she would be freed in exchange for his labor. He later found out she'd already been transferred to Auschwitz. While at Westerbork, he fell in love with a woman named Friedel and they married. One year later, they were transported to Auschwitz. Upon arrival, Friedel and Eddy were separated -- Eddy forced to work as a medical assistant in one barrack, Friedel at the mercy of Nazi experimentation in a nearby block. Sneaking moments with his beloved and communicating whenever they could, Eddy longed for the day he could be free with Friedel . . . Written in the camp itself in the weeks following the Red Army's liberation of the camp, Last Stop Auschwitz is the raw, true account of Eddy's experiences at Auschwitz. In stunningly poetic prose, he provides unparalleled access to the horrors he faced in the concentration camp. Including photos from Eddy's life before, during, and after the Holocaust, this poignant memoir is at once a moving love story, a detailed portrayal of the atrocities of Auschwitz, and an intelligent consideration of the kind of behavior -- both good and evil -- people are capable of. Never before published in English, this book is a vital and enduring document: a testament to the strength of the human spirit, and a warning against the depths we can sink to when prejudice is given power.
The Last Train is the harrowing true story about young brothers Paul and Oscar Arato and their mother, Lenke, surviving the Nazi occupation during the final years of World War II. Living in the town of Karcag, Hungary, the Aratos feel insulated from the war -- even as it rages all around them. Hungary is allied with Germany to protect its citizens from invasion, but in 1944 Hitler breaks his promise to keep the Nazis out of Hungary. The Nazi occupation forces the family into situations of growing panic and fear: first into a ghetto in their hometown; then a labor camp in Austria; and, finally, to the deadly Bergen Belsen camp deep in the heart of Germany. Separated from their father, 6-year-old Paul and 11-year-old Oscar must care for their increasingly sick mother, all while trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy amid the horrors of the camp. In the spring of 1945, the boys see British planes flying over the camp, and a spark of hope that the war will soon end ignites. And then, they are forced onto a dark, stinking boxcar by the Nazi guards. After four days on the train, the boys are convinced they will be killed, but through a twist of fate, the train is discovered and liberated by a battalion of American soldiers marching through Germany. The book concludes when Paul, now a grown man living in Canada, stumbles upon photographs on the internet of his train being liberated. After writing to the man who posted the pictures, Paul is presented with an opportunity to meet his rescuers at a reunion in New York -- but first he must decide if he is prepared to reopen the wounds of his past.
Over ten days in 1943 Berlin, six teenagers witness and try to escape the Nazi round-ups. This young adult thriller is based on real events and inspired by hidden stories of Nazi genocide. Giving voice to the unheard victims of Nazism — the Roma, the disabled, intermarried Jews, homosexuals, political enemies of the regime — this thriller will change how we think about Holocaust history. Suitable for age 13 and up, TRAIN is an edge-of-your-seat page-turner that will inspire and surprise students and adults alike. "A stunning achievement... From the start, TRAIN's historically grounded depiction of Hitler's young victims creates unrelenting compassion and suspense."— Dr. Phyllis Lassner, Holocaust scholar "TRAIN not only fills a gap in Holocaust literature; it is also powerful, moving, and hard to put down."— Alexis Storch, The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education "TRAIN will change the way we think about Holocaust history."— Ellen Rago, Social Studies Teacher "TRAIN is an essential read for Holocaust and Genocide educators, students, and anyone who believes in the profound power of brilliant storytelling, the resilience of the human spirit, and the need to shed light on and bring a voice to the often shadowed narratives of the Holocaust."— Kelley Szany, Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center Marko screwed up. But he's good at swallowing his fear. By now, the 17-year-old 'Gypsy' should be far from Nazi Germany. By now, he should be with Alex. That's how they planned it. But while Marko has managed to escape the Gestapo, Alex has been arrested in the final round-ups of Berlin's Jews. Even worse, Marko's little cousin Kizzy is missing. And Marko knows he's to blame. Yet the tides of war are turning. With hundreds of Christian women gathered in the streets to protest the round-ups, the Nazis have suspended the trains to the camps. But for how long? Marko must act now. Against time, and with British warplanes bombing Berlin, Marko hatches a dangerous plan to rescue Alex and find Kizzy. There are three people who can help: Marko's sister with her connections to the Resistance, Alex's Catholic stepsister, and a mysterious Nazi girl with a deadly secret. But will Marko own up to how Kizzy disappeared? And then there's the truth about Alex — they just wouldn't understand.
