From the Ashes of Sobibor: A Story of Survival (Jewish Lives) [Paperback]

Thomas Toivi Blatt (Author), Christopher R. Browning (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1958, when Blatt emigrated to Israel, he sent the story of his incarceration and escape from Sobibor to a notable Auschwitz survivor. The names Auschwitz, Treblinka and Dachau had by then become symbols of the horrors of the Holocaust. But the concentration camp at Sobibor was another site where thousands of Jews had been killed, so Blatt must have been horrified when this survivor wrote in response to his manuscript, "`You have a tremendous imagination. I've never heard of Sobibor and especially not of Jews revolting there.'" Forty years later Sobibor's existence is no longer in question. But even today it is a camp shrouded in mystery, in large part, as Blatt points out, because "very little official documentation" survives of Sobibor's existence or operation--this memoir is one of the few eyewitness accounts. Through first-person narrative and reconstructed dialogue, Blatt describes with chilling objectivity the German occupation of his hometown of Izbica, Poland; early Nazi roundups; the transportation of Jews to Sobibor; his own internment there; the inmate revolt that followed on the footsteps of Nazi defeats by the Russians; and finally his flight to and from his hometown. Although parts of this story were printed elsewhere and have been incorporated into Richard Rashke's Escape from Sobibor as well as a 1987 CBS documentary of the same name, this is Blatt's first full-length account and the result of 40 years of work. Blatt's story is a powerfully written memorial to Sobibor's victims.

Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Among the most common questions asked of Holocaust survivors are why the Jews didn't fight back: Why, it is wondered, did they let their families go to their deaths so easily? The recollections of Blatt, a survivor of the extermination camp Sobibor, in Poland, where Jews staged a successful revolt, addresses these questions in a frank and gripping narrative. Blatt's account demonstrates how the Germans kept Jews in Poland subjugated through random terror combined with promises that the status quo would be maintained if the Jews cooperated. By the time Blatt reached Sobibor with his family, it was too late for resistance. Perhaps the most frightening, and dispiriting, part of Blatt's account is how Christian Poles at times robbed, terrorized, or even murdered Jewish fugitives, such as the Sobibor escapees. A chilling narrative; highly recommended for Judaica collections and Holocaust specialists as well as general readers.?Frederic Krome, Northern Kentucky Univ., Highland Heights
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 242 pages
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press; 1 edition (June 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810113023
• ISBN-13: 978-0810113022
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #93,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #53 in Books > History > Europe > Poland

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Expert Commentary, June 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: From the Ashes of Sobibor: A Story of Survival (Jewish Lives) (Paperback)

Among the most common questions asked of Holocaust survivors are why the Jews didn't fight back: Why, it is wondered, did they let their families go to their death so easily? The recollections of Blatt, a survivor of the extermination camp Sobibor, in Poland, where Jews staged a successful revolt, addresses these questions in a frank and gripping narrative. Blatt's account demonstrates how the Germans kept Jews in Poland subjugated through random terror combined with promises that the status quo would be maintained if the Jews cooperated. By the time Blatt reached Sobibor with his family, it was too late for resistance. Perhaps the most frightening, and dispiriting, part of Blatt's account is how Christian Poles at times robbed, terrorized, or even murdered Jewish fugitives, such as the Sobibor escapees. A chilling narrative; highly recommended for Judaica collections and Holocaust specialists as well as general readers.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chilling look into Poland's past under Nazism, March 24, 2002

By 

Dave Wix (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From the Ashes of Sobibor: A Story of Survival (Jewish Lives) (Paperback)

Mr. Thomas Toivi Blatt gives us a chilling look into what it was like to live and just survive under a barbaric system; one where one's neighbors and friends became their enemies and pursuers in the aim to please the occupation forces of Nazism. Mr. Thomas Toivi Blatt and others like him survived against incredible odds to their survival. It makes one reflect on and cherish each and every day that we live in freedom without the tremendous tyranny that Mr. Thomas Toivi Blatt, his family, and many others endured on a day to day basis for several years. Thank you Mr. Thomas Toivi Blatt for your sincere and honest reflections.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mind blowing, March 13, 2005

By 

S. Dickson (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From the Ashes of Sobibor: A Story of Survival (Jewish Lives) (Hardcover)

I thought this book was amazing. My history teacher recommended this to me after i read 'man's search for meaning'.
It's an incredibly honest and gripping book on the life of a young man survivng sobibor and the activies around it.
It will definately make you be thankful for what you have and not to take anything for granted. A truly inspirational book.