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Unbreakable: The Remarkable True Story of a Holocaust Survivor's Six-Year Journey from Nazi Labor Camps to Buchenwald
The War Ended. His Story Didn’t.
Poland, 1939:
One moment, fifteen-year-old Rafal Kantor is walking home from school, dreaming of summer. The next, his world erupts in fire and fear. As Nazi forces storm his town, Rafal is thrown into a brutal new reality—where names vanish into numbers, kindness invites danger, and survival becomes a quiet, daily rebellion.
Dragged through ghettos, cattle cars, labor camps and ultimately Buchenwald, Rafal quickly learns that staying alive is only the beginning. It takes nerve. It takes strength. And it takes an unyielding resilience that holds on when everything else is stripped away—his safety, his innocence, his faith in the world. Yet Rafal never loses his voice, the story he carries, or the fragile hope that someday he will survive to tell it.
UNBREAKABLE is a sweeping, emotionally charged Holocaust memoir and WWII survivor story. It’s a powerful portrait of a young man’s fight to stay human in a world gone mad.
For readers who loved Night , We Were the Lucky Ones, and The Tattooist of Auschwitz this unforgettable story will break your heart—and then put it back together again.
Discover the remarkable journey of Rafal Kantor, a Holocaust survivor whose story reminds us why remembering matters.
Praise for Unbreakable
“A literary act of remembrance that breaks your heart—and then gives you the courage to carry the story forward.”
—Jackie Congedo, CEO, Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center
“Unbreakable is a powerful reminder that even in humanity’s darkest hours, courage and compassion can light the way.”
—Joyce Kamen, author of Upstander Stories
“Unbreakable shows how faith—in God, in others, or in the will to endure—can guide us through life’s darkest chapters.”
—Daniel Epstein, Author of Portraits in Faith
Poland, 1939:
One moment, fifteen-year-old Rafal Kantor is walking home from school, dreaming of summer. The next, his world erupts in fire and fear. As Nazi forces storm his town, Rafal is thrown into a brutal new reality—where names vanish into numbers, kindness invites danger, and survival becomes a quiet, daily rebellion.
Dragged through ghettos, cattle cars, labor camps and ultimately Buchenwald, Rafal quickly learns that staying alive is only the beginning. It takes nerve. It takes strength. And it takes an unyielding resilience that holds on when everything else is stripped away—his safety, his innocence, his faith in the world. Yet Rafal never loses his voice, the story he carries, or the fragile hope that someday he will survive to tell it.
UNBREAKABLE is a sweeping, emotionally charged Holocaust memoir and WWII survivor story. It’s a powerful portrait of a young man’s fight to stay human in a world gone mad.
For readers who loved Night , We Were the Lucky Ones, and The Tattooist of Auschwitz this unforgettable story will break your heart—and then put it back together again.
Discover the remarkable journey of Rafal Kantor, a Holocaust survivor whose story reminds us why remembering matters.
Praise for Unbreakable
“A literary act of remembrance that breaks your heart—and then gives you the courage to carry the story forward.”
—Jackie Congedo, CEO, Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center
“Unbreakable is a powerful reminder that even in humanity’s darkest hours, courage and compassion can light the way.”
—Joyce Kamen, author of Upstander Stories
“Unbreakable shows how faith—in God, in others, or in the will to endure—can guide us through life’s darkest chapters.”
—Daniel Epstein, Author of Portraits in Faith
- GenresHistorical Fiction
338 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 25, 2025
149 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 15, 2026
This was a heartbreaking and heartwarming story of the worst time in history. Very well written.
January 25, 2026
Extremely Well Written Account of a Holocaust Survivor
A deeply disturbing yet accurate account of one man’s harrowing journey and survival through the Holocaust as a young Jewish man in Poland. The book is an extremely well written and accurate. This book covers the life of a young Polish Jew, and his family, from the early days of the war through liberation and relocation to the USA with compassion, honesty and accuracy about the absolute devastation that the Shoah inflicted.
A deeply disturbing yet accurate account of one man’s harrowing journey and survival through the Holocaust as a young Jewish man in Poland. The book is an extremely well written and accurate. This book covers the life of a young Polish Jew, and his family, from the early days of the war through liberation and relocation to the USA with compassion, honesty and accuracy about the absolute devastation that the Shoah inflicted.
January 2, 2026
what a great true story
What a heartbreaking true story it made me cry for all the people of holocaust had to go through
Well written I never wanted it to end
Thank you for sharing
What a heartbreaking true story it made me cry for all the people of holocaust had to go through
Well written I never wanted it to end
Thank you for sharing
February 14, 2026
My mind cannot comprehend the holocaust. Knowing this is a true story makes that heartwenching to read. The atrocities these people suffered is beyond belief.
I enjoy reading history but I will need to take a break and read something uplifting after this.
I enjoy reading history but I will need to take a break and read something uplifting after this.
December 25, 2025
Powerful testimony
About a teenage Jewish boy in Poland caught in the Nazi horror for six years in the death camps and his recovery from the nightmare
About a teenage Jewish boy in Poland caught in the Nazi horror for six years in the death camps and his recovery from the nightmare
December 27, 2025
Totally engrossing and captivating. Well written and challenging.
January 25, 2026
One of those great books.
Gripping description of the horrors of the holocaust and one man’s determination to survive after the loss of his entire family Five Stars.
Gripping description of the horrors of the holocaust and one man’s determination to survive after the loss of his entire family Five Stars.
January 31, 2026
Great read
This is a great read about heartbreak and love during a horrific time in history.
This book needs to be on a must read in high schools so no one forgets.
This is a great read about heartbreak and love during a horrific time in history.
This book needs to be on a must read in high schools so no one forgets.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews