MARCH 2023 - AudioFile
This is the rare audiobook that combines an extraordinary story with an exceptional performance by the author. Jonathan Freedland captivates the listener from the beginner with a perfect pace and tone. Unlike most books about Holocaust survivors, Freedland's biography of Walter Rosenberg, the first person to escape from Auschwitz, is uplifting, rather than depressing. After his escape with another prisoner, Rosenberg takes the name of Rudolf Verba to help him survive and achieve his goal of revealing to the world the atrocities being committed by the Nazis. Freedland's delivery is perfect by every measure. It's one of the best performances in this genre--and in the ranks of all audiobooks. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
07/04/2022
Guardian columnist Freedland debuts with a harrowing account of Rudolf Vrba’s escape from Auschwitz and his quest to hold Jewish leaders accountable for failing to prevent more people from dying in the Holocaust. Born Walter Rosenberg in Czechoslovakia (present-day Slovakia) in 1924, Vrba was sent to Auschwitz at age 17. Hoping to escape and prevent more Jews from passively boarding trains to their death, he kept a mental tally of arriving transports and how many people were selected for forced labor or sent directly to the crematorium. In April 1944, Vrba and another prisoner escaped by hiding in a wood pile for three days and nights (using gasoline-soaked tobacco to mask their scent from guard dogs), then crawling underneath a wire fence. After a harrowing journey to Žilina, they met with leaders of the Slovak Jewish Council and compiled a report including transport numbers, estimated deaths, maps, and the names of S.S. officers. Unfortunately, delays in translating and distributing the report resulted in the failure to save hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews who were deported to Auschwitz in May 1944. Vrba, who blamed Hungarian Jewish leader Rezső Kasztner and other Jewish officials for the delays, became a controversial figure, often ignored in histories of the Holocaust. Drawing on interviews with family members and former colleagues, Freedland presents a warts-and-all portrait of Vrba, and vividly captures the horrors of Auschwitz. The result is a noteworthy contribution to the history of the Holocaust. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
"A brilliant and heart-wrenching book, with universal and timely lessons about the power of information - and misinformation. Is it possible to stop mass murder by telling the truth?" — Yuval Noah Harari, bestselling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
“I thought I knew the Auschwitz story, but Freedland retells it from a fresh angle so powerfully that I read it with my heart beating fast, full of horror, rage, despair – and admiration for this potent demonstration of the stubborn resilience of the human spirit.” — Tracy Chevalier, bestselling author of The Girl with the Pearl Earring
"Rudolf Vrba's life story not only meticulously recounts the truth, it also shows the unwillingness and inability of people to accept it. The past isn't over, and Jonathan Freedland's well-researched and compelling book is the irrefutable proof of that." — Roxane van Iperen, author of the New York Times bestselling The Sisters of Auschwitz
"A powerful story of one man’s resilience in the face of extreme evil and the price we pay when indifference rules our response." — Rosemary Sullivan, bestselling author of Stalin’s Daughter and The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation
"This is not only an electrifying work of narrative history, it’s a gripping origin story. The command that we ‘Never Forget’ the Holocaust can rightfully be traced to a young man who exposed the horrors of Auschwitz by virtue of his extraordinary memory and tremendous bravery. As told by the gifted writer Jonathan Freedland, The Escape Artist is a story I’ll always remember.” — Mitchell Zuckoff, New York Times bestselling author of Fall and Rise and 13 Hours
"Rudi Vrba, a Slovakian teenager, got away from Auschwitz, one of only four Jews ever to survive an escape attempt, in order to alert the world to the horrors he witnessed there. Most of his intended recipients declined to read his stomach-churning report, didn’t believe it, or didn’t care. We have it within us to care now. I didn’t know Vrba’s name previously. I will remember it the rest of my life." — Melissa Fay Greene, prizewinning author of The Temple Bombing and Praying for Sheetrock
“A thrilling read, a piece of redemptive storytelling and a work of important Holocaust historical research ... a book that I couldn’t put down.” — Simon Sebag Montefiore
"If you think you know everything you need to know about the Holocaust, Jonathan Freedland's immersive, shattering, and, ultimately redemptive book, will come as a revelation. It's an epic of terror and endurance, personified by the history of a man who, in the deepest pit of hell, grasped that the greatest weapon that could be used against the Nazi Final Solution was the escape, not just of himself, but the truth. Written with Freedland's page-turning, gripping, hard-edged immediacy, The Escape Artist is profound in thought, boundless in humanity, an immediate modern classic in the literature of the ultimate atrocity." — Sir Simon Schama
"This is an indispensable, unflinching, bone-hard book. At one level the story of an audacious break-out, at another it tells of the inhuman methodology of the concentration camp as meticulously documented by a prisoner who had no time for rhetoric or sentimentality but who–tragically–found it harder to get the world to believe what he saw in Auschwitz than it was to escape from it. Compelling reading." — Howard Jacobson, author of the Man Booker Prize winning The Finkler Question
