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The Auschwitz Escape  By  cover art

The Auschwitz Escape

By: Joel C. Rosenberg
Narrated by: Christopher Lane
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Publisher's summary

A terrible darkness has fallen upon Jacob Weisz’s beloved Germany. The Nazi regime, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, has surged to power and now hold Germany by the throat. All non-Aryans - especially Jews like Jacob and his family - are treated like dogs.

When tragedy strikes during one terrible night of violence, Jacob flees and joins rebel forces working to undermine the regime. But after a raid goes horribly wrong, Jacob finds himself in a living nightmare - trapped in a crowded, stinking car on the train to the Auschwitz death camp.

As World War II rages and Hitler begins implementing his "final solution" to systematically and ruthlessly exterminate the Jewish people, Jacob must rely on his wits and a God he’s not sure he believes in to somehow escape from Auschwitz and alert the world to the Nazi’s atrocities before Fascism overtakes all of Europe. The fate of millions hangs in the balance.

©2014 Joel C. Rosenberg (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

What listeners say about The Auschwitz Escape

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The Auschwitz Escape

The Auschwitz Escape is a compilation of everything a person educated in the Holocaust has read and, over the years, been told. If you are familiar with the events, there are no surprises … if you are not, it is a novel based on historical events you should understand and “never forget”.

At approximately fifteen hours of listening, The Auschwitz Escape is just that … an escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland near the end of WWII. It is a novel, although the book refers to several historical individuals of the time. If you are interested in the actual events, there are documentaries and books created by survivors. For example, Night – by Elie Wiesel. Rosenberg indicates the Germans had the resources to send out aircraft to chase down prison escapees – didn’t make sense given it’s so late in the war – 1944. Dramatic license? Maybe they did … but it’s a credibility issue to research.

At just under fifteen hours of listening, The Auschwitz Escape was released in 2014 by Brilliance Audio and, narrated by Christopher Lane … Lane is excellent.

Worth the read, the story is based on fact – this horror really happened, and there is proof. The gas chambers and ovens are still there…..

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8 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars

A sense realism following Auschwitz-Birkenau visit

If you could sum up The Auschwitz Escape in three words, what would they be?

Realistic, horrifying, saddening...

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

I felt that the best part of the book was from the beginning to the time of the escape. The account of life in Auschwitz I appears to me to have been spot on. After the escape, the story became somewhat predictable and less engaging.

What about Christopher Lane’s performance did you like?

Pretty well over all, but sometimes the accent seemed a bit overplayed.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination campus on October 23, 2015. I chose to read this book to learn more about the Nazi death camps. This book had a tremendous sense of realism following my visit. I could see each scene in my mind's eye. It was therefore a difficult read. I don't believe that I have ever visited a sadder place in my life. I was deeply touched by this experience - one I will never forget. I think that it would be good if everyone had - in some minor way - a better understanding of the holocaust. We would be less prone to making mistakes in dealing with people who are different from us. These lessons would be quite applicable to the current Syrian refugee problem.

Any additional comments?

I felt that the presentation was somewhat irregular in terms of what life must have been like in the two campus. Perhaps this was necessary due to the changing perspectives of the protagonist in Auschwitz I and then Birkenau.

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7 people found this helpful

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In the top books I ever read

This book is equal to Uncle Tom's cabin in it's revelation of the fullest extent of evil in this world. So many people were brainwashed into thinking the Jews were not Human, which opened the doors to unspeakable atrocities, much like slaves were deemed less than human which led to atrocities in that age, and today, it's the unborn child that is seen as being less than human (hopefully that book will come soon).unfortunately, no matter how civilized we think we are, evil continues to manifest itself in new and creative ways, all the while with great justifications, even from Christians.

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6 people found this helpful

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Captivating

Loved it. Very moving. My wife and I couldn't stop listening to it. It makes you thankful for the price others paid for your freedom.

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5 people found this helpful

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Recommend this

Wow, this is an amazing book. Read a lot of books about the holocaust, however this book takes it to a deeper level.
Couldn’t stop reading and made a lasting impression. Highly recommend this book!

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Good WWII story with historical theme.

I was a little leery of this book because I find Holocaust books slightly depressing. Although this goes into depth about the horrors of Auschwitz, it is not the central focus of the book, As the name describes, it really about escaping from the death camp. Accordingly, it is decent thriller about planning and executing an escape from the camp by the lead character Jacob Stein. Prior to the chapters that take place in the concentration camp, about a third of the book is about the Jewish resistance., and the last third takes place after Jacob escapes. I am not giving anything away because based on title you kind of know he will. It is well written and the narration is fairly good. In summary if you like WW II books you will like this. Also you won't feel too badly just reading a "thriller" because there is some history.

Interestingly, much of the book focuses on preventing the prisoners in camp from escaping so the " word" wont get out about what is going on in camps. If 10 million people knew was in store for them, The Nazis would have a much more difficult time as they experienced in the Warsaw Ghetto. So a free and open press is required in any democracy. Without it you have tyranny.

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Questionable accuracy and dicey performance

Really disliked this. The basics for the background were not there and the narrator was not the best at multiple voices. Hard to finish

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4 people found this helpful

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Poor attempt at historical fiction

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Good historical fiction requires research on the place and period. It lets you see and feel what it would have been like to live in that time. This was not good historical fiction. It was full of anachronisms, and ridiculous simplicities. It had no concept of german/nazi military structure, or the greater culture in which it existed.

One real annoying thing was the protagonist magically crosses europe, and that atlantic ocean in the middle of the war and makes his way to Washington DC! That is but one of the ridiculous bits in this story. Of course, his trip the White House is close on the heals with its implausibility.

What was most disappointing about Joel C. Rosenberg’s story?

I was really put off at the author's continual attempt to weave his christianity into the story. This was a story about the Jewish Holocaust, but the author takes every chance to tell us how wonderful and courageous christians were in standing up to the Nazis...Um, Europe was nearly 99% christian before and during the holocaust (99.999% after).

If I had known this was some cheesy religious propoganda piece I would have avoided it.

Have you listened to any of Christopher Lane’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

He was good, just had a bad book to read.

Any additional comments?

Dont get this book if you like well researched and presented historical fiction.

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4 people found this helpful

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Amazing story

Would you consider the audio edition of The Auschwitz Escape to be better than the print version?

yes, Christopher Lane does a fantastic job narrating.

What does Christopher Lane bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He does a great job with the different accents, and doesn't over-do any of them.

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Joel C. Rosenberg writes another must read book

What did you love best about The Auschwitz Escape?

It is a true story about hope and courage in the most deplorable conditions man can experience.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Obviously any story about the Holocaust makes one want to cry. How mankind can do this to their own is horror beyond words.

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