Rescued from the Reich: How One of Hitler's Soldiers Saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Description

When Hitler invaded Warsaw in the fall of 1939, hundreds of thousands of civilians—many of them Jewish—were trapped in the besieged city. The Rebbe Joseph Schneersohn, the leader of the ultra-orthodox Lubavitcher Jews, was among them. Followers throughout the world were filled with anguish, unable to confirm whether he was alive or dead. Working with officials in the United States government, a group of American Jews initiated what would ultimately become one of the strangest—and most miraculous—rescues of World War II. The escape of Rebbe Schneersohn from Warsaw has been the subject of speculation for decades. Historian Bryan Mark Rigg has now uncovered the true story of the rescue, which was propelled by a secret collaboration between American officials and leaders of German military intelligence. Amid the fog of war, a small group of dedicated German soldiers located the Rebbe and protected him from suspicious Nazis as they fled the city together. During the course of the mission, the Rebbe learned the shocking truth about the leader of the rescue operation, the decorated Wehrmacht soldier Ernst Bloch: he was himself half-Jewish, and a victim of the rising tide of German antisemitism. A harrowing story about identity and moral responsibility, Rescued from the Reich is also a riveting narrative history of one of the most extraordinary rescue missions of World War II. Contents Foreword Prologue One. The Invasion Two. The Lubavitchers and Their Rebbe Three. Poland Under the Germans Four. A Plan Takes Shape Five. The Nazi Connection Six. Bloch’s Secret Mission Seven. The Search Begins Eight. A Lawyer’sWork Eight. A Lawyer’s Work Ten. The Escape Route Eleven. Flight Twelve. Waiting in Riga Thirteen. Crossing a Perilous Ocean Fourteen. The Rebbe in America Fifteen. The Fates of the Rescuers Conclusion Afterword Notes Bibliography Acknowledgments Index