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Leap into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe
A harrowing, action-packed account of the author's series of audacious escapes from the Nazis' Final Solution--"riveting...a fascinating and moving piece of history" ( Library Journal ).
Young Leo Bretholz survived the Holocaust by escaping from the Nazis (and others) not once, but seven times during his almost seven-year ordeal crisscrossing war-torn Europe. He leaped from trains, outran police, and hid in attics, cellars, anywhere that offered a few more seconds of safety. First he swam the River Sauer at the German-Belgian border. Later he climbed the Alps on feet so battered they froze to his socks--only to be turned back at the Swiss border. He crawled out from under the barbed wire of a French holding camp, and hid in a village in the Pyrenees while gendarmes searched it. And in the dark hours of one November morning, he escaped from a train bound for Auschwitz.
Leap into Darkness is the sweeping memoir of one Jewish boy's survival, and of the family and the world he left behind.
Young Leo Bretholz survived the Holocaust by escaping from the Nazis (and others) not once, but seven times during his almost seven-year ordeal crisscrossing war-torn Europe. He leaped from trains, outran police, and hid in attics, cellars, anywhere that offered a few more seconds of safety. First he swam the River Sauer at the German-Belgian border. Later he climbed the Alps on feet so battered they froze to his socks--only to be turned back at the Swiss border. He crawled out from under the barbed wire of a French holding camp, and hid in a village in the Pyrenees while gendarmes searched it. And in the dark hours of one November morning, he escaped from a train bound for Auschwitz.
Leap into Darkness is the sweeping memoir of one Jewish boy's survival, and of the family and the world he left behind.
288 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1998
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2995 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews
September 30, 2012
I admit that I do not like history books. I will have to say that this book was great from start to finish. I found this book both an amazing and heartbreaking story about a Jewish boy's quest to stay alive during WW11.
This is a true story about Leo, a 17 year old Jewish boy who left Austria when Hitler invaded it. He spent the next 7 years hiding from the Nazis while getting caught and escaping many times. Leo's train ride to Auschwitz was haunting and unbelievable. Amazing how Leo was able to tell his story of the holocaust. I recommend this book to anyone.
This is a true story about Leo, a 17 year old Jewish boy who left Austria when Hitler invaded it. He spent the next 7 years hiding from the Nazis while getting caught and escaping many times. Leo's train ride to Auschwitz was haunting and unbelievable. Amazing how Leo was able to tell his story of the holocaust. I recommend this book to anyone.
January 12, 2021
This is the best YA book I have ever read about the Holocaust. Leo Bretholz is a teenage boy who escapes from Vienna, makes his way to Belgium, down to Switzerland, and all over France. At every point he shows amazing courage and there are so many close calls and last-minute escapes you will not be able to stop reading to find out what happens next! But the most meaningful part of the book is the way so many unexpected rescuers come to his aid. At the end of the book you realize that the "leap into darkness" is not his one jump from a moving train but all the times he takes a chance on trusting others and helping others -- or letting other people help him. That's the real lesson of this book.
October 5, 2011
Great read. I loved the book and actually met the author and his wife when I bought the book from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The book is an exciting read about Leo Bretholz attempts to escape the Nazi concentration camps at all costs, like jumping from the trains and going into hiding. Its been a few years since I've read the book so I don't remember all the details but I do remember not being able to put it down. Highly recommended.
September 6, 2016
I can't in good conscience write a review of the atrocities faced by such a brave young man as Leo Bretholz. I can only tell you that this book is a fresh perspective on survival and a testament to courage and perseverance. Please read this book.
November 11, 2014
Seventeen year old Leo Bretholz was a Jewish boy from Vienna, whose life changed dramatically when the Nazis occupied Austria in 1938. He spent the next seven years staying one step ahead of the Nazis as they tried to completely wipe-out the entire Jewish population of Europe. This book tells Leo’s story. Written with co-author Michael Olesker, he tells of his plight as he initially escapes to Luxembourg by swimming the river Sauer out of Germany, then his tale takes us to Belgium, occupied and Vichy France. During his time on the run, he escapes two German transports one of which was taking him directly to Auschwitz the Nazi death camp. For Leo to survive it took determination, intelligence and a strong survival instinct: but most of all it took extraordinary luck. I don’t think any book about the Holocaust can completely get across the fear the victims felt at being subjected to such madness, or the continuing impact it would have on the lives of those that survived. Also, it is hard to get our heads around the terrible guilt many Holocaust survivors felt because they survived and most of their family perished. I think it would be hard not to be affected by the subject and hopefully repelled by what human beings are capable of doing to each other. However, this is not a book that leaves you depressed and dejected about humanity. Ultimately this is a book about the triumph of the spirit and in my view is well worth reading.
