Escaping Auschwitz: A Culture of Forgetting (Psychoanalysis and Social Theory)

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Summary: Escaping Auschwitz makes you think and wonder
Review: This is not just another book about Holocaust history. Ruth Linn's book, "Escaping Auschwitz, A Culture of Forgetting" presents new facts that have been buried and intriguing theories. We are told of two brave men, Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler who successfully escaped from Auschwitz in April 1944. Their personal report led to the first official documentation of this horrific death camp in May 1944. Their report was the first report about Auschwitz that was accepted as credible by the free world. The surprising outcome is that Vrba has indicated that the Jewish Council(Judenrat) withheld the information from Hungarian Jewry. Yet,in May and June of 1944, 437,000 Hungarian Jews boarded the "resettlement trains" to Auschwitz not knowing the fate that would befall them.

As an Israeli academic, Prof Ruth Linn never knew of this amazing escape from Auschwitz. She was most fascinated when she stumbled on this historic fact as an educator. She researched why Vrba's story had been suppressed by the Israeli historic establishment. She challenges us with provocative questions: Did Dr R Kastzner who was head of the Jewish Council make a deal with Adolph Eichman in 1944? Why didn't the Hungarian Jews resist what was happening to them in WW II? Were some of the Jewish leaders willing or unwilling collaborators with the Nazis? Is there a link to this and the mysterious assassination of Dr R Kastzner in Tel Aviv in 1957? Why wasn't Vrba brought to Israel in 1961 to testify at the trial of Adolph Eichman? In this book Linn challenges the Israeli establishment's memory, documentation, and recognition of the Jewish Council in Slovakia and Hungary.

This is a well written description of events that happened in Slovakia and Hungary immediately following the Vrba-Wetzler escape. Many chapters of this book read like an exciting mystery novel while other chapters contain intriguing historic and psychological theories. For those who are curious about WW II, the Holocaust, and Zionist history this book is a fascinating addition to the many volumes that have been written on these topics.

"Escaping Auschwitz" makes you think and wonder. You wonder about the miraculous Vrba escape. You think about how this information was received and handled by the Jewish Council of the time. You wonder whether this information, if released, would have led to more Jewish resistance or contributed to saving more Holocaust victims. However, at the end of the day, we were not there. We were not in the position of the Jewish Council and we don't know how we would have acted. Read the book. You will enjoy the journey. Dr Arthur Dodek, Vancouver, BC, Canada