"Drawing on interviews with family members and former colleagues, Freedland presents a warts-and-all portrait of Vrba, and vividly captures the horrors of Auschwitz. The result is a noteworthy contribution to the history of the Holocaust." — Publisher's Weekly
"Freedland tells — with the verve of the best-selling novelist that he is — the story of Rudolf Vrba, the first Jew to successfully escape from Auschwitz. The narrative is extraordinary. In great and heart-stopping detail it tells of Vrba’s plan and how he executed it. It also explains why." — The Jewish Chronicle
"This isn’t a book just about Auschwitz, it’s also a deeply moving biography about Rudolf the man including his (entirely understandably) tempestuous and troubled life after the war. He died almost forgotten, and Freedland’s brilliant research and writing rightly resurrect him. His story must be told and read: a brave man who did his best to warn a world which wouldn’t listen." — Financial Times
“Concentration camp stories make for painful reading, but British journalist and broadcaster Freedland relates a riveting tale with a fascinating protagonist . . . Freedland delivers a gripping description of Vrba and a companion’s planning, breakout, and grueling walk to Slovakia . . . A powerful story of a true hero who deserves more recognition.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland is the incredible but little known story of Rudi Vrba, who escaped from Auschwitz and tried to warn the world, but whose warnings fell mostly on deaf ears. It’s an astonishing account, both of human brutality and resilience, and although it’s non-fiction, it reads like a thriller.” — C.J. Carey, author of Widowland
“[A] riveting and meticulous retelling of Vrba’s courageous and successful escape from Auschwitz and his valiant but failed attempt to sound the alarm about it . . . . While Vrba’s story has partially been told before, including in Claude Lanzmann opus Shoah, it has not until now been developed with the kind of detailed, primary-source research Freedland has conducted.” — The Washington Examiner
“Freedland, a journalist who also writes thrillers under the pseudonym Sam Bourne, is the perfect person to tell Rosenberg’s story: he’s got a journalist’s eye for precise detail and a novelist’s sense of pacing and suspense. Like Neal Bascomb’s The Escape Artists (2018) and Margalit Fox’s The Confidence Men (2021), this spellbinding book tells the kind of true story that, if it were the basis of a work of fiction, might be considered unbelievable.” — Booklist
“Raw and gripping . . . [a] compelling portrait of this neglected hero of Holocaust resistance leaves an inescapable imprint of a past now in danger of being minimized or forgotten. . . . It’s time to honor him for the incredible feat that helped save so many Jewish lives from Nazi extermination.” — Wall Street Journal
“Astonishing . . . An indispensable part of Holocaust history . . . Gripping . . . The most extraordinary Holocaust story you’ve never heard. . . .” — The Guardian
"Excellent . . . thrilling . . . Freedland's book is rich in the kind of details that haunt you long after you have turned the last page." — The Sunday Times (UK)
"Meticulously researched . . . shocking but thrilling, and ultimately overwhelmingly inspiring." — The Daily Mail
"The author Jonathan Freedland . . . takes a fascinating story about an important if forgotten man in history—and he keeps the story from becoming one dimensional. Vrba was indeed a hero, but much of his effort to warn the world fell on deaf ears. And Vrba was himself a man of contradictions. I enjoyed this book immensely. And I was moved by it. I would not be surprised if it becomes a best seller." — Amazon Book Review
“We know about Auschwitz. We know what happened there. But Freedland, with his strong, clear prose and vivid details, makes us feel it . . . . The Escape Artist is riveting history, eloquently written, and scrupulously researched.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“As World War II recedes further into the past, Jonathan Freedland has revived one story from the Holocaust that’s both historically significant and a riveting read. Freedland, the author of several thrillers and a correspondent for The Guardian, writes with a novelist’s verve to tell the story of Rudolf Vrba, the first Jewish person to escape from Auschwitz . . . . The Escape Artist vividly brings his story to a new generation of readers.” — BookPage
“Freedland enthusiastically makes his informal retelling of this story of a daring escape from a horror on an unimaginable scale a particular tale of high adventure.” — New York Journal of Books
“Riveting . . . . The Escape Artist includes harrowing details about Auschwitz that still have the power to shock. But the reactions to Vrba’s testimony by those in power—ranging from lack of interest to outright antisemitism—are nearly as horrifying. . . . The next time an abyss yawns before us—whether it be in Kyiv or in Washington, D.C.—we owe it to them to stare into it." — New York Times
"A study of humanity like no other and an unforgettable read." — Anthony Horowitz, bestselling author of With a Mind to Kill
“Compelling and vivid . . . . With painstaking detail, [Freedland] uncovers the humanity in one of the Shoah’s great witnesses but also brings Vrba’s truth about Nazi inhumanity to a new audience in a riveting, accessible way. It’s a weighty but sharp tale that should become one of the most stunning texts on required high school reading lists of the future.” — The Forward
Financial Times (London)
His story must be told and read: a brave man who did his best to warn a world which wouldn’t listen.”