May 23, 2011
This book is a true story about a Jewish boy who evaded the Nazis and survived the Holocaust by crisscrossing Europe.
Awesome book. The best thing about it isn’t the story itself, but the striking insights of this young man caught in the insanity of those times:
‘overture to acts of murder.’ To me those words are a reminder of what the true implications of prejudice are. And how important it is to be real about prejudice in my own life and within myself.
Murder can take different forms. You can murder someone physically. You can kill their spirit. Or strip them of their humanity. This book illustrates in heartbreaking detail how the Nazis became experts in all the many shades of murder.
Awesome book. The best thing about it isn’t the story itself, but the striking insights of this young man caught in the insanity of those times:
I stood at the edge of one crowd, held back from interfering, yet knowing there was nothing I could do to stop the cruelty. I watched people on their hands and knees forced to scrub the street. They kept their eyes downcast in fear and humiliation. I glanced nervously about and wondered if some bullies might come for me. Those on their knees struggled for some sense of dignity; I watched them, because to turn away was to cease witnessing the overture to acts of murder.
‘overture to acts of murder.’ To me those words are a reminder of what the true implications of prejudice are. And how important it is to be real about prejudice in my own life and within myself.
Murder can take different forms. You can murder someone physically. You can kill their spirit. Or strip them of their humanity. This book illustrates in heartbreaking detail how the Nazis became experts in all the many shades of murder.
April 28, 2017
Europe was a powder keg with a short fuse during the Second World War. Everyone knew that war will soon start, but what about the Jews, gypsies, gays, and other undesirables? Leap into Darkness by Leo Bretholz tells a chilling and nail biting story about a young Jewish boy and his ventures across Europe. You see, this story is not an ordinary Holocaust story, because young Leo Bretholz never went to any of the camps. Instead, he escaped his fears and his enemies. Hearing the boy's story tells readers what it was really like in war torn Europe.
This story that I had read had caught my attention because it’s unlike most holocaust memoirs. The author, Leo Bretholz, doesn't actually go to any of the concentration camps, instead, he is constantly on the run in search for safety. I’m sure that I will never end up his place, but I have a deep personal connection with Leo Bretholz. The way he reasons, his reactions to events, all are actions that I know I would take. Along with this, my own reactions to parts of the story are exactly what Leo explains. I found myself nodding my head as I turned the next page after finishing a chapter. The shock that I had in the beginning was different, though. Leo Bretholz wrote the book years after the events, so his tone at times was the opposite in the beginning. When Leo describes one of his uncles in the beginning of the story, he first mentions that he had “gone to Dachau on the morning of the second day of the Anschluss” (Bretholz 25). Reading this at the start of the book really sets the melancholy tone for the rest of the book, which I find important in order to understand Leo and his story. That, and reading the beginning gave me the “oh, it’s that kind of book!” feeling.
Leo Bretholz first leaves his home and his family at the age of seventeen on October 25, 1938. A well thought-out plan taking Leo into Luxemburg ends up becoming harder when a week of gray skies and rain causes the Danube River to become deep and dangerous. Once he was in Luxemburg, he was caught and sent into the French border. For the rest of the story, nearly every single one of the events that Leo is caught up in was not planned at all (save for a few here and there) and Leo begins his true journey, one of risk and uncertainty. Leo later on gets to Belgium with a group of other Jews, on their way there, they witness Kristallnacht, the night of the broken glass. During one of the most chilling moments in the story, Leo finds himself in a cattle car surrounded by others as he heads to Auschwitz. No one in this day in age really knows what it’s like in those disgusting boxes on rails, so to read the boy’s personal account of that car opened my eyes as much as it disgusted me. During that moment, the Leo Bretholz mentioned that “the stench in the car filled our lungs, and we struggled not vomit. Some were unsuccessful. The vomit clung to clothing, and then the air became worse. ‘Where is God?’ someone cried” (Bretholz 166). After I had read this, I pondered for hours about that one scene. I began to question reality, I began to question the Nazis, and most of all, I began to question humanity itself. Moments like this are everywhere in this book and the fact that this had happened to someone makes me sick to my stomach knowing that there are people out in the world that just want to burn it down. Too harsh? Read the book first then come back to this then.
