The full title is Defy the Darkness, A Tale of Courage in the Shadow of Mengele by Joe Rosenblum and David Kohn. This is the personal story of Joe Rosenblum, caught in the whirlwind of the Holocaust, who survived a chain of events so harrowing they almost defy belief. The author lived through the full spectrum of Nazi horrors, from the initial occupation to the forced march to Germany at the end of the war. He escaped the deportations from his town of Miedzyrzec, Poland, thanks to help from a local gentile family. When it became too dangerous for this family to hide him any longer, he went into the forests and joined the Russian partisans. Once being captured by the Nazis, he begins his journey through three concentration camps--Majdanek, Auschwitz, and Dachau.
While in the camps, he worked for the underground to help other prisoners and save children from the gas chambers. At Auschwitz, he worked for the infamous Dr. Mengele and, amazingly, was actually saved, yes saved, when Mengele performed surgery on him. This perhaps makes him the only Jew saved by the deadly doctor's skills.
An amazing story!
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