Customer Reviews

Donbas: A True Story of an Escape Across Russia

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When I met Jacques Sandulescu, I was a pasty college kid whose idea of exertion involved a highlighter and a textbook. Jacques was twice my age, a giant, rock hard, with hands that swallowed pens whole. Romania was deep in his past, as was his career as a professional boxer; in l968, when we met, he was a Greenwich Village bar owner.

Like Big Daddy Lipscomb --- the legendary giant of a football player who used to help opponents up "so the children won't think Big Daddy's mean" --- Jacques was a calming force in every room he entered. You couldn't imagine trouble erupting with him around; he was that big and strong. And, at the same time, peaceful --- he had the kind of calm only people who have passed through fire seem to know.

It wasn't until I read his book that I understood the horror Jacques survived.

"I was arrested in Brasov on my way to school," his book begins. And right there your stomach sinks. Because you know what's coming: a terrible story, told in unadorned prose.

Well, brace yourself, you're about to be devastated.

As "Donbas" opens, Jacques is 16 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall, 180 pounds. He's the youngest person in the box car filled with Romanians that the Russians are shipping east in January of 1945. But his youth vanishes fast when he watches guards execute some would-be escapees. On one hand, he envies their death: "no more cold, misery, hunger." On the other, he wants to live. Which means he'll have to escape.

This is a book about noticing everything, paying sharp attention, looking for an opening. His first conclusion: Don't try to escape in winter, don't think you can get out of Russia without knowing Russian.

But after a few days of working in the mines of Donbas (now considered part of the Ukraine), his thoughts turn from escape to survival. The work is wet and cold. A cave-in could come at any time. Exhaustion, exposure, hunger --- death comes in many forms here.

I have never read an account of work in a coal mine that made me so claustrophobic. I found myself reading faster, as if getting to the end of a particularly horrible shift would provide some relief. But it didn't --- above ground, there were sadistic guards and icy winds. "Many prisoners died," Jacques reports matter-of-factly. "Over half the camp. Four hundred and fifty weak and sick weren't suffering any more."

Jacques is comparatively well off. He is strong and uncomplaining, a good worker. He gets privileges --- when he goes to nearby homes for dinner, it's a delight to read as he eats and eats and eats. But he's never fooled; there's always a power-mad guard around the corner. And one does beat him so badly he almost dies. Which makes it all the more satisfying when, with the permission of a senior officer, Jacques stomps that sadist mercilessly. "It was a good feeling while it lasted," he says. I think even a pacifist would agree.

After two and a half years, his luck runs out --- Jacques is trapped in a cave-in and rescued only by a friend's heroic efforts. He fears his legs will be amputated. He must escape. His legs are running with pus, he is a mass of sores, but he slips onto a train, hides in an open coal car and begins the slow, freezing ride to the West.

Books like this have a built-in handicap --- we know the author survived. Only the best of the breed make us forget that there's a happy ending. And this is the best; reading these pages, you will feel cold and hungry, raging with fever, wet and dispirited. But mostly, you will feel Jacques Sandulescu's spirit, his unyielding insistence on life, life in free air, life at all costs. And, after you put his book down, you will, literally, take a deep breath

I had first heard about Jacques Sandulescu through my father, after he loaned me the book, "The Carpathian Caper", a novel by Sandulescu and Anne Gottleib. It was a Topkapi-esque adventure, about a man's return to his homeland behind the Iron Curtain after being kidnapped by Russian soldiers as a youth and shipped off to a Soviet slave labor camp, escaping after a mine cave-in crushed his legs, escaping to freedom, working his way West from black marketeer in the Middle East and Europe, to prize fighter in the midwest to nightclub owner in New York. It deals with his friend's plans to embarass the Russian Government by the very high profile heist of priceless religious icons right from under their noses.

The lead character, Jack, was one of those impossible men, like Indiana Jones, Dirk Pitt, Jack Ryan or James Bond. Who knew that he was for real?

Donbas is his story, the true tale of a 16 year old boy's decent into the hell of the mines in the Donbas region of the USSR. His torture, his survival, his escape and his life since then is the stuff great movies are made of. So why is Hollywood sitting on their hands on this one?

