Customer Reviews

Saving Children: Diary of a Buchenwald Survivor and Rescuer

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Jack Werber wrote this book with the assistance of the distinguished scholar William Helmreich. Werber whose wife and three year old daughter were murdered by the Nazis risked his life to save Jewish children. In his obituary which appeared in the NY Times in Nov. 2006 his action is described in this way.

"Mr. Werber, a son of a Jewish furrier from the Polish town of Radom, was the barracks clerk at Buchenwald in August 1944 when a train carrying 2,000 prisoners arrived, many of them young boys. By then, with the Russians advancing into Germany, the number of Nazi guards at the camp had been reduced. Working with the camp's underground -- and with the acquiescence of some guards fearful of their fate after the war -- Mr. Werber helped save most of the boys from transport to death camps by hiding them throughout the barracks."
Among those he saved was the later Chief- Rabbi of Israel Israel Meir Lau.
After the war Werber came to the United States married for the second time, and had two sons. When he passed away he was also survived by six grandchildren and two- great grandchildren.
In America he became a successful businessman as manufacturer of clothing, primarily coonskin hats which were very popular during the Davy Crockett age.
May the memory of this righteous Jew and human being be for a blessing.

A truely remarkable personal account of life in Buchenwald both before and during WW2. Although a little dry at first, I soon grew to appreciate the direct, frank writing style of the author as it helps the reader understand that the most horrific events and conditions were simply a matter of day to day life in a NAZI concentration camp. Well worth your time and money.