Narrow Escapes: Childhood Memories of the Holocaust and their Legacy

by Samuel P. Oliner

Narrow escapes defines Samuel Oliner's life in more ways than one. Not only is he a Holocaust survivor who barely eluded the genocidal "Final Solution" that Nazi Germany unleashed on the European Jews during the Second World War, but Oliner is also a ground-breaking Holocaust scholar who has focused attention on the rescuers - small in number but immensely significant nonetheless - who risked their lives to give Jews narrow life-saving escapes during those dark times. Oliner's personal experience of the Holocaust produced memories that have never left him. Oliner's significant epilogue in this new edition both updates his story and and helps to show how his narrow escape led to a remarkable career.

238 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2000

Reviews

[David Trawinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting true story of a young jewish boy who escapes the ghetto of a southern Polish town to be saved by a Catholic Polish farmer and his wife. Most interesting perhaps is that after surviving the war, this child makes his way to America, first in New York but later in California. Not only did Samuel P. Oliver obtain his Ph.D. From the University of California at Berkeley, but then went on to found the Altruistic Behavior Institute at Humboldt University.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because the author teaches at our local university, and I was impressed when I heard about him. The book.......I liked it a great deal. It was good to read a Holocaust story that I knew was straight forward and true, and I was able to believe the level of evil I was reading. Often, my mind cannot accept the evil that I have read before or have seen in a movie. This evil was real, and I had to accept it as stated. It was good to hear about the anti-Semitism among the general citizenry. I have always had trouble understanding that, also. I also enjoyed the descriptions of the "time and place" -- I had not appreicated how primitive Czechoslavkia was pre WWII. And the Jewish culture, which I have had a great deal of exposure, was well written. "Also, a Jewish man was judged not only by how good a provider and businessmand he was, but also by how well versed he was in the Torah and in the Jewish tradition." I did think that the book could have had less about the author's adulthood and a shorter story about his return visits to Europe, but all-in-all, it was an inspiring story, and a tragic story at the same time.