The remarkable case of Rudolf Vrba
As regular readers of NightHawk will know, I’m currently reading “The Nazi Holocaust: Its History And Meaning”. The book mentions in passing the case of a Slovak Jew called Rudolf Vrba and I recently saw a television programme about this remarkable story.
Together with his friend Alfréd Wetzler, Vrba managed to escape from the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. They made their way back to Slovakia where they told their astonishing tale of the Nazi industrial extermination of the Jews in occupied Poland. At first, they were disbelieved but, even when their account was circulated, the response was not what they expected and wanted.
Read this incredible story here.
February 8th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Roger, you come up with some astonishing stuff. I wonder if you’re also familiar with the book, “While 6 million died,” by Arthur D. Morse, an Ace book, Random House, copyright 1967, 1968. The author calls his book, “a chronicle of American apathy.”
I’ve known several Czech people with the surname “Vrba.” It means, “willow” (tree) in Czech and Slovak.
When I studied Latin, in 1948, I noted the similarity of that name with “verbum,” which means “word,” in Latin.
Supposedly, the German word “Buch” means both “book” and “beech,” because the first German writing was done on beech wood or bark. Perhaps the first Czech writing might have been done on willow.