New York Times bestselling author Tracy Chevalier
I thought I knew the Auschwitz story, but Freedland retells it from a fresh angle so powerfully that I read it with my heart beating fast, full of horror, rage, despair—and admiration for this potent demonstration of the stubborn resilience of the human spirit.”
Jewish Chronicle
The narrative is extraordinary. In great and heart-stopping detail it tells of Vrba’s plan and how he executed it. It also explains why.”
New York Times bestselling author Simon Sebag Montefiore
A thrilling read, a piece of redemptive storytelling, and a work of important Holocaust historical research…a book that I couldn’t put down.”
Tracy Chevalier
I thought I knew the Auschwitz story, but Freedland retells it from a fresh angle so powerfully that I read it with my heart beating fast, full of horror, rage, despair – and admiration for this potent demonstration of the stubborn resilience of the human spirit.”
Yuval Noah Harari
"A brilliant and heart-wrenching book, with universal and timely lessons about the power of information - and misinformation. Is it possible to stop mass murder by telling the truth?"
Mitchell Zuckoff
"This is not only an electrifying work of narrative history, it’s a gripping origin story. The command that we ‘Never Forget’ the Holocaust can rightfully be traced to a young man who exposed the horrors of Auschwitz by virtue of his extraordinary memory and tremendous bravery. As told by the gifted writer Jonathan Freedland, The Escape Artist is a story I’ll always remember.
Sir Simon Schama
"If you think you know everything you need to know about the Holocaust, Jonathan Freedland's immersive, shattering, and, ultimately redemptive book, will come as a revelation. It's an epic of terror and endurance, personified by the history of a man who, in the deepest pit of hell, grasped that the greatest weapon that could be used against the Nazi Final Solution was the escape, not just of himself, but the truth. Written with Freedland's page-turning, gripping, hard-edged immediacy, The Escape Artist is profound in thought, boundless in humanity, an immediate modern classic in the literature of the ultimate atrocity."
Simon Sebag Montefiore
A thrilling read, a piece of redemptive storytelling and a work of important Holocaust historical research ... a book that I couldn’t put down.
Howard Jacobson
"This is an indispensable, unflinching, bone-hard book. At one level the story of an audacious break-out, at another it tells of the inhuman methodology of the concentration camp as meticulously documented by a prisoner who had no time for rhetoric or sentimentality but who–tragically–found it harder to get the world to believe what he saw in Auschwitz than it was to escape from it. Compelling reading."
Library Journal
05/01/2022
An Orwell Prize-winning columnist for the Guardian, Freedland tells the story of 19-year-old Rudolf Vrba, who escaped from Auschwitz in 1944 with fellow inmate Fred Wetzler to warn other Jews of the mass murder transpiring there. With a 100,000-copy first printing.
MARCH 2023 - AudioFile
This is the rare audiobook that combines an extraordinary story with an exceptional performance by the author. Jonathan Freedland captivates the listener from the beginner with a perfect pace and tone. Unlike most books about Holocaust survivors, Freedland's biography of Walter Rosenberg, the first person to escape from Auschwitz, is uplifting, rather than depressing. After his escape with another prisoner, Rosenberg takes the name of Rudolf Verba to help him survive and achieve his goal of revealing to the world the atrocities being committed by the Nazis. Freedland's delivery is perfect by every measure. It's one of the best performances in this genre--and in the ranks of all audiobooks. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2022-07-30
A first-rate account of one of the few Jewish prisoners who escaped Auschwitz.
Concentration camp stories make for painful reading, but British journalist and broadcaster Freedland relates a riveting tale with a fascinating protagonist. Born in 1924 in Czechoslovakia, Rudolf Vrba was a precocious child and superachiever in school. In 1939, Slovakia became an independent, Nazi satellite state. Entirely obedient to Nazism, its government expelled Jews from schools and dismissed them from jobs. In 1942, Vrba received a summons to report for “resettlement.” Understanding the dangerous situation, he tried to escape to England. Caught in Hungary, he was sent to the first of several increasingly barbaric camps, ending in Auschwitz. Through a combination of youth, linguistic ability, and luck, Vrba attained privileges that allowed him to survive from his arrival in June 1942 to his escape in April 1944. Freedland delivers a gripping description of Vrba and a companion’s planning, breakout, and grueling walk to Slovakia, where surviving Jewish officials transcribed their story, which included, from Vrba’s memory, dates and the number of every trainload of Jews, with details of their murder and a map of the camp. By summer, articles about the horrors of the camps began to appear in Western newspapers. Readers will squirm to learn how little Vrba’s spectacular achievement accomplished. Some believed his revelations but not the people that mattered. Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt consulted military leaders, and while they admitted that the Nazis were certainly mistreating Jews, they claimed that the best way to save lives was to win the war quickly. As a result, they ordered that no resources be diverted to projects such as bombing death camps. Freedland smoothly recounts Vrba’s long, often troubled postwar life, during which he persistently criticized Jewish and Israeli leaders who could have resisted the genocide more than they did.
A powerful story of a true hero who deserves more recognition.