The Twentieth Train: The True Story of the Ambush of the Death Train to Auschwitz [Paperback]

Marion Schreiber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 11, 2005

One day in April 1943, a young doctor and Jewish resistance fighter Youra Livchitz discovered the departure date of the next transport train to Auschwitz. With only one weekend in which to organize a raid, Youra recruited two school friends, Jean Franklemon and Robert Maistriau, to pull off one of the most daring rescues of the entire war. Equipped with only three pairs of pliers, a hurricane lamp covered in red paper, and a single pistol, the men ambushed the train, which was transporting 1,618 Jews to Auschwitz. Marion Schreiber's gripping book about the only Nazi death train in World War II to be ambushed draws on private documents, photographs, archive material, and police reports as well as original research, including interviews with the surviving escapees. Like Schindler's List, The Twentieth Train creates a vivid, moving portrait of heroism under impossible circumstances.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As authors and historians delve into the details of the Holocaust, they discover that the Nazi killing machine produced a long list of little-known heroes, and here Schreiber, a Brussels-based journalist and former editor at Der Spiegel, tells the tale of three such heroes. Armed with only three pairs of pliers, a hurricane lamp covered in red paper and a pistol, the Belgian resistance fighter Youra Livchitz and two friends conspired to pull off the unthinkable: on April 19, 1943, they ambushed a Nazi deportation train headed for Auschwitz and, under a spray of Nazi bullets, managed to free 17 men and women. Not long after, two of the ambushers were caught, tortured and ultimately met their deaths at the hands of a Nazi firing squad. Despite the title, only the last 50 pages or so actually deal with the fateful ambush, an account based on private documents, archival materials and interviews with surviving escapees. The remainder of the book is a detailed account of Brussels, a flourishing city before the war, and its transformation under the Nazi occupation. Although lengthy at times, this background provides a critical framework for the events that follow. Nazi resistance in Brussels, by Jews and gentiles alike, was an extraordinary display of humankindness and courage; such a spirit necessarily grew out of the liberal weltanschauung that had captured the prewar city's imagination. Schreiber's book is both moving and exciting - a celebration of good, rather than a reminder of evil.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The twentieth train, departing April 19, 1943, was to transport 1,600 Jews from the Mechelen concentration camp outside of Brussels to their deaths at Auschwitz. More than 200 prisoners would be freed, however, in a wooded grove in the Belgian countryside, by three Resistance fighters armed with pliers, a pistol, and a hurricane lamp colored red to mimic a stop signal. These three gutsy men and their broad circle of Resistance connections are in the foreground here, but the real focus of this book is the Belgian people, who hid the escapees from the Nazis as but one incident in years of resistance and resilience. Schreiber, a former editor for Der Spiegel, has a journalist's eye for the small stories that surround the breathtaking ones, and the brave and tragic tale of the three train ambushers is made all the more poignant by the montage of memories of Brussels and Mechelen provided by survivors. Originally published in Germany in 2000, this selection is a valuable addition to the history of the Resistance. Brendan Driscoll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (February 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802141854
• ISBN-13: 978-0802141859
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,373,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Young Heros....A fascinating story of courage, December 13, 2004

By 

David M. Williams "dave_from_Pennsylvania" (West Chester, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Twentieth Train: The True Story of the Ambush of the Death Train to Auschwitz (Hardcover)

Reading this book renews your faith in mankind. In this book there are many stories of people who resisted the Nazis and the thugs and gangsters who supported and collaberated with the Nazis.

The book details the methods use to steal the property of the Jews before they were shipped to their death. How the Nazis lied and convinced most of the deportees that they were being transported to a workers paridise. It also shows how people cooperated with the Germans or paid or used influence to have their names removed from the list of Jewish deportees only to betrayed at the end.

The book tells in detail how famlies were arrested and taken to a temporary holding camp waiting until a full train load of people had been collected and then sent to the death camps.

Then, a group of young people each decide to do something to save lives. With no support from the allies or the underground they faced the Germans face to face and won.

Their story of individual courage is fasinating. It clearly shows that there were many, many more courageous people in Belguim than there were Nazi collaberators.

I loved this book. My copy of the book has been passed to at least 10 people so far. All the reactions have been the same; wonderful admiration of the courageous young heros.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Twentieth Train, October 16, 2004

By 

Anne (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Twentieth Train: The True Story of the Ambush of the Death Train to Auschwitz (Hardcover)

The Twentieth Train: The True Story of the Ambush of the Death Train to Auschwitz by Marion Schreiber is a true account of rescue in Belgium. After the Nazi invasion of Belgium in May of 1940, a camp was set up in Malines (or Mechelen in Flemish) for captured Jews. Their ultimate destination was Auschwitz, but a minimum quota of prisoners was required to fill a convoy, hence Malines, the collecting area. Tragically, there would be twenty-eight Belgian convoys to Auschwitz before the end of the war, but Marion Schreiber tells the little-known story of the ambush of the twentieth convoy. Executed entirely by three young men independent of the Belgian Resistance movement, the operation managed to free over 240 Jewish prisoners before the train reached Auschwitz. Of the rescuers, however, only one survived capture and death.
Encompassing more than just the rescue operation, The Twentieth Train explores pre-war Belgium thorougly in much of the book. I enjoyed learning about this country's history as well as its amazing story of courage and rescue in World War II.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is more about heroic resistance to mighty and ruthless military power than about one particular act, February 22, 2008

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Twentieth Train: The True Story of the Ambush of the Death Train to Auschwitz (Hardcover)

There were many heroic acts of resistance to the German occupation in World War II, and naturally some were more significant than others. Unfortunately, there were people who were more interested in personal advancement than anything else, which made any act of resistance one containing a degree of personal risk.
While the title emphasizes one particular instance, an armed attack of a train transporting Jews to the camps by partisans, the book is really more about a resistance movement. Belgium was unlucky to have been invaded and occupied by German forces in both world wars. Therefore, when it occurred for the second time in 1940, the population understood what would happen.
The Belgian people engaged in passive acts of resistance whenever it was realistically possible and did a great deal to shelter their Jewish residents. Many Belgians risked a great deal, even their lives, to protect Jews from being captured and sent to the death camps. That, more than one single attack on a train, is the message that should be taken from this book.