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

Author: Jonathan Freedland

In April 1944, Rudolf Vrba became one of the very first Jews to escape from Auschwitz and make his way to freedom. He did it to reveal the truth about the death camp to the world—and to warn the last Jews of Europe of what fate awaited them. Against all odds, Vrba and his fellow escapee, Fred Wetzler, climbed mountains, crossed rivers, and narrowly missed German bullets to smuggle out the first full account of Auschwitz that the world had ever seen—a forensically detailed report that eventually reached Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and the Pope.

In the end, too few heeded the warning that Vrba had risked everything to deliver. Though he helped save 200,000 Jewish lives, Vrba never stopped believing it could have been so many more.

Paperback

416 pages