The Auschwitz Escape - Joel C. Rosenberg

Hey guys!

This is my first post but I am quite active on the community as many of you know. I had a huge longing to share this post with you guys because it really touched my heart.

Man, when I read this book it not only made me look at war from a different POV but in general life. I am not going to summarize the book much because this book is worth reading and you need to learn the details by actually reading it. As the title says, a Jewish prisoner Jacob Weisz did indeed escape from Auschwitz but the alliances he made in his own journey after losing his WHOLE family in front of him was empowering in a sense.

Joel C. Rosenberg really knows how to make politics in the past and PRESENT captivating. But I will say this is my favorite book.

The alliances Jacob made is like the friends in science fair or other competitions that we make that influence our work (our research). Our friends shine light on our own beliefs. Jacob's uncle (who was like his best friend since he would take Jacob out for hunting when he was little) really motivated Jacob to step out and stop the oppression against Jews in WW2. The same way we are so passionate about making a difference in this world through STEM.

But sometimes we need a little escape in our lives an escape does not mean running away escape meant something different to me in this book. Yes, Jacob literally escaped from auschwitz but I really started thinking about this word "escape" in a different entire manner. For me, I learnt that escape is a knock of reality, it is someone coming to us rather away from us telling us the reality. The reality here was Jacob had to LEAVE Auschwitz Max and his beloved sister whom Jacob loved (love in such a disastrous setting!). It also shows that we can experience emotions without regarding circumstances. We can experience fondness for each other while being buried under a woodpile for 3 days, we can experience fondness for each other to purposely take a beating from a German officer to meet the love of one's life at a clinic to sneak some food into one's body and enjoy company.

I know this is an odd perspective but "escape" got me thinking all sorts of things.

I hope you guys can find the time to read Rosenberg's fantastic piece of work!

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