Impossible Escape
Steve Sheinkin writes another riveting non-fiction story for young adult readers that without a doubt will hold their attention. Sheinkin is a gifted writer who has an amazing affinity for writing about nonfiction in a style similar to fiction making it easy for readers to stay connected to the content and characters.
Impossible Escape follows two Jewish teenagers Rudi and Gerta through their real-life experience living in Nazi-occupied Europe. Rudi and Gerta were originally school mates who reconnect despite circumstances and distance. Through various mis encounters, Rudi ends up in Auschwitz where he miraculously survives almost two years. Sheinkin retells the many near-death experiences and the few benevolent encounters that aid his survival. Ingenuity allows him and a fellow inmate the opportunity to escape Auschwitz and to retell the horrors that were happening at the hands of Nazi soldiers and leaders – specifically in reference to the gas chambers used for mass annihilation. Sheinkin does not hide the horrors experienced by Rudi, but he also is not graphic in the retelling.
While Rudi is fighting for survival in Auschwitz, Gerta’s family has moved to Hungary to hide from the Nazi attacks in Slovakia. Gerta is appalled by the people who continue on as though life is normal and have no apparent concern or care for what is happening in the neighboring country. The result for Gerta is a state of depression until she finds a resolve to occupy her time and do whatever it is that she can. Gerta’s tale is also one of woe and at one point her father is taken by the Nazis and she and her mother are questioned and beaten. Gerta takes advantage of an opportunity to escape, which results in her also having to leave her mother behind.
Holocaust stories are not easy to read nor should they be. The atrocities and trauma faced by so many must be shared and retold in order to confront our modern sensibilities and illogical rationals that something like that could never happen again, despite what is currently happening in the world between Israel and Hamas. The book is marketed 12 to 18, which is appropriate for the content.
Below are some noteworthy mentions that may be beneficial to some families:
On page 6 there is a list of those who were deemed “enemy of the state” to Hitler. The mentioning of this list includes “union leaders, communists, gay men, and Jews.”
In providing a bit of context for readers, Sheinkin writes “Antisemitism, like other forms of prejudice and racism, has always been rooted in ignorance and lies” (24).
A psychological profile of Hitler created by the American government noted that Hitler relied on blatant lies. He is quoted as having said, “People will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it” (25).
The word hell was used a few times in the context of “Where the hell was...” (31).
There are mentions of murdering people with poison gas prior to the Holocaust with the murder of Germans with mental illnesses and physical disabilities (39).
Use of the words bastards appears a few times (56, 59, 91).
There is mention of the American Japanese Internment Camps after Pearl Harbor. Sheinkin writes “This is not to equate American internment camps with Nazi killing centers. Both were rooted in prejudice and lies, but they were very different sorts of crimes” (67).
“Unless you’ve been faced with the decision – do this or die right now – you can’t possibly know how you would respond” (126). This quote appears in response to some Jews who were forced to work in the crematorium.
