Gatehouse To Hell

by Felix Opatowski

Felix Opatowski is only fifteen years old when he takes on the perilous job of smuggling goods out of the Lodz ghetto in exchange for food for his starving family. It is a skill that will serve him well as he tries to stay alive in Nazi-occupied Poland. With dogged determination, Felix endures months of harrowing conditions in the ghetto and slave labour camps until he is deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in the spring of 1943. Recognized for his nerve and daring spirit, he is soon recruited as a runner for the Polish Underground inside the camp and is implicated in the infamous plot to blow up the camp crematoria - something for which he pays dearly

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Holocaust

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2011

Reviews

[Rayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was expertly written to be super personal and thought provoking. The stories that you hear from someone who experienced these events are much different than those of the history books. I can't wait to video conference Felix in November!

[Abbyb1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was fortunate enough to have Felix Opatowski's daughter attend our bookclub and reflect on her father's experiences which he recounts in this memoir. This book truly shows the determination and perhaps, as Felix so often points out, the sheer luck of those who managed to survive the atrocities and brutality of the Holocaust. A necessary and difficult read.

[Star Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for our monthly book club. Felix's journey had me quite emotional. He details a lot of what happened to him during the Holocaust. It was very informative. He was so resilient and resourceful.
We were privileged to have Felix's daughter Miriam attend our book club meeting and discuss her parents separate journey's during WWII and live post the events.

[Ruby · Rating 5 out of 5]

can't imagine what it took to write all that down .. and what incredible luck.

[Aidan Vaughan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The heartbreaking tale of survival of a man who lost loved ones and overcame evil, Gatehouse to Hell goes into horrifying detail about one of the most grievous atrocities in human history.

[Brenda B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently met Felix Opatowski. Like most survivors he is congenial and humorous and you wonder, how on earth can you be so light-hearted if you have gone through such a long, dark episode in your life? I can practically hear Felix's voice as he recounts his story.

New things I learned in this memoir: the Mosquito Kommando was one of Mengele's experiments to test medicines for malaria. Most of the subjects of the tests did not survive. The Count of Auschwitz was a new [real] character whom I hd not heard of before. Felix tries to track him down after the war, to no success, until he discovers that the Count essentially went into hiding.

Amazing story all around. A quick read, easily accessible by youth.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felix Opatowski’s Gatehouse to Hell was the first of the memoirs I read. It was a grim page-turner, difficult to put down, horrifying, yet told with a bit of clinical detachment.

[Peggy Walt]

A very hard read from the Azrieli Foundation series of Holocaust Survivor Memoirs....

[Josselyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felix Opatowski told a very descriptive story about how he survived the Nazi Holocaust. I was crying while I was reading the page where he almost got picked by the police officers to go to the gas chambers to die. He was a very lucky survivor. I am so glad he survived the horrible and tragic situation.