So… why exactly did I rate the story 4 stars? This book doesn’t have the flow that most books have. I absolutely loved this book, it’s just that the story was one event after another and another. I’m sure the author had a hard time writing it since it happened so many years ago. I understand that writing those stories is hard when it’s not as fresh as it was, but the book doesn’t have the dialogue or the action. The book only has the events in order and what happened in between; the author was only a commentator of his own story. Each event doesn’t lead to the next, the events just happen. In real life, the events most likely had randomly happened, too, but reading it was a little hard to keep up. Even though each character was unique, there were a ton of important characters in the story. Every character had to be remembered because they all played a role in Leo’s survival. There was Uncle David and his son Kurt and Leon and Heinz (that Nazi who I guess just never realized Leo was a Jew) and the Spiras and the Frajermauers and Lebon and Aunt Erna and Manfred and, of course, Becker (I almost forgot him).
Leap into Darkness is a decent and respectable story. Period. It just has a few flaws in between the lines, but there isn’t such thing as a perfect story. Leo’s life during these 7 years is something that many others must have gone through during this time, and the fact that most people in the present don’t ever realize this is very disappointing. My personal connections are what kept me glued to the pages, and I hope the book will cause the same to you. I absolutely loved this book and I would recommend it for any history lovers or anyone who loves action and suspense. This is one of those books everyone should read at least once, because it sets a perspective for people about the war that I think everyone should be aware of.
This story that I had read had caught my attention because it’s unlike most holocaust memoirs. The author, Leo Bretholz, doesn't actually go to any of the concentration camps, instead, he is constantly on the run in search for safety. I’m sure that I will never end up his place, but I have a deep personal connection with Leo Bretholz. The way he reasons, his reactions to events, all are actions that I know I would take. Along with this, my own reactions to parts of the story are exactly what Leo explains. I found myself nodding my head as I turned the next page after finishing a chapter. The shock that I had in the beginning was different, though. Leo Bretholz wrote the book years after the events, so his tone at times was the opposite in the beginning. When Leo describes one of his uncles in the beginning of the story, he first mentions that he had “gone to Dachau on the morning of the second day of the Anschluss” (Bretholz 25). Reading this at the start of the book really sets the melancholy tone for the rest of the book, which I find important in order to understand Leo and his story. That, and reading the beginning gave me the “oh, it’s that kind of book!” feeling.
Leo Bretholz first leaves his home and his family at the age of seventeen on October 25, 1938. A well thought-out plan taking Leo into Luxemburg ends up becoming harder when a week of gray skies and rain causes the Danube River to become deep and dangerous. Once he was in Luxemburg, he was caught and sent into the French border. For the rest of the story, nearly every single one of the events that Leo is caught up in was not planned at all (save for a few here and there) and Leo begins his true journey, one of risk and uncertainty. Leo later on gets to Belgium with a group of other Jews, on their way there, they witness Kristallnacht, the night of the broken glass. During one of the most chilling moments in the story, Leo finds himself in a cattle car surrounded by others as he heads to Auschwitz. No one in this day in age really knows what it’s like in those disgusting boxes on rails, so to read the boy’s personal account of that car opened my eyes as much as it disgusted me. During that moment, the Leo Bretholz mentioned that “the stench in the car filled our lungs, and we struggled not vomit. Some were unsuccessful. The vomit clung to clothing, and then the air became worse. ‘Where is God?’ someone cried” (Bretholz 166). After I had read this, I pondered for hours about that one scene. I began to question reality, I began to question the Nazis, and most of all, I began to question humanity itself. Moments like this are everywhere in this book and the fact that this had happened to someone makes me sick to my stomach knowing that there are people out in the world that just want to burn it down. Too harsh? Read the book first then come back to this then.
