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A Jump for Life: A Survivor's Journal from Nazi-Occupied Poland
Recounts the experience of a Jewish woman in Poland, who jumped from a train to save herself and her daughter from the Nazis, and their struggle to hide afterwards
243 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 1, 2019
The journal of Ruth Altbeker tells of of the circumstances and experiences during the Holocaust of a young Jewish lawyer and her small daughter.
The writer of this journal writes with sharp wit and sensitivity and shows a phenomenal memory, and it was this together with her incredible courage, together with the help of Polish friends and acquaintances that allowed Ruth and her baby daughter Eva to survive.
The journal was written soon after the Second World War, but was only published over 50 years later after it was found by her daughters following the writers passing in 1979.
Ruth Altbeker Cyprys writes of her struggle to survive, and keep Eva alive, both in and outside the Warsaw Ghetto.
She vividly recounts the roundups and deportations of Jews to Treblinka death camp beginning in July, 1942.
In those first seven weeks of the terrifying roundups and 'resettlement to the east' 265 000 Warsaw Jews were sent to their deaths in the gas chambers of Treblinka.
It was Ruth Altbeker's escape by jumping out of the train bound for Treblinka, and arranging for her daughter to be thrown after her, that kept them alive.
The author writes of how the Jews of the ghetto kept hope alive in the darkest days when death hang over them like a shadow-their anthem bin the ghetto being Hatikva-the Hope, to become the anthem of the re-established State of Israel after the war, where most Holocaust survivors resettled.
Ruth Altbeker witnessed the liquidation of the Korczac orphanage, from where hundreds of Jewish children were sent to their deaths.
She also deals with the disturbing subject of Jewish informers and those who helped the Nazis in other ways, to destroy their own people.
This is pertinent to read when morally bankrupt people of Jewish birth are doing all they can to destroy the Jewish State and subject her Jews to another Holocaust.
It is important to remember the events of the Holocaust at the time when the fires of hate against Jews and Israel are engulfing the world again, driven by those who would like to see millions of Jews, again, destroyed.
The writer of this journal writes with sharp wit and sensitivity and shows a phenomenal memory, and it was this together with her incredible courage, together with the help of Polish friends and acquaintances that allowed Ruth and her baby daughter Eva to survive.
The journal was written soon after the Second World War, but was only published over 50 years later after it was found by her daughters following the writers passing in 1979.
Ruth Altbeker Cyprys writes of her struggle to survive, and keep Eva alive, both in and outside the Warsaw Ghetto.
She vividly recounts the roundups and deportations of Jews to Treblinka death camp beginning in July, 1942.
In those first seven weeks of the terrifying roundups and 'resettlement to the east' 265 000 Warsaw Jews were sent to their deaths in the gas chambers of Treblinka.
It was Ruth Altbeker's escape by jumping out of the train bound for Treblinka, and arranging for her daughter to be thrown after her, that kept them alive.
The author writes of how the Jews of the ghetto kept hope alive in the darkest days when death hang over them like a shadow-their anthem bin the ghetto being Hatikva-the Hope, to become the anthem of the re-established State of Israel after the war, where most Holocaust survivors resettled.
Ruth Altbeker witnessed the liquidation of the Korczac orphanage, from where hundreds of Jewish children were sent to their deaths.
She also deals with the disturbing subject of Jewish informers and those who helped the Nazis in other ways, to destroy their own people.
This is pertinent to read when morally bankrupt people of Jewish birth are doing all they can to destroy the Jewish State and subject her Jews to another Holocaust.
It is important to remember the events of the Holocaust at the time when the fires of hate against Jews and Israel are engulfing the world again, driven by those who would like to see millions of Jews, again, destroyed.
February 5, 2010
What an amazing woman! Ruth was a Polish Jew in Warsaw, pregnant with her first child as her husband left to fight in 1939. She (and her baby) survive the Warsaw ghetto and the war due to her courage and intelligence, with the help of many miracles and compassionate people. On the train to a concentration camp, Ruth jumps out of the little window, followed by her toddler. After the war, Ruth wrote this record of her experiences and it was found in a drawer by her daughter, 50 years later. This is an incredible story.
