ECPA 2015 Christian Book Award Finalist!
2014 finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards!
Evil, unchecked, is the prelude to genocide.
As the Nazi war machine rolls across Europe, young Jacob Weisz is forced to flee his beloved Germany and join an underground resistance group in Belgium. But when a rescue operation goes horribly wrong, Jacob finds himself trapped in a crowded cattle car headed to … finds himself trapped in a crowded cattle car headed to southern Poland.
Sentenced to hard labor in the Auschwitz labor camp, Jacob forms an unlikely alliance with Jean-Luc Leclerc, a former assistant pastor who was imprisoned for helping Jews. They’ve been chosen for one of the most daring and dangerous feats imaginable—escape from Auschwitz. With no regard for their own safety, they must make it to the West and alert the Allies to the awful truth of what is happening in Poland before Fascism overtakes all of Europe. The fate of millions hangs in the balance.
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I love books about WWII. My mother is from Europe and escaped Hitler’s army. This is the story of a man who is taken to auschwitz and helps so very many escape. A true hero. Loved the book.
If you love history, this book is for you… It grabbed my attention as soon as I opened it, and held me in suspense until the last page was read. A must read!
For those who are students of the Holocaust but want an easier read, this may be the way to go. Historically accurate along with inclusion of the human emotions and fears. Relationships in the story are not fully developed, but the story keeps moving to reveal some of the incidents that happened during the Holocaust. There are some scenes where the author jumps and leaves you guessing a bit on what happened in between the incidents.
This is a MUST READ for anyone that is into WW2 Historical Fiction. It was very well written and I could not put it down no matter how hard I tried.
This is the story of Jacob Weisz. He flees Germany to join the underground resistance during WWII. In the process of trying to help prisoners on a train escape, he gets locked in and finds himself on his way to Auschwitz. Because he isn’t accounted for, a man on the train gives him his son’s name, so that when he gets to the camp, he won’t be shot immediately.
While at Auschwitz, Jacob is pulled into a group of prisoners who are planning an escape to tell the outside world what is going on in the camps. He becomes friends with a man name Jean-Luc Leclerc who is a Christian who was imprisoned helping Jews. They become a team when escaping Aushwitz, and are on a mission to tell the West what is happening in Poland.
This was a really good book on a lot of levels. For one – it has an amazing quote. One of the best I have ever seen:
“If you ask me, the question shouldn’t be ‘Why are you, a Christian, here in a death camp, condemned for trying to save Jews?’ The real question is…’Why aren’t all the Christians here?'”
The story, as always, it heart wrenching. What was witnessed inside these camps, and how the outside world was lead to believe that nothing was happening inside these camps but hard labor, is almost hard to imagine.
But – on the other hand…..this book was a bit preachy. It geared a bit more toward the religious differences between Jews and Christians and Bible passages that it took away from what I believe was the real story – the horrors of Auschwitz. I think this book could have been a couple hundred pages shorter and still been excellent if you take out the unnecessary religious spin.
It was worth the read. And you can always skim the heavy religious sections to get to the more detailed story. You can tell the author did his research regarding the camps. So it might be something you don’t want to miss.
Joel is one of my favorite authors – I read every book he writes!! This books is deeply moving – closely based on the read life men who lived the horror of WW!! The world needs the truth about evil & what it is done throughout History — and about those who brought light to a dark world by the lives they lived, and how they died.
I felt the emotional pain and fear of the characters! Powerfully moving story!
Beautifully crafted, heartbreaking.
The story involves a German Jew who goes from the Resistance to Auschwitz were he escapes and goes to the allies to let them know what is going on in Auschwitz