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

 

Over the weekend, I finished reading Impossible Escape: A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe by Steve Sheinkin. This narrative nonfiction book is about two Jewish teenagers from Slovakia, Rudolf (Rudi) Vrba and Gerta Sidonová, who are racing against time to survive the Holocaust during World War II.  At seventeen years old in 1942, Rudi tries to join the fight against Hitler by crossing the border into Hungary and continuing south into Yugoslavia to get on a boat to Great Britain, but he is captured. Through a series of events, he ends up in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Over the next two years, he learns the terrible secret that Jewish prisoners are being murdered methodically and knows he must escape. After barely surviving the next two years, in 1944, Rudi and his friend, Alfred Wetzler, plan their escape, so they can reveal the truth and save lives. Meanwhile, Rudi's schoolmate, Gerta, is in hiding with her family in Hungary after fleeing from Slovakia. As Hungary begins to cave under pressure from Hitler, it becomes less and less likely that she will avoid capture.

This book was such a captivating read. I was aware that some prisoners did escape from Auschwitz, but I didn't know of anyone in particular. I loved learning about Rudi Vrba and thought that his method of escape with Fred was quite clever. His story was definitely very suspenseful because so many things could have gone wrong. Even though it was obvious that he and Fred were successful from the summary of the book, there were times when escape really did seem impossible because so many others failed in their attempts and Rudi came pretty close to death himself a few times from typhus and getting into trouble. Gerta's story was also very engaging. I thought it was interesting that for a while Hungary stood up to Hitler, so Jews could hide there, at least until Hitler ordered his troops to occupy the country. It also made me very happy when Rudi and Gerta finally saw each other again. After an epilogue covering what happened after the war, Sheinkin includes an author's note, source notes, a bibliography, and an index. Anyone who is interested in hopeful stories about the Holocaust should read Impossible Escape.

Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown by Steve Sheinkin

 

Last week, I finished reading Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown by Steven Sheinkin. This nonfiction book is about the beginning of the Cold War leading up to the Cuban Missile Crisis, what happened during the crisis, and how it concluded. It explains how the United States and the Soviet Union emerged from World War II as the two most powerful nations and began a competition to build the most destructive bombs and achieve milestones in space travel. With the rise of communism in Eastern Europe, the Berlin Wall was built to keep people from leaving East Berlin for free West Berlin. While some spies met together to share secrets, others completed overflights across enemy land. Some were even captured. When Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev came to a secret agreement with Fidel Castro to deliver Soviet nuclear missiles to Cuba, the series of events afterwards led to the world's closest call to nuclear conflict.

I thought this book was fantastic and learned so much about the Cold War that wasn't covered in my history classes. I really enjoyed how it read like a spy thriller. Even though I knew that the Cuban Missile Crisis didn't end in world destruction, the book was suspenseful and had me wondering how exactly a nuclear war was avoided when President Kennedy was determined not to show weakness by backing down and Premier Khrushchev was bent on threatening the United States by getting nuclear weapons to Cuba. It seems like it was a terrifying time to be alive, especially when any miscommunication at all could have led to the third and final world war. There were heroes then, though, and one of my favorite stories in the book was how cyclist Harry Seidel dug tunnels under the Berlin Wall to bring his family and others from East Berlin to West Berlin. I truly admire how courageous he was. In conclusion, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes books about spies or key moments in history.