Leap into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe [Paperback]

Leo Bretholz (Author), Michael Olesker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 14, 1999

A harrowing, action-packed account of the author's series of audacious escapes from the Nazis' Final Solution--"riveting...a fascinating and moving piece of history" (Library Journal).

Young Leo Bretholz survived the Holocaust by escaping from the Nazis (and others) not once, but seven times during his almost seven-year ordeal crisscrossing war-torn Europe. He leaped from trains, outran police, and hid in attics, cellars, anywhere that offered a few more seconds of safety. First he swam the River Sauer at the German-Belgian border. Later he climbed the Alps on feet so battered they froze to his socks--only to be turned back at the Swiss border. He crawled out from under the barbed wire of a French holding camp, and hid in a village in the Pyrenees while gendarmes searched it. And in the dark hours of one November morning, he escaped from a train bound for Auschwitz.

Leap into Darkness is the sweeping memoir of one Jewish boy's survival, and of the family and the world he left behind.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bretholz was 17 when, in 1938, the Germans took over his native Austria. His mother, more realistic than other relatives, saw disaster and insisted that he escape, which is what he did for the next seven years, traveling not only through Germany and Luxembourg but to Belgium, France and, briefly, Switzerland, to jails and numerous internment camps. Bretholz relied often on his youthful agility and daring to save himself from much worse; he escaped from a train headed for Auschwitz in 1942. He spent the last years of the war working for the French Resistance, emigrating in 1947 to Baltimore, where he ran a bookstore (frequented by coauthor and Baltimore Sun columnist Olesker). Whether telling of running or hiding, every paragraph in his memoir is harrowing. In one wrenching story, he tells of a young female friend who is menaced by a gendarme while he is forced to stay hidden, "crouched on the floor, helpless, emasculated, sickened." Bretholz is also smartly observant of the Austrians ("'First victims,' they will call themselves when the world loses its memory."); opportunistic Swiss; and the French, so many of whom claimed to be Resistance. In the midst of many improbable escapes, there is also a sense of almost exhilarating determination?"I was now a miraculous athlete, a professional escape artist, a young man in perpetual flight. I was indomitable. Also, I was too terrified not to run for my life." For a man who assumed many false identities, the supreme irony came when Bretholz learned his true identity just six years ago?an event that provides a fitting climax to this inspiring and moving book. 40 b&w illustrations.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Harrowing...In the midst of many improbable escapes, there is also a sense of almost exhilarating determination." --Publishers Weekly

"Riveting--a fascinating and moving piece of history." --Library Journal

"No one can read [this] history without realizing--the remarkable courage of individuals, and the tremendous importance of stories such as this being published for all to read." --Sir Marin Gilbert, author of The Holocaust

"This loving and lovely memoir should be read by everyone interested in the daily lives of young Jews caught in the Holocaust. Leo Bretholz's story grabs you, and it won't shake when you've finished the book." --Deborah Dwork, coauthor of Auschwitz: 1270 to Present

"This memoir is that rarest of all survivors: a man who jumped from a train on his way to a death camp. The reader is with Bretholz at every step, following with mounting tension his struggle to escape." --Raul Hilberg, author of The Destruction of the European Jews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; 1st Anchor Books ed edition (September 14, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385497059
• ISBN-13: 978-0385497053
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > History > Europe > Austria
  • #5 in Books > History > Europe > Hungary
  • #64 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Jewish

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "Must Read" for students of the "Holocaust", May 16, 1999

By 

Walter Wohlfeiler ([e-mail]) (Foster City, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leap into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe (Hardcover)

"Leap into Darkness" is an absolutely spellbinding account of the author's transformation from a boy growing up in a sheltered environment to a resourceful, daring, brilliant escape artist matching wits with the Nazis and their French collaborators. The intellectual honesty, the ever-present fear, the self-doubts, the worries about family and friends, the repeated encounters with treachery, the enemy and with those who risked their lives to help, ranks this work with the best of Holocaust literature.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well written. Well researched. Easy flowing story., October 19, 1998

By 

B. Nachman DDS (Omaha, Nebraska USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leap into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe (Hardcover)

This is one of the best written stories from the Holocaust. It details one young mans experience in running from the Nazis. The moral courage, love of life and family shows throughout this book.Bretholzs' detail in recall is outstanding. Everyone with a Holocaust interest must read this book.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leap Into Darkness, November 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Leap into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe (Hardcover)

Leap Into Darkness
Leo Bretholz
Auto-Biographical

Leo Bretholz is a young boy in this book who is running for his life in the Holocaust. He was born in Vienna, Austria.
He survived the Nazis' plan to kill all the Jews. He escaped seven times during almost a seven-year time period. During his seven-year run for his life he was in many countries such as France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxemburg, and a few others. He was in Internment Camps, Forced Labor Camps, and was improsined a few times. It was unbelievable to here the story of how he escaped death.

This book was one of the greatest Holocaust. Books I have ever read. It contains a great deal of information on the Holocaust. The author Leo Bretholz was a survivor of the Holocaust. This book compares to "Night" by Elie Wiesel. This book was different though because Leo encountered so much more and was on the run for seven years. It is unimaginable.

"Leap Into Darkness" was one of the most touching books I have experienced. I could not put the book down. I have read many Holocaust books but this was by far the best book I have ever read. It contains the greatest story of how Leo Bretholz was a brave man and he escaped from danger. It's amazing to here all that he had to go through but that he was still here today. It was also interesting to here that after the Holocaust his name was posted in a book for those who had passed away but he was grateful to be living. He dealt with the loss of family members but he still didn't give up. Leo Bretholz touched my life because he wasn't a quitter. A quote on page 158 he asked, "What will happen to us?" Even though there were bad possibilities Leo Bretholz never gave up. I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of 12. If you are looking for suspense this is a great book for you. If you want to learn a lot of information on the holocaust this is definitely the answer. This may be too scary for younger children and if you don't like sad Holocaust stories this may not be the right thing for you. Overall this is one of the best stories I have ever read and I encourage you to read it.