Title:

The Escape Artist

Author:

Jonathan Freedland

Category:

Non-Fiction

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

August 13, 2023

hat an astonishing narrative The Escape Artist is. The book is the true life account of Walter Rosenberg, an 18 year old Jewish Slovakian, who ends up imprisoned in Auschwitz. There must be at least twenty events detailed in this book where Rosenberg is a whisker from sure death, and yet each time Lady Luck intervenes. His prospects for survival were literally one in a million, given how few people survived the horrific death camp. I am somewhat surprised that this incredible story of survival isn't more widely known, perhaps on par with The Diary of Anne Frank. I don't think it could be made into a movie though; an accurate video portrayal of what Rosenberg saw and endured would be too hard for viewers to watch.

One of many terrible things recounted in this book is the fact that the Slovak government voluntarily rounded up their Jewish population, even paying the Nazis for their resettlement! People who had Jewish neighbors gladly turned them in so that they could steal their property and land. When Rosenberg is caught, he is sent to a labor camp. But he escapes and makes his way to Hungary. Unfortunately, circumstances end up with him needing to get back to his native Slovak, and he is apprehended at the border, trying to cross back into his home country. This time Rosenberg is crammed on board a train with hundreds of others and finds himself in Poland, at Auschwitz.

Rosenberg is a brilliant young man. He is assigned to various tasks at Auschwitz, and so is a witness to all different aspects of how the death camp operated. At first he couldn't comprehend that Auschwitz was truly built for the purpose of mass murder, he mind could not conceive of such an evil scheme, despite the evidence around him. Rosenberg keeps a running tally in his head of when trains arrive and from where the passengers come from. After his escape, Rosenberg is able to provide an accurate, detailed account of each trainload of victims, and his memorized list checks out each time with known records.

In 1944, Rosenberg hears the German guards joking that soon they will be enjoying Hungarian delicacies (the Germans confiscated food from the trainloads of prisoners) and he realizes that the Nazis are now planning to wipe out the Jewish population of Hungary. He decides that he must get out and warn Hungarians about their imminent fate, and so plans for a desperate escape are formulated. Rosenberg and a trusted friend, Fred Wetzler, hide in a pit beneath a pile of wood on the perimeter of Auschwitz. They scatter Russian tobacco doused in petrol to throw of the scent of the dogs. When their absence is detected at roll call, the Germans guards begin a three day search throughout the camp and perimeter, and though they come extremely close, they fail to detect where Rosenberg and Wetzler are hiding. After three days, the Germans call of the search, assuming that the missing prisoners had somehow breached the perimeter and where already out in the wilderness. With the heightened patrols relaxed again, it is then that Rosenberg and Wetzler creep out of their hiding place and actually exit from the grounds of Auschwitz. They endure a perilous journey south out of Poland and manage to return to Slovakia, hoping to warn the Jewish community of what awaits Jews at Auschwitz.

Unfortunately, when news of the death camp reaches the Allies, they take no action. The Americans and British conclude that the best way to save the most people is to end the war as quickly as possible (Rosenberg is hoping that they will bomb the railroad tracks that carry the Jews to the camp. Indeed, a bombing raid strikes within 5 miles of Auschwitz, but the tracks are never targeted.) When Walter presents his report to the papal envoy, describing the death camp, the man is mostly indifferent - until Rosenberg mentions that the Nazis have also killed hundreds of Catholic priests, which causes the envoy to react in shock and horror. Despite the pending murder of the Hungarian Jewish population by the Nazi's, nothing happens. Rosenberg is infuriated - he believes that if the Jews knew what the Nazis were doing, they would fight back rather than going meekly to their gassing - sure most would still perish, but many more escape and might survive.

After his escape, Walter Rosenberg assumes the fake identity of "Rudolph Vrba". Even after the war ends, he maintains this new persona, and so that remains his name for the rest of the book.

One thing puzzled me: after his escape and recovery, Rosenberg joins the resistance, and is involved in some gun battles with German soldiers. Why didn't Rosenberg and his new compatriots destroy the railroad tracks that carried the Jews to Auschwitz? Rather than waiting futily for bombs to destroy the railroad, why didn't they do it themselves? It would have been less dangerous than pitched gun battles with German outposts, and probably would have had a bigger positive impact.

This is an astonishing book to read. Despite the horrors related about Auschwitz, The Escape Artist is a gripping page-turner.