I Escaped from Auschwitz

The Shocking True Story of the World War II Hero Who Escaped the Nazis and Helped Save Over 200,000 Jews

De: Rudolf Vrba, Alan Bestic, Sir Martin Gilbert - foreword, Robin Vrba - editor, Nikola Zimring - editor

Narrado por: Steven Jay Cohen

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 100 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.

©1964, 2020 Rudolf Vrba Archives, LLC (P)2020 Tantor

Awesome story. Terrible narrator

I loved the story and wished I had just read the book myself. I think I would have enjoyed it more. The narrator started and stopped speaking in weird places and it made it very hard to follow at times. Like trailing off in mid sentence and rolling one sentence into the other where a pause would normally be. The story however was extremely interesting and heartfelt. It’s worth a listen if that’s your preferred method. If not, than I encourage you to grab the book. I will be purchasing it and reading again as I really did enjoy the true life story of a man who escaped and survived the unsurvivable.

Where To Begin?

This is one of those books that I would like to rate really low but not because of the story, author, performance or anything such; but rather, because the reality herein related should not have ever taken place!
I am moved and outraged! Heartbroken and exhilarated, shocked, appalled; extremely sad for humanity, for what was, and for what still is -in so many (other) ways and places every day.
Absolutely NO living being should ever be subjected to such cruelty!

Thank you for sharing your story -along with that of so many others-. May you be blessed. May the souls of those who didn’t make it, find peace and Light. May you wake up one day to find your heart filled with forgiveness. May humanity learn to accept and love each other, and live as One!
Let there be Peace

The large numbers that did not know about the camps

Easy to understand the worst events in world history. No real news about the continued killing of mankind to my knowledge at school studies

The entire history is incredible

I listened to this book 3 times because I was incredulous of what I was hearing. Not the story overall since I have listen to and read quite a few Holocaust, survivors and the World War Two! What I could not get away was about the betrayal, they moneys in question, fact that info was withheld by those that were being affected, the statements that some had to go!!!? It brings more questions, makes it more shelling, especially with what has taken place in the last 75 + years

Excellent except for…

This is an incredible story and an incredible man. It was gripping. The accompanying appendixes are also gripping and Vrba’s clear, precise and well-structured words are very satisfying. The story is very well written and organized - I could not stop listening.

The “except” is the reader. I really like the quality of his voice. It is very believable (could be a 20-year-old) and he coveys emotion well. I am enjoying hearing his voice and I have to admit I don’t like many readers. That part of the reading is making the already amazing story come alive.
So… that only heightens two irritations about him. One is that he pauses at odd times which is distracting. I have upped the speed which helps. Secondly, he cannot correctly prounce basic German (numbers and the word ‘Arbeit’ which if you are reading a story about Auschwitz is something you should know!). He doesn’t know basic pronunciation (v, w, ch, th, ei,!) and emphasizes the wrong syllable (AufräuMUNGSkommando) It is taking me out of the story every time it happens.
I am gripped by the story and it is so well written that this basic mispronunciation is surprising and annoying. Don’t readers research this stuff beforehand? For such an important story in history wouldn’t they make the professional effort to get these things right?!

I’m ya a good read/ listen from the start.

This one got me a few times. Nothing bad but the story itself got me. This story is in my opinion a little different than most of the WW2 stuff I read. Like more personal or something. But yeah. Great listen.

Outstanding.

Extremely upsetting but the story, writing, & performance are all excellent. As a Jew who has visited Dachau & Auschwitz, this really resonates.

Too shocking for tears.

It is amazing to listen to this book as it was so brutally honest, that it made it difficult to cry. You saw from Mr. Vrba’s survival just how viscously brutal the death camps were and yet, there was so much that happened that it was obvious that everything that happened was distilled into a clinical account.

Fascinating account of a truly dark time.

This was an informative book. Well presented and the narrator did a great job. Thank you.

heart breaking

as a 42 yr old woman I learned about this in history but this book is eye opening and heart breaking. I appreciate the delivery of this well write book. The age of this main character hit harder with me as I immediately envisioned my son going through this.