So… why exactly did I rate the story 4 stars? This book doesn’t have the flow that most books have. I absolutely loved this book, it’s just that the story was one event after another and another. I’m sure the author had a hard time writing it since it happened so many years ago. I understand that writing those stories is hard when it’s not as fresh as it was, but the book doesn’t have the dialogue or the action. The book only has the events in order and what happened in between; the author was only a commentator of his own story. Each event doesn’t lead to the next, the events just happen. In real life, the events most likely had randomly happened, too, but reading it was a little hard to keep up. Even though each character was unique, there were a ton of important characters in the story. Every character had to be remembered because they all played a role in Leo’s survival. There was Uncle David and his son Kurt and Leon and Heinz (that Nazi who I guess just never realized Leo was a Jew) and the Spiras and the Frajermauers and Lebon and Aunt Erna and Manfred and, of course, Becker (I almost forgot him).
Leap into Darkness is a decent and respectable story. Period. It just has a few flaws in between the lines, but there isn’t such thing as a perfect story. Leo’s life during these 7 years is something that many others must have gone through during this time, and the fact that most people in the present don’t ever realize this is very disappointing. My personal connections are what kept me glued to the pages, and I hope the book will cause the same to you. I absolutely loved this book and I would recommend it for any history lovers or anyone who loves action and suspense. This is one of those books everyone should read at least once, because it sets a perspective for people about the war that I think everyone should be aware of.
July 23, 2017
Heartbreaking. It’s an overwhelming chronicle of man’s evil and endurance.
It’s a little different, in style, from any other biography that I’ve read. There is a great emphasis on his feelings at any given moment, and how they are building up from catastrophe to catastrophe. Mostly it’s done through a series of flashbacks that are overwhelming. It’s a hard to read about what is happening at any given time, but to have that layered with the guilt and fear he feels about what is past is even harder. Then he also tells you right from the beginning who won’t make it; again when he sees them for the last time he tells you how they are going to die; and then runs through the list again at the end.
It’s brutal in sections and definitely for mature audiences, but I do really appreciate that he didn’t include a bunch swearing. The language is clean.
It’s a little different, in style, from any other biography that I’ve read. There is a great emphasis on his feelings at any given moment, and how they are building up from catastrophe to catastrophe. Mostly it’s done through a series of flashbacks that are overwhelming. It’s a hard to read about what is happening at any given time, but to have that layered with the guilt and fear he feels about what is past is even harder. Then he also tells you right from the beginning who won’t make it; again when he sees them for the last time he tells you how they are going to die; and then runs through the list again at the end.
It’s brutal in sections and definitely for mature audiences, but I do really appreciate that he didn’t include a bunch swearing. The language is clean.
April 14, 2011
I just finished reading Leo's book and spent most of the night doing so. The memoir is so poignant and vivid, I felt like I was running with Leo, desperately fleeing to survive in a world more chilling than any dystopian fantasy novel. Leo's horrific life--in the reality that was Vienna and later France, Belgium and beyond-- before and during the second world war, is captured in stunning prose and photos he managed to escape with. Leo's chapter on the train heading for Auschwitz is so shocking and heart-wrenching, it left me aching and in tears. A must-read for anyone yearning to know how one man could climb out of such a terrible abyss and have the courage to tell his story of the holocaust.
April 28, 2017
I am not sure which part of the book I should talk about first, the suspense, the drama, or the horrifying accounts of torment during this time. The way the author told their life story during the war, it terrified me and made the idea of prison seem like heaven, but I was not able to just put down this page turner as you never knew when peace would turn into violence or vice versa. Leo Bretholz personal memoir, “Leap into Darkness”, shows us the terrible effects that fear, anger, and a want for genocide, have had on people living in a war-torn world. Bretholz himself takes us back in time to view the Holocaust through his eyes and experience the horrors that very few survived to tell about it.
