“The Escape Artist”, a new book by Jonathan Freedland, honours the memory of two brave and determined men who helped save some of the last Jews of Europe
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskVrba’s extraordinary memory was his curse and a salvation. His curse, because he could never forget the columns of terrified Jews on the ramp at Birkenau, the corpses he had to carry or the smoke spiralling out of the crematoria. A salvation, because the details he memorised eventually helped stop the deportation trains.
Vrba and Wetzler hoped that by alerting the Hungarian Jewish leadership—and the world—to the reality of Auschwitz, they would save Hungary’s Jews. Their report reached Budapest at the end of April 1944. Yet between May and July Hungarian officials enthusiastically deported almost 440,000 Jews from the provinces to Auschwitz, most of whom were killed on arrival.
The underlying point about the report’s reception is wider, and profound. Vrba was sure, says Mr Freedland, that “facts could save lives”. Yet, he observes, “only when information is combined with belief does it become knowledge.” If the facts are unpalatable or outlandish—as the hell of the camp seemed to many Jews, and some Allied leaders—denial and cognitive dissonance can stifle the urge to act.
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