The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World

Rudi joined the resistance movement, pledging loyalty to the Czechoslovak government in exile in London. He vowed to fight until either death or victory over Nazi Germany. He fought in at least 10 battles, helping to sabotage German artillery posts, railway bridges, and supply lines. After Hitler’s death, Rudi received several accolades as well as Communist Party membership.

Rudi returned to school. He took courses at a special school for military veterans, which allowed him to catch up on the studies he missed due to the war. Rudi secured a place at Czech Technical University in Prague, where he studied organic chemistry. While Rudi lost his faith in religion and humankind, he “never lost his belief in the purity of the scientific ideal” (254). Rudi chose to relocate to Prague because the Czechs, in contrast to the Slovaks, only began deporting their Jewish population with German occupation.

Gerta Sidonová and Rudi became a couple. Gerta, who changed her name to Gerti Jurkovič to avoid deportation, “still carried a torch for the serious, brilliant, imaginative boy she had known in Trnava” (242). She was overjoyed at the prospect of reconnecting with Rudi. Josef warned Gerta that Rudi had changed due to his experiences at

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