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Holocaust Memoirs: On the Run in Nazi Berlin
In 1942, Gestapo agents knocked on the door of the Lewyn family. Bert Lewyn was a teenager, only 18 years old. Like thousands of other Jewish families, Bert, his mother and father were all arrested and taken away. His parents were deported to a concentration camp and Bert was conscripted as a slave laborer, forced to work in a weapons factory building machine guns for the German Wehrmacht. This is a story of Bert's escape and subsequent struggle to survive on his own, living underground in Nazi Berlin.
431 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 27, 2017
All of us known the terrible history of what happened to Jews in WWII. That is, we know in GENERAL what happened. Of course, we know about the Nazis and their evil regime. In ON THE RUN IN NAZI BERLIN, we get to know a lot more--up close and personal. We learn how a young man--still in his teens--managed to survive a brutal regime looking to exterminate his race.
As the persecution of the Jews in Berlin intensified, the situation for Jewish people in Berlin grew desperate. Bert's parents were finally dragged away by the Gestapo--never to be seen again. Young Bert, having skill in metal-work, was required to work in an armaments factory. He and a friend were able to steal and sell motors by lowering them through a window when no one was around.
Finally, even Bert's special machinery skills were not enough to save him, and the Nazis came to take the remaining Jews away. Bert got word of this, and went underground, as a "U-Boat," as the remaining Jews were called.
As a "U-Boat," Bert lived by his wits, and was able to scrap by, living sometimes in shabby rooms, and sometimes in basements of bombed-out buildings. He couldn't be seen in public, and lived in constant fear of informants. Food was rationed, and he had to buy goods on the black market to survive. Adding to the fear was the constant bombing of Berlin by the Allies.
Perhaps the most amazing chapter describes how Bert was finally captured by the Gestapo, imprisoned, and beaten for supposedly being a spy for the British. Over a period of weeks, Dagobert, as he was orginally named, was able to create a key out of a piece of lead pipe! Eventually, he and some other prisoners unlocked a gate and escaped down a tunnel. Of course, that just meant he was on the run again as a fugitive.
Another chapter describes how the author and a friend dressed up in SS uniforms to deliver movie projectors to the Germans! They even had a car pick them up--since they were VIP's!
ON THE RUN IN NAZI BERLIN is a sobering read. It's hard to believe that these events actually happened. I can't but wonder, would I have been as resourceful as Bert Lewyn? Could I have survived in a world set out to exterminate my kind?
It is astonishing that the author survived. Of course, most didn't--including his parents. There are a few heroes in this book--kind-hearted people who opposed the Nazi regime, and were willing to hide Bert. There was also a blind communist who hated the Nazis with a passion.
Review copy courtesy of the Lewyn family.
See also Bassocantor.com.
As the persecution of the Jews in Berlin intensified, the situation for Jewish people in Berlin grew desperate. Bert's parents were finally dragged away by the Gestapo--never to be seen again. Young Bert, having skill in metal-work, was required to work in an armaments factory. He and a friend were able to steal and sell motors by lowering them through a window when no one was around.
Finally, even Bert's special machinery skills were not enough to save him, and the Nazis came to take the remaining Jews away. Bert got word of this, and went underground, as a "U-Boat," as the remaining Jews were called.
As a "U-Boat," Bert lived by his wits, and was able to scrap by, living sometimes in shabby rooms, and sometimes in basements of bombed-out buildings. He couldn't be seen in public, and lived in constant fear of informants. Food was rationed, and he had to buy goods on the black market to survive. Adding to the fear was the constant bombing of Berlin by the Allies.
Perhaps the most amazing chapter describes how Bert was finally captured by the Gestapo, imprisoned, and beaten for supposedly being a spy for the British. Over a period of weeks, Dagobert, as he was orginally named, was able to create a key out of a piece of lead pipe! Eventually, he and some other prisoners unlocked a gate and escaped down a tunnel. Of course, that just meant he was on the run again as a fugitive.
Another chapter describes how the author and a friend dressed up in SS uniforms to deliver movie projectors to the Germans! They even had a car pick them up--since they were VIP's!
ON THE RUN IN NAZI BERLIN is a sobering read. It's hard to believe that these events actually happened. I can't but wonder, would I have been as resourceful as Bert Lewyn? Could I have survived in a world set out to exterminate my kind?
It is astonishing that the author survived. Of course, most didn't--including his parents. There are a few heroes in this book--kind-hearted people who opposed the Nazi regime, and were willing to hide Bert. There was also a blind communist who hated the Nazis with a passion.
Review copy courtesy of the Lewyn family.
See also Bassocantor.com.
December 18, 2009
I really liked this book it gave me a good overview of what it would be like to be a jew during the Holocaust. I found it better Anne Frank because he wasn't hiding he was actually running from the nazis day after day.
December 10, 2021
Horrifying. What a survivor. It is so difficult to read stories about this time in history during the Nazi reign and the suffering of the Jews. I truly don't know how anybody in those horrendous conditions actually did survive. Thank you for sharing your story Dagobert Lewyn.
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March 1, 2020This is my father-in-law’s memoir.
November 11, 2015
This amazing book takes you on a journey alongside Dagobert Lewin, a Jew living in Germany during WWII. His story is as insightful as it is thrilling. This book shows you what it is really like to live during a time of war.
July 5, 2016
Amazing tale of survival. It totally transported me to the time period.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews