88: Jonathan Freedland: The Escape Artist, Rudolf Vrba. The teenage Jew who escaped Auschwitz

Only four Jewish prisoners ever escaped the vicious SS guards, their ferocious dogs, rows of tall electrified fences and men on watchtowers wielding automatic weapons of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

But Walter Rosenberg, just 19-years-old used knowledge, cunning and patience to do what no Jew had done before.

He and Alfred Wetzler, in his early twenties, escaped from Auschwitz. But Walter, later to become Rudolf Vrba, hasn't been legendized like others who emerged from what became known as the Holocaust.

Until now. Because his audacious breakout with Fred saved the lives of 200,000 Jews, mostly from Budapest. They revealed Europe’s depraved undertaking to destroy its Jews - and warn those yet to be uprooted - Hungary’s Jews - of their inevitable destruction - if they got on trains bound for “new lives in the east” as they were told.

Even if those in power had known about the mass extermination of the Jews for sometime, their vivid Auschwitz attracted mass media and exerted political pressure. And Rudi had something else which marked him out, being young and fit was one thing, but he also had an extraordinary capacity for memory: counting and record keeping in his head.

It enabled him to write a comprehensive 32 page report with Fred to reveal the precise hell they’d come from. The media was alerted and it ended up in the hands of Churchill, Roosevelt and the Pope. This is the life story of Rudolf Vrba, The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland.

This is a special interview as I've been friends with Jonny for 40 years and we talk about a few other parts of our friendship too. Jonny Gould's Jewish State podcast is supported by Dangoor Education.

You can buy The Escape Artist right here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Escape-Artist-Broke-Auschwitz-World/dp/1529369045 Help support Jonny Gould’s Jewish State (including Gift Aid) at https://www.donorbox.org/jgpodcast

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