Read the adventure, then rent movies like "Moscow On The Hudson", "The Owl And The Pussycat" and "Trading Places". Watch for a big, burly man with a thick Russian accent and say hello to Jacques.

This is a surprising tale of human survival and the spirit to go on. In unbearably harsh conditions a young man fights a battle of survival with an uncommon strength of will that sees him battle through a nightmarish world we could only vaguely imagine in our darkest moments. Very insipring. If you think things are tough and you have the whole world on your shoulders, have a read of this and feel sorry for yourself no more!

I first read donbus in my sophmore year in high school. It was a 1st edition copy quite tattered and worn. I figured it looked easy enough to read to get my credit for the book report that would follow. In the week that followed, I became attached to the book. Every free moment was spent reading it. His story facinated me. I couldn't put it down. Needless to say, the book never made it back to the school library. I re-read it every year and enjoy it more and more. I contacted the author a few years ago and told him of my enjoyment of his work and how i had permanently borrowed the book. To my surprise, i recieved an autographed copy from him i treasure! This book is incredible. Read it and enjoy the story of one mans will to survive. You wont regret it!

Amazing story. I'm glad it wasn't lost and is being republished. I bought two copies. This would be a great story for teenagers to read about endurance and survival (for all ages, but the story is easy to read and the guy is a teenager when he was captured by the Russians and sent to the slave camp). It is very remarkable story if even mostly true and now one of my favorite books.

This book was recommended to me by a friend. I knocked it out in about 5 hours of reading. I couldn't put it down. It is an autobiographical story of a young man who was forced into a Russian slave labor shortly after the end of WWII. He was 17 when he was picked up off the street on his way to school. In an odd twist of fate, his father saw him locked in his train car. Their eyes met for just a moment before the train pulled away. Although he later was able to communicate with his parents after his escape, he never saw his father again. After 2 1/2 years in a mining slave labor camp he makes a miraculous escape to freedom. It is an incredible story and would be worthwhile for teenagers to read just to come to understand the great blessings of freedom that we enjoy and that those things are worth fighting for to maintain.

We had to read this book in 8th grade. We would discuss each chapter in depth. It was so real to me. We were extremely fortunate to have him come to our classroom and talk about his experience with us. This took place in Ridgewood NJ back in 1976. He was such a giant and a gentleman.

As the years passed and the internet came about I was trying to recall that book and the author's name. I actually prayed about it... I searched deep and wanted to remember so bad!! One day it came to me and I did some research online and found him! We actually had a phone conversation and he remembered how he would go to the schools and discuss his book to the students. I was so impressed.

This is a must read!

My husband read and loved this true story as a pre-teen and I have just read it as an adult. I feel that this is a "character building" book. All spoiled teenagers should read this. Reading ooks like these in our formative years are why my husband and I have a strong work ethic, a sense of personal responsibility and gratitude for our American abundance. There is No preaching, no morals, just a darn fine story told about kidnap, life in a forced labor coal mining camp (Oh, the horror) and escape to freedom.
I keep wondering what happend to all those fine, helpful people this guy met on his arduous journey to freedom and what ever happened to them. Very tight, clean prose that reminds me Hemingway. No hysterical whining or philosophies. Just the facts and boy do they make you think. It's something boys would like to read, but I, as a grown woman loved it. I read it yesterday cover to cover and cried, gagged and then laughed hysterically at the end.

This was an inspiring true life tale of how one man rose above his dire circumstances. You can almost feel the coldness of the ore mines in the middle of a Russian winter, where the author was forced into slave labor. This book reminds me of Night (by Elie Wiesel). Read it--you won't be sorry!

Jacques Sandulescu

I really enjoyed reading this book. I read it in one evening. It's a real page turner! It's a great book for the teenager, as the hero, Jacques Sandulescu is just 16 when he is captured by Soviet troops and sent to work as a slave laborer in a mine camp. Donbas is his true story how he survived and escaped. The sequel Hunger's Rogues is currently out of print but I found a copy through Amazon.