Leo Bretholz is a German Jew who was raised in Vienna, Austria. He is also a Holocaust survivor with an incredible story. He writes about his love for his family, his families deaths at camps scattered across Europe, as well as his personal escape from a moving train heading to perhaps the most infamous concentration camp in all of Europe, Auschwitz. Living in the world we live in today, it sadly reminds me of the war in the middle east, and the persecution of innocent people for nothing more than religion, gender, and even political views. And just as it resulted in Europe, the groups responsible for this prejudice have begun a war that has engulfed several nations. What Leo experienced during the Holocaust tested him mentally, and is something that almost none of us could picture happening to us (hopefully it doesn’t). This book opened my eyes when I was reading it as Leo frequently mentioned the negative effects of prejudice and how no one can win with that kind of strategy.
While many people have used prejudice to bring others down, we all know it usually never works out. When people use prejudice it is most often used to talk about someone or something they think is abnormal or less deserving than themselves. In this case Leo is viewed as the lesser by Germans for his religion, but in almost every reality he is just like them. Many parts of his life have been lived by the Germans. He went to school with Germans, he was friends with Germans, he was neighbors with Germans, and his parents were friends with Germans. There was only one small difference between the two groups that resulted in an outbreak of an entire World War, and that was his religion. Almost instantaneously, past friends began turning on his family because they were Jewish. I thought that the most fascinating part was people were observant enough to tell the difference between Jews and Germans in this book as they acted so similar. Leo himself was confused about the situation, as he pondered the question he finally asked his uncle, “How do they know we’re Jewish? We act just like them” (Bretholz 106). The Germans began a mass genocide over people that were just like them. After I read this book I now know that Leo was the most German out of all the Soldiers and of this novel. He showed that because he is Jewish he is still strong, he bravely showed that his Star of David is more symbolic of bravery and perseverance, than a Swastika stitched on a uniform of a German soldier, or draped from a flag.
While Leo and his family are being assaulted in Austria, they begin to notice that people in Vienna are beginning to go missing, one of these people is Leo’s uncle Isidore. Unfortunately just like thousands of other people, they did not think much about these disappearances, and it ultimately led to the deaths of millions of Jews. In addition to not paying attention to the signs, they also underestimated the Nazi regime and guessed it would not last. How wrong they were. Bretholz admits, “We still assumed Hitler wouldn’t last. He would go away if we simply minded our own business”(Bretholz 23). Leo and his family all witnessed Adolf Hitler himself speak about his Reich just outside their home. Assuming that he was a crazy politician with radical ideas, they would have no idea of the plan that he had for them. They underestimated a powerful man and didn’t realize that their own family would be among the first to be shipped out.
As for this memoir, I would definitely give it five out of five stars. Everything about this memoir was excellent. The writer's tone and voice was superior, it was very easy to tell that this memoir was clearly written from deep personal emotions. I loved the way the book had almost no pauses or unnecessary information to delay the plot and divert the reader. And it opened my eyes about the real things that happened during the holocaust. Bretholz personal account shows a dark side of world history that few have survived to tell about. It is a truly inspiring piece of writing about the struggles, fears, and perseverance during perhaps the darkest point in human history.
Bretholz created an amazing novel with the ability to hook any reader with an interest in WW2 or European history. His inspiring memoir is a statement of history and I hope this is on everyone's list of books to read.
Leo Bretholz is a German Jew who was raised in Vienna, Austria. He is also a Holocaust survivor with an incredible story. He writes about his love for his family, his families deaths at camps scattered across Europe, as well as his personal escape from a moving train heading to perhaps the most infamous concentration camp in all of Europe, Auschwitz. Living in the world we live in today, it sadly reminds me of the war in the middle east, and the persecution of innocent people for nothing more than religion, gender, and even political views. And just as it resulted in Europe, the groups responsible for this prejudice have begun a war that has engulfed several nations. What Leo experienced during the Holocaust tested him mentally, and is something that almost none of us could picture happening to us (hopefully it doesn’t). This book opened my eyes when I was reading it as Leo frequently mentioned the negative effects of prejudice and how no one can win with that kind of strategy.
