The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan Freedland

Author:Jonathan Freedland [Freedland, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Wars & Conflicts, World War II, General, Biography & Autobiography, Jewish, Modern, 20th Century, Holocaust, Military
ISBN: 9781529369076
Google: kIw-EAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Hachette UK
Published: 2022-06-08T23:00:00+00:00

19

Crossing the Border

W ALTER WAS LYING down, eyes closed, when he heard it. The crack of a rifle and the whizz of a bullet over his head. Instinct made both him and Fred leap to their feet, though whether that was wise, neither of them could know.

Now they could see it. A patrol of about a dozen German soldiers was on the next hill, about seventy yards away. They had dogs on leashes and they had guns, which they were aiming at the two of them. Perhaps these Wehrmacht men had seen the telegram, cabled by the SS major a week earlier, alerting every outpost of the Reich to the disappearance of two wanted prisoners of Auschwitz. Perhaps they had a description which Fred and Walter matched. Either way, they had seen enough to open fire.

The old Red Army captain had been adamant. You could never outrun a bullet. So never leave yourself in that position, never let your only hope be a request of your legs that the laws of physics would always refuse. But as Walter scrambled up the hillside, stumbling through the snow, hoping to make it to the top and then disappear down the slope on the other side, he had no use for Volkov’s golden rules, almost all of which he had broken. Uniformed Germans had opened fire on them and with great accuracy. All they could do was run.

Fred was faster, spotting a boulder big enough to hide behind. He hurled himself into place and Walter was desperate to catch up and do the same. But he tripped, falling flat on his face. There was no way to get up now; he would be too slow, too easy a target. The air was crackling with gunfire, bullets clipping the rocks all around. To move, even a muscle, was to be shot dead. There was nothing he could do. He was paralysed with fear.

Seconds later he heard the order to cease fire. ‘We’ve got him! ’ the commander told his men. They began to climb down the hillside, doubtless to identify their two kills. Walter leapt up and completed the journey he had tried to make before, flinging himself behind that rock.

Now Fred gave his own order, urging Walter to push on ahead. They made it to the brow of the hill and down the other side, but the Germans had not given up and their dogs were closing in.

The fugitives kept on running, setting their sights on a small wood halfway up the next hill. They could disappear in there, if only they could make it that far.

Except the only way to reach that next hill was to cross a wide stream at the bottom of the valley. The dogs were getting nearer. There was no choice. They simply had to plunge in.

The water was ice cold and moving fast. The opposite bank was so near, but the current was tugging at their clothes, pulling them under. Walter lost his footing and sank into the water, not once but twice.

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