The Young Adult Adaptation of the True Story of the Rescue of a Holocaust Death Train in World War IIAS A YOUNG TEEN living a comfortable life with family, what do you do when the Germans march into your town to persecute you, and your neighbors and your friends turn their backs? As life turns upside-down and you are now a young prisoner-fighting for survival in a concentration camp and FORCED TO BOARD A DEATH TRAIN to nowhere-how do you go on as people are dying all around you?AS A YOUNG AMERICAN SOLDIER in World War II, fighting brutal battles across Europe-having been shot at and shelled, having seen your friends killed, and no longer even able to remember what your own mother looks like-what is the plan when you STUMBLE ACROSS A HOLOCAUST TRAIN full of suffering families that shocks you to your core, even after you think you have seen it all? And what happens when the SOLDIERS AND SURVIVORS again MEET FACE TO FACE, seven decades later? "I survived because of many miracles. but for me to actually meet and cry together with my liberators-the 'angels of life' who literally gave me back my life-was just beyond imagination!" -Leslie Meisels, Holocaust survivor
“How can you do this work if you have a child?” asked her mother. “It is because I have a child that I do it,” replied Cecile. “This is not a world I wish her to grow up in.” On January 24, 1943, 230 women were placed in four cattle trucks on a train in Compiegne, in northeastern France, and the doors bolted shut for the journey to Auschwitz. They were members of the French Resistance, ranging in age from teenagers to the elderly, women who before the war had been doctors, farmers’ wives, secretaries, biochemists, schoolgirls. With immense courage they had taken up arms against a brutal occupying force; now their friendship would give them strength as they experienced unimaginable horrors. Only forty-nine of the Convoi des 31000 would return from the camps in the east; within ten years, a third of these survivors would be dead too, broken by what they had lived through. In this vitally important book, Caroline Moorehead tells the whole story of the 230 women on the train, for the first time. Based on interviews with the few remaining survivors, together with extensive research in French and Polish archives, A Train in Winter is an essential historical document told with the clarity and impact of a great novel. Caroline Moorehead follows the women from the beginning, starting with the disorganized, youthful and high-spirited activists who came together with the Occupation, and chronicling their links with the underground intellectual newspapers and Communist cells that formed soon afterwards. Postering and graffiti grew into sabotage and armed attacks, and the Nazis responded with vicious acts of mass reprisal – which in turn led to the Resistance coalescing and developing. Moorehead chronicles the women’s roles in victories and defeats, their narrow escapes and their capture at the hands of French police eager to assist their Nazi overseers to deport Jews, resisters, Communists and others. Their story moves inevitably through to its horrifying last chapters in Auschwitz: murder, starvation, disease and the desperate struggle to survive. But, as Moorehead notes, even in the most inhuman of places, the women of the Convoi could find moments of human grace in their companionship: “So close did each of the women feel to the others, that to die oneself would be no worse than to see one of the others die.” Uncovering a story that has hitherto never been told, Caroline Moorehead exhibits the skills that have made her an acclaimed biographer and historian. In this book she places the reader utterly in the world of wartime France, casting light on what it was like to experience horrific terrors and face impossible moral dilemmas. Through the sensitive interviews on which the book is based, she tells personal and individual stories of courage, solace and companionship. In this way, A Train in Winter ultimately becomes a valuable memorial to a unique group of heroines, and a testimony to the particular power of women’s friendship even in the worst places on earth.