While many people have used prejudice to bring others down, we all know it usually never works out. When people use prejudice it is most often used to talk about someone or something they think is abnormal or less deserving than themselves. In this case Leo is viewed as the lesser by Germans for his religion, but in almost every reality he is just like them. Many parts of his life have been lived by the Germans. He went to school with Germans, he was friends with Germans, he was neighbors with Germans, and his parents were friends with Germans. There was only one small difference between the two groups that resulted in an outbreak of an entire World War, and that was his religion. Almost instantaneously, past friends began turning on his family because they were Jewish. I thought that the most fascinating part was people were observant enough to tell the difference between Jews and Germans in this book as they acted so similar. Leo himself was confused about the situation, as he pondered the question he finally asked his uncle, “How do they know we’re Jewish? We act just like them” (Bretholz 106). The Germans began a mass genocide over people that were just like them. After I read this book I now know that Leo was the most German out of all the Soldiers and of this novel. He showed that because he is Jewish he is still strong, he bravely showed that his Star of David is more symbolic of bravery and perseverance, than a Swastika stitched on a uniform of a German soldier, or draped from a flag.
While Leo and his family are being assaulted in Austria, they begin to notice that people in Vienna are beginning to go missing, one of these people is Leo’s uncle Isidore. Unfortunately just like thousands of other people, they did not think much about these disappearances, and it ultimately led to the deaths of millions of Jews. In addition to not paying attention to the signs, they also underestimated the Nazi regime and guessed it would not last. How wrong they were. Bretholz admits, “We still assumed Hitler wouldn’t last. He would go away if we simply minded our own business”(Bretholz 23). Leo and his family all witnessed Adolf Hitler himself speak about his Reich just outside their home. Assuming that he was a crazy politician with radical ideas, they would have no idea of the plan that he had for them. They underestimated a powerful man and didn’t realize that their own family would be among the first to be shipped out.
As for this memoir, I would definitely give it five out of five stars. Everything about this memoir was excellent. The writer's tone and voice was superior, it was very easy to tell that this memoir was clearly written from deep personal emotions. I loved the way the book had almost no pauses or unnecessary information to delay the plot and divert the reader. And it opened my eyes about the real things that happened during the holocaust. Bretholz personal account shows a dark side of world history that few have survived to tell about. It is a truly inspiring piece of writing about the struggles, fears, and perseverance during perhaps the darkest point in human history.
Bretholz created an amazing novel with the ability to hook any reader with an interest in WW2 or European history. His inspiring memoir is a statement of history and I hope this is on everyone's list of books to read.
July 19, 2020
A sad, chilling yet wonderfully written novel of the Journey Leo took during the occupation of Nazi Germany. Through chance, Leo was able to survive the holocaust and tell his story. A reminder to never forget the atrocities that took place during Nazi regime.
February 11, 2019
Interesting but loaded with too many relatives to keep up with.
January 10, 2010
"I am a tiny footnote to all of this history, but such footnotes are the secrets which make the story real." Leo Bretholz is a survivor. His mom advised him to leave Vienna, knowing that Jewish lives were in danger as Hitler came marching in with the SS. In Vienna, before he left, Leo observed Jewish men and women cleaning the sidewalk with toothbrushes. "The world's rules of civility had been canceled, and I was terribly frightened and conflicted. To be singled out for our Jewishness made no sense, but we were being selected and punished at any random hour of the day for that simple fact alone."
For seven years, Leo ran and escaped the Nazis, even once on a train bound for Auschwitz. "Where does anyone go in the midst of a war? They go one step beyond those pursuing them." Leo traveled from one country to another, aquiring legal temporary resident documents in towns throughout Europe with the help of other Jewish escapees. Leo was helped by family and kind people throughout his fugitive years.
Leo never, for all of his years as a fugitive, or as an American, did he forget leaving his mother and sisters behind. He was tormented by the fact that he lived while they died. This memoir is filled with Leo's reflections. This is one of them: "God seemed to have washed his hands of the Jews, and of all innocents, and of all humankind. I was breaking rocks in a miserable labor camp for the crime of trying to stay alive. My mother and my sisters were dead or alive, no thanks to God..."
For seven years, Leo ran and escaped the Nazis, even once on a train bound for Auschwitz. "Where does anyone go in the midst of a war? They go one step beyond those pursuing them." Leo traveled from one country to another, aquiring legal temporary resident documents in towns throughout Europe with the help of other Jewish escapees. Leo was helped by family and kind people throughout his fugitive years.
Leo never, for all of his years as a fugitive, or as an American, did he forget leaving his mother and sisters behind. He was tormented by the fact that he lived while they died. This memoir is filled with Leo's reflections. This is one of them: "God seemed to have washed his hands of the Jews, and of all innocents, and of all humankind. I was breaking rocks in a miserable labor camp for the crime of trying to stay alive. My mother and my sisters were dead or alive, no thanks to God..."
November 30, 2011
I can't say enough about this book. After reading one book, I've become interested in the Vichy goverment in France. This is an incredible story of a Jewish man's quest to stay alive and ahead of the Nazi's throughout WWII. It's unbelievable what he encounters throughout this time period, his incredible resilliance and the time period when it occurs. (He is a very young man when he starts out on the run.) It's well written and is a story that is a complete page turner, in all of its horror.
July 25, 2011
Outstanding account. I met this gracious and friendly gentleman when he signed my copy of the book at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington last month. An avid reader and collector of Holocaust memoirs, I was awed, not only by his amazing story, but by his memory recall and compelling personal insights. Thank you Leo, I feel privileged to have met you.
January 4, 2021
It takes a lot of courage to climb out the window of a moving train and leap into darkness unknown. But when you realize the train is taking you to your death, it’s the better option.
At its core, “Leap Into Darkness” is the true story of a young man trying to stay alive during a horrible genocide, where the powers that be are trying to murder him simply because he’s a member of the persecuted group. In his case, that included swimming across a river, escaping a prison camp under barb wire, climbing freezing terrain into Switzerland, lying or telling the truth to authorities (depending on a split second assessment of what is likely to yield a better outcome), hiding in various places, solitary confinement, breaking rocks in a hard labor camp, and a lot more. It’s a well-written page turner thriller, that IMO should be made into a movie.
But since this is book is true, I hope the reader will also pay attention to both the historical details inserted throughout the book. The Holocaust didn’t begin with death camps. Prior to the death camps, there was an increasing tightening of discriminatory laws against Jews, outlawing certain professions to them, restricting where they went, etc., and public humiliations, such as making Jews clean the streets on their hands and knees. Hitler didn’t happen in a vacuum--he had lots of enablers, as Leo witnessed with his own eyes when he saw Hitler with his own eyes cheered on by a crowd full of Leo’s fellow Austrians.
Leo’s survival didn’t happen in a vacuum either. People risked their own lives to supply him with counterfeit documents, hide him, lie for him, guide him to borders, etc. True heroes emerged in his story, along with true evil doers/bullies, and otherwise “good” people who did nothing.
Today, there are lots of Leo’s out there. I don’t mean Holocaust survivors, but people being persecuted in the 21st Century simply due to their ethnicity, country of origin, sexual orientation, and more. Children are still separated from their parents and inhumanely caged, simply because their parents were trying to escape persecution and death in their home country. People are still sheltering in churches in the U.S. to avoid deporation back to persecution and probable death.
I highly recommend reading “Leap Into Darkness” not just for Leo’s fascinating story in 1930s and 1940s Europe, but to show us the similarities in the 21st Century USA. We all have the decision to make--not whether to jump out of moving train into the unknown, but of which characters we will be in the modern Leo’s stories: those who help the persecuted, or those who allow evil to flourish?
At its core, “Leap Into Darkness” is the true story of a young man trying to stay alive during a horrible genocide, where the powers that be are trying to murder him simply because he’s a member of the persecuted group. In his case, that included swimming across a river, escaping a prison camp under barb wire, climbing freezing terrain into Switzerland, lying or telling the truth to authorities (depending on a split second assessment of what is likely to yield a better outcome), hiding in various places, solitary confinement, breaking rocks in a hard labor camp, and a lot more. It’s a well-written page turner thriller, that IMO should be made into a movie.
But since this is book is true, I hope the reader will also pay attention to both the historical details inserted throughout the book. The Holocaust didn’t begin with death camps. Prior to the death camps, there was an increasing tightening of discriminatory laws against Jews, outlawing certain professions to them, restricting where they went, etc., and public humiliations, such as making Jews clean the streets on their hands and knees. Hitler didn’t happen in a vacuum--he had lots of enablers, as Leo witnessed with his own eyes when he saw Hitler with his own eyes cheered on by a crowd full of Leo’s fellow Austrians.
