Vrba was born to a Jewish Sawmill owner and was born under the named Walter Rosenberg until he changed his name after the war to Rudolf Vrba after the war. He was born on September 11, 1924, in Topolcany, Czechoslovakia and was unable to complete schooling when anti-Jewish laws were enforced. Nevertheless, Vrba proved to be extremely bright and self-motivated and studied at home. He took an interest in learning English which concerned his mother. After learning Russian, his mother decided to take him to the doctor for a psychological examination. At the age of seventeen, Vrba left his home and joined the Czechoslovakian army but soon after entering Hungary, was arrested. He managed to escape once but was caught and sent to work in a concentration camp. That was his first real taste of what these camps had to offer.
Vrba managed to escape his concentration camp by volunteering for farm work and was reassigned to Auschwitz on June 30, 1942. His “agricultural” work consisted of him digging up dead bodies and preparing them for incineration. Eventually, Vrba was able to move to the storeroom where he was to sort through the belongings of the dead. Despite the gruesomeness task, he attributes this new job to what kept him alive. There, food, clothing and other necessities were plentiful and he was able to eat and keep a standard of hygiene. During his time, Vrba gave in-depth accounts about the gas chambers to which he explained could hold up to 2,000 people. Vrba knew that the had to escape.
Vrba and Wezel first planned their first escape by hiding under logs and stuffing Russian tobacco dipped in petrol to prevent any dogs from sniffing them out. Initially, it was successful with the soldiers lifting the logs but was topped after an air raid sounded, causing the soldiers to leave the logs and Vrba and Wezel having to resort to another plan. Their second plan was simply them escaping, heading for Slovakia and then shelling with Polish peasants for a bit. The two managed to cross the border and reached Zilina where they helped a swineherd bring pigs to the market.
Upon arriving in Hungary, Vrba and Wezel spoke to the Jewish Council in Hungary who were so horrified by their testimony that they could barely believe it. There, Vrba and Bezel drew detailed plans of the gas chambers, sending the shocking news across the word and the ears of the horrified people. Their story started to pick up steam and reached international media in 1944. Vrba and Wezel soon discovered after their report was made that Hungarians themselves were being sent to Auschwitz. Disgusted, the two of them made four more copies and sent them to multiple sources. In September of 1944, Vrba joined the Czech Slovak Partisan unit and fought for the remaining war, eventually being rewarded the Czech Slovak medal of bravery.
Vrba continued his voracious appetite for learning and moved to Britain where he worked at the Neuropsychiatric research unit and then for the medical research council. In 1967, he moved to the University of British Columbia and became a professor of pharmacology after a two-year sabbatical at Harvard Medical School. Vrba during his old age spoke at multiple Auschitwitz’s guard's trials and wrote his memoir “I Cannot Forgive”. He eventually passed away on March 27, 2006.
Vrba and Wezel’s escape was so fantastical and their account so appalling that it sent waves of fear throughout the war. They serve as a good reminder of the courage that individuals have and to remember the holocaust.
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/vrbas-and-wetzlers-escape/31/
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/revolt/vrba.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/11361327/Rudolf-Vrba-The-man-who-revealed-the-horror-of-Auschwitz-to-the-world.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/11368740/Holocaust-Memorial-Day-remembering-horror-of-Auschwitz-70-years-on.html
Your post gave a very thorough and insightful explanation of Vrba's experience during and after being worked to near-death in Auschwitz. Another famous escapee is Alfred Weczler. Weczler was also a Slovakian Jew, and he co-wrote a report on the atrocities of Auschwitz with Vrba. Their account of the gruesome events that happened inside the camp set off the chain of events that led to the Nuremberg trials.
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Great post, Madison. I thin it did a great job of not only describing the horrors of the holocaust, but also how, despite the horrible situations, Vrba still was able to escape. This reminds me of another incident where people were able to escape the Holocaust. At the 12th burial pit in Ponar, a group of 80 Jews spent 76 days digging an escape tunnel. Then, on the night of Passover, April 15, 1944, they escaped through the narrow tunnel. While many of the escapees were gunned down by the guards, 12 of them managed to escape the camp with their lives, 11 of which would manage to successfully live through the war.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/science/holocaust-ponar-tunnel-lithuania.html
Madison, thank you so much for this insightful post. I thought that you did an excellent job highlighting not only the horrors of both the Holocaust and concentration camps, but also the harrowing details of a personal escape story. Reading more about Auschwitz, I found that most escapees were able to escape when they were working outside of the camp. Because the camp was actually in Poland, most of the population was "fanatically Polish". An Auschwitz commander even stated that "Every prisoner who manages to escape can count on all possible help as soon as he reaches the first Polish homestead.” The hatred against the Nazi movement propelled even the most ordinary of civilians to act out against the regime. Resistance movements inside the camps also developed, as more civilians were arrested (along with Jews and other non-Aryan groups). In the beginning, the roots of the resistance movement were made up of mainly Polish political prisoners and POWs- later members of the Polish infantry. Then in 1942, Colonol Kazimierz Rawicz "organized a cell of the Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Union of Armed Struggle), ZWZ." Around the same time that this group emerged, individuals of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) began making their own organizations with Auschwitz. The diversity of ethnicities, cultures, and political beliefs, made Auschwitz diverse- yet also created a mushpot of different groups. Some were organized together based on ethnicities, but others were mixed based on belief. Groups included "Austro-Germans, Czech, French, Russian, and Yugoslavian." Although for the most part, many group leaders were unsuccessful in their attempts to escape- I think it is interesting to note how being a part of group was also a distraction from reality.
ReplyDeleteSources: http://auschwitz.org/en/history/resistance/escapes-and-reports
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistance_movement_in_Auschwitz
This is a very interesting post. It is so important to keep the stories of people like Rudolf Vrba alive and remember their incredible courage. He came so close to being caught by the soldiers when he chose to hide under the logs, and if that had been the case, he would not have lived to tell about the horrors of Auschwitz and the Holocaust. I was also very inspired by his desire to continue learning after the Holocaust was over. After having been through so much, it is so amazing that someone could still feel motivated to go on and do as much as he did. He continued to gain knowledge, he did important research, he became a professor, he wrote books about his experience, and so much more. Vrba had to undergo inconceivable horrors; yet, he still found the courage to write his memoir, "I Cannot Forgive," which meant he had to relive the atrocities he went through, so that he could share what happened.
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