Some of her insights:
"This march of hopeless, resigned, wandering Jews was terrible to behold. With bundles, rucksacks, bent down and ill-treated, they were leaving our little alley, now so precious to everybody. One can get accustomed to everything and even come to regard it with affection." (p. 66)
"That poor railway guard with two children of his own yet still willing to give shelter to a strange Jewish cild? It was all incomprehensible, almost a miracle. I realized then that Good and Evil were to be found side by side in this world, or even striding together in equal measure in one person." (p. 105)
"Involuntarily, or perhaps by inveterate instinct, I turned again to God. How arbitrary was the dispensation of Providence. Why had only I been saved and the others doomed? I was no better or worse than the others, yet I was alive and they were to die in torture." (p. 105)
Some of her insights:
"This march of hopeless, resigned, wandering Jews was terrible to behold. With bundles, rucksacks, bent down and ill-treated, they were leaving our little alley, now so precious to everybody. One can get accustomed to everything and even come to regard it with affection." (p. 66)
"That poor railway guard with two children of his own yet still willing to give shelter to a strange Jewish cild? It was all incomprehensible, almost a miracle. I realized then that Good and Evil were to be found side by side in this world, or even striding together in equal measure in one person." (p. 105)
"Involuntarily, or perhaps by inveterate instinct, I turned again to God. How arbitrary was the dispensation of Providence. Why had only I been saved and the others doomed? I was no better or worse than the others, yet I was alive and they were to die in torture." (p. 105)
February 18, 2019
A positively heart-rending, amazing and compelling memoir of one of the few among Warsaw's near 1/2 million Jews to survive the Holocaust and WWII. The author recorded her experience in 1946, in Palestine, but it was left for her daughters to find after her death and share with the world. Ruth's experience broke my heart and astounded me with her courage by turns. A practicing lawyer before Poland fell to the Nazis, Ruth and her toddler daughter lived in increasingly perilous situations as Jews were confined to the Warsaw ghetto and then sent to Treblinka for extermination. Ruth herself was rounded up and escaped a from a cattle car on its way to the death camp, and then returned to Warsaw to find a hiding place for her child and to carefully pass as a non-Jew for the rest of the war. Her descriptions are incredible, tearing mind and heart, but also bringing forth those moments of good and decent people that she also encountered along the way. Powerful reading.
Read for the 2019 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: Task 10
Read for the 2019 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: Task 10
September 13, 2009
A Survivor's Journal from Nazi-Occupied Poland. Heartbreaking but so enlightening regarding the role of non-Jewish and Jewish Poles in Warsaw during WW II. The Author is a good friend of my British cousin, which made it all the more real and terrifying.
November 24, 2009
Incredible true story taken from a discovered journal. Ruth Cyprys lived through the Nazi occupation of Poland and then was put on a train to be sent to the gas chambers. She escaped with her child out a tiny window in the train car. I couldn't put it down.
March 8, 2023
Cudowna pozycja
February 27, 2017
This book should be republished so as to reach a wider audience... The touching true story of an very extraordinary woman during the madness of the holocaust years...
March 5, 2020
Another diary of a survivor of the Holocaust. This woman went through all the drama inflicted upon Warsaw, Poland. She made tough decisions to save her daughter and herself including jumping out of a train car and her daughter being tossed off while they were on their way to Treblinka. She also had some lucky breaks to add to her intelligent handling of situations.
May 5, 2018
Read this many years ago and this book was amazing. The bravery of this lady was unreal, This book should be read by all who like WW2 true books. I would read this time and time again.
when I got to the part of when she knew what she had to do to keep her child alive,......
when I got to the part of when she knew what she had to do to keep her child alive,......
June 26, 2018
Might be my favourite of all the accounts of the Warsaw Ghetto I've read. An incredible story which includes escaping from the freight car on the way to Treblinka. Beautifully written, powerful and poignant.
January 30, 2022
Phenomenal story.
May 24, 2021
Ruth, the author of this unbelievably true book, amazed me. Although the writing is very detailed, I couldn't put it down. Her book describes not only her very lucky escape from the train, but the chain of events before and after her jump for life. She also includes the stories of several of her friends, all in all making this one of the most revealing accounts of the numerous Holocaust/WWII books I have read.
December 31, 2013
It is the best World War II memoir I ever read ...Unbelievable well written story...Highly recommend to everyone who likes history...The whole story is in Nazi occupied Poland ... Warsaw mostly.This book deserves more than 5 stars.Read it ...It will stay with you forever.
August 4, 2011
A fascinating, yet horrifying, book written by a Jew who was living in Warsaw when WWII broke out.
August 14, 2013
Wow she had courage and a will to live. Amazing story!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews