Customer Reviews

Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead

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Here is the eye-opening memoir of a Jewish doctor's survival in Stalin's USSR. When the Holocaust sweeps into Poland, Dr. Urban flees east. In contrast to the anti-Semitism of the Germans and even his fellow Poles, the Soviets are viewed almost as saviors. The young physician quickly discovers this mistake, as his outspoken assertiveness immediately runs him afoul of the NKVD. After being subjected to brutal "interrogation", he is deported to a Siberian labor-camp for the most violent criminals. Here he takes destiny into his own hands. By making a preemptive strike against the most feared inmate, he impresses his captors, who reward him with the post of prison-doctor. His sentence is commuted when physicians become needed to combat epidemics of typhus and venereal disease in the newly liberated Ukraine. Dr. Urban's uncanny ability to manipulate male NKGB agents and to literally charm female agents out of their pants contributes to an increasingly elevated position in Soviet society. But he is hardly "free", and continues to chafe under the restrictive totalitarian regime. Eventually his duties take him back to Poland, where he finds anti-Semitism still rampant, and manages to avenge himself satisfactorily on his former oppressors. In occupied Berlin, he hopes to elude his NKGB surveillance and defect to the West. But his now-legendary outspokenness alienates him from the US forces, whom he accuses of "coddling the Nazis". Yet again, he must take charge of his own destiny, and devise a daring and most perilous escape plot. Dr. Urban's autobiography is remarkable. Despite the most dismal circumstances, he never portrays himself as a victim. I would have rated his book five stars, were it not for the numerous, detailed (and in my opinion exasperating!) accounts of his sexual conquests.

It is a remarkable book written by a remarkable man. The book is not just a story of a survival under Stalin, it is a portrayal of incredibly reach and interesting character of Garri Urban. While reading the book you keep asking yourself how in such inhuman and humiliating conditions was it possible to preserve the finest feelings such as love and compassion and at the same time allowing nobody, even under threat of death, to deprive him of honour and self-respect. Absolutely riveting.

It is a remarkable book written by a remarkable man. The book is not just a story of a survival under Stalin, it is a portrayal of incredibly reach and interesting character of Garri Urban. While reading the book you keep asking yourself how in such inhuman and humiliating conditions was it possible to preserve the finest feelings such as love and compassion and at the same time allowing nobody, even under threat of death, to deprive him of honour and self-respect. Absolutely riveting.

This is the story of Garri S. Urban, a physician who escapes from occupied Poland during WWII. Unfortunately Urban ends up in a Russian prison camp where he suffers the hard camp life. Due to his strong will to survive and his personality he pulls through.
Garri S. Urban had an unmistakable character wich he not only used to seduce women and the KGB, but also to tell his story. Don't expect this book to be real literature, although it is a remarkable and amazing piece of history told by a survivor.