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Impossible Escape: A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe

by Steve Sheinkin

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746379,386 (4.25)None
Biography & Autobiography. History. Young Adult Nonfiction. HTML:From three-time National Book Award finalist and Newbery Honor author Steve Sheinkin, a true story of two Jewish teenagers racing against time during the Holocaust?one in hiding in Hungary, and the other in Auschwitz, plotting escape.
It is 1944. A teenager named Rudolf (Rudi) Vrba has made up his mind. After barely surviving nearly two years in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, he knows he must escape. Even if death is more likely.
Rudi has learned the terrible secret hidden behind the heavily guarded fences of concentration camps across Nazi-occupied Europe: the methodical mass killing of Jewish prisoners. As trains full of people arrive daily, Rudi knows that the murders won’t stop until he reveals the truth to the world?and that each day that passes means more lives are lost.
Lives like Rudi’s schoolmate Gerta Sidonová. Gerta’s family fled from Slovakia to Hungary, where they live under assumed names to hide their Jewish identity. But Hungary is beginning to cave under pressure from German Nazis. Her chances of survival become slimmer by the day.
The clock is ticking. As Gerta inches closer to capture, Rudi and his friend Alfred Wetzler begin their crucial steps towards an impossible escape.
This is the true story of one of the most famous whistleblowers in the world, and how his death-defying escape helped save over 100,000 lives.
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This book weaves the stories of Rudi and Gerta during World War II and puts them in context of the timeline of the larger war. Rudi is in Auschwitz for two years trying to survive, develop a plan to escape, and driven by the idea of sharing the secrets of what is happening. It's a compelling nonfiction read. Highly researched, written in a way that reads like fiction but teaches a tremendous amount about the horrors of the Holocaust and the camps.
There is a subplot about the story of Gerta who tries to make it through the war hiding with her parents in Hungary.
Reccomend. ( )
  ewyatt | Oct 5, 2024 |
After 2 years in Auschwitz suffering but learning everything aboutt the death camp Rudi Vrba finally decided on the best way to 'escape. He wanted to save his own life but more imporantly he wanted to save as many others as possible. He needed to inform and warn Jewish authorities about the the abuse, torture, starvation and annihilation taking place in Auschwitz on a massive scale by hitler and the nazis.

In literally an impossible escape he succeeds in informing the world about the horrors of Auschwitz but sadly it takes time for the wheels to be set in motion to slow the killings and camp operations down. Vrba may have saved over 200,000 lives!

Book get into the details of the gory sophisticated and efficient system the nazis used to kill millions of Jews as quickly as possible in gas chambers made to look like showers, then to burn the bodies in massive ovens and bury the ashy remains in the ground and in local waterways.

Vrba memorized maps of Poland, Slovakia and the blueprint configurations of Auschwitz to relay to the outside world.

Amazing book about fighting evil and what a few people can accomplish with determination, patience and thought.
  Bookish59 | Aug 23, 2024 |
I try to read most of what Steven Sheinkin writes. As a middle school librarian, he's such a great narrative non-fiction writer for students who are 12 - 15 and are interested in history.

In this trip into history, we meet Rudi Vrba, a Jew, who wants to fight against Hitler. He leaves home only to get captured. Twice. He ends up in Auschwitz. We learn that people live about five months here; Rudi makes it 18 months before escaping. His story tells what it was really like to live in Auschwitz, probably the most infamous camp. He tells of the other Jews and what happened to them as well as the jobs that he has. I truly believe that luck determines much during war. So many Jews were killed; Rudi was lucky to live. There's no other way around it. He admits it. He believes that the world needs to know what is happening to the Jews who are "relocated." He wants the truth to be revealed, which is why the security is so tight and cruel. He believes the Nazis don't want the world to know. Because of his escape, Rudi tells the world and saves Jews that would have been transported in some of the last transports of Jews to concentration camps. The world pressures Hungary to stop aiding Hitler in moving the Jews. It works. So many had already been killed, but many believe 100,000 were saved because of Rudi's testimony. Quite honestly, it's hard to hear about life in the camp and then go eat, sleep in a good bed, and live an easy life.

Gerta stays safe, hiding by lying low with her family, hoping they don't get relocated. Gerta believes her family don't understand what's truly happening and living their lives without seeming to care about then people suffering. She worries constantly about being taken. Eventually, Gerta's father is arrested. Gerta and her mother keep moving about and trying to stay unnoticed. Toward the end of the war, Gerta begins helping with the resistance and gets arrested for hiding her identity as a Jew. She and her mother remain together.

All in all, this book tells the story of bravery, chance, and luck in the face of try evil. It's a story that cannot be forgotten, for history is doomed to repeat itself. These atrocities should not be repeated. As hard as it is, continue to read history and to learn. ( )
  acargile | Apr 6, 2024 |
Gr 8 Up—In vivid language, Sheinkin recounts Rudi Vrba's harrowing escape from the camps during World War II
while contextualizing history appropriate for the intended audience. The narrative also tells of the survival of
classmate Gerta Sidonová, living under an assumed identity. Dual stories build suspense while championing the
teens' survival.
  BackstoryBooks | Apr 1, 2024 |
First sentence: Rudi would find a way to fight Adolf Hitler. It can be said, without risk of exaggeration, that he would go on to be--while still a teenager--one of the great heroes of the entire Second World War. But not in a way he ever could have imagined.

Premise/plot: Nonfiction for middle school and high school. To be fair, nonfiction for everyone. [But I might be biased in thinking everyone needs to read World War II books, in particular books about the Holocaust.] This one tells the story of two teens: Rudolph (Rudi) Vrba and Gerta Sidonová.

My thoughts: I had read about Rudi Vrba [Walter Rosenberg] before in an adult book. So I knew what to expect. It didn't make this one less necessary. I think it is important for stories to be told to all audiences, in appropriate ways of course. I found it a quick, absorbing read. I think for those that know less it might be even more so.

Last October I read Jonathan Freedland's The Escape Artist. It was an AMAZING, amazing read. Difficult topic/subject to be sure. Definitely thought provoking. This one for young adults seems tamer. But I do think it is still a good read. ( )
  blbooks | Oct 9, 2023 |
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Biography & Autobiography. History. Young Adult Nonfiction. HTML:From three-time National Book Award finalist and Newbery Honor author Steve Sheinkin, a true story of two Jewish teenagers racing against time during the Holocaust?one in hiding in Hungary, and the other in Auschwitz, plotting escape.
It is 1944. A teenager named Rudolf (Rudi) Vrba has made up his mind. After barely surviving nearly two years in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, he knows he must escape. Even if death is more likely.
Rudi has learned the terrible secret hidden behind the heavily guarded fences of concentration camps across Nazi-occupied Europe: the methodical mass killing of Jewish prisoners. As trains full of people arrive daily, Rudi knows that the murders won’t stop until he reveals the truth to the world?and that each day that passes means more lives are lost.
Lives like Rudi’s schoolmate Gerta Sidonová. Gerta’s family fled from Slovakia to Hungary, where they live under assumed names to hide their Jewish identity. But Hungary is beginning to cave under pressure from German Nazis. Her chances of survival become slimmer by the day.
The clock is ticking. As Gerta inches closer to capture, Rudi and his friend Alfred Wetzler begin their crucial steps towards an impossible escape.
This is the true story of one of the most famous whistleblowers in the world, and how his death-defying escape helped save over 100,000 lives.

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