Leo’s survival didn’t happen in a vacuum either. People risked their own lives to supply him with counterfeit documents, hide him, lie for him, guide him to borders, etc. True heroes emerged in his story, along with true evil doers/bullies, and otherwise “good” people who did nothing.
Today, there are lots of Leo’s out there. I don’t mean Holocaust survivors, but people being persecuted in the 21st Century simply due to their ethnicity, country of origin, sexual orientation, and more. Children are still separated from their parents and inhumanely caged, simply because their parents were trying to escape persecution and death in their home country. People are still sheltering in churches in the U.S. to avoid deporation back to persecution and probable death.
I highly recommend reading “Leap Into Darkness” not just for Leo’s fascinating story in 1930s and 1940s Europe, but to show us the similarities in the 21st Century USA. We all have the decision to make--not whether to jump out of moving train into the unknown, but of which characters we will be in the modern Leo’s stories: those who help the persecuted, or those who allow evil to flourish?
April 18, 2022
Leap into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe is a first-hand account of how a young man fearlessly evaded being captured by Nazi sympathizers during World War II. Leo left his home in Austria when Nazism started infiltrating and imposing control and restrictions upon Jewish people, including taking away their livelihoods, housing, freedoms, imposing incarceration and deportation to work camps and concentration camps and worse. Leo's parents told him not to trust anybody, as a stranger who you might trust could easily be led to report you to authorities.
At one point, Leo kept his holy book in a suitcase, which had to be left behind when he was hidden in an abbey along with a German soldier who he befriended. Years later, when he wrote to the soldier asking him to mail his items, the soldier refused, as it was too much of a risk. I was relieved that the soldier did not reveal the mailing address to others.
Leo's "crime" was that he had the will to live, and he had nothing to lose in making heroic attempts to avoid capture. When he and a friend were on a train headed toward a concentration camp, the two young men figured out how to use a sweater to pry apart metal bars over the train window opening, by getting the sweater wet (with waste from the train compartment floor), wrapping each sleeve around the metal bars, and pulling for hours until a space opened just large enough to fit a human. The young men jumped as the train was moving and were almost caught by a search team.
Many relatives and friends helped Leo by hiding him, until his lack of authentic identification papers or his carelessness made him attract attention to himself or to the people helping to hide him, which would force his hand to hide-out elsewhere immediately. Leo fell in love with Anne, but as they grew out of their teenaged years she fell in love with someone else. Leo could feel that they had been growing apart, anyway.
Leo chronicles such a life of heartache and despair, that it is such a wonderfully written sad account, that proves hard to put down. His story is an important one which needs to be told, so that today's readers will know about the atrocities committed during World War II. Many of Leo's family members had become separated, and it is devastating to know that many of them were killed.
Leap into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe is an important story that needs to be told to readers in middle school through adulthood.
At one point, Leo kept his holy book in a suitcase, which had to be left behind when he was hidden in an abbey along with a German soldier who he befriended. Years later, when he wrote to the soldier asking him to mail his items, the soldier refused, as it was too much of a risk. I was relieved that the soldier did not reveal the mailing address to others.
Leo's "crime" was that he had the will to live, and he had nothing to lose in making heroic attempts to avoid capture. When he and a friend were on a train headed toward a concentration camp, the two young men figured out how to use a sweater to pry apart metal bars over the train window opening, by getting the sweater wet (with waste from the train compartment floor), wrapping each sleeve around the metal bars, and pulling for hours until a space opened just large enough to fit a human. The young men jumped as the train was moving and were almost caught by a search team.
Many relatives and friends helped Leo by hiding him, until his lack of authentic identification papers or his carelessness made him attract attention to himself or to the people helping to hide him, which would force his hand to hide-out elsewhere immediately. Leo fell in love with Anne, but as they grew out of their teenaged years she fell in love with someone else. Leo could feel that they had been growing apart, anyway.
Leo chronicles such a life of heartache and despair, that it is such a wonderfully written sad account, that proves hard to put down. His story is an important one which needs to be told, so that today's readers will know about the atrocities committed during World War II. Many of Leo's family members had become separated, and it is devastating to know that many of them were killed.
Leap into Darkness: Seven Years on the Run in Wartime Europe is an important story that needs to be told to readers in middle school through adulthood.
December 31, 2017
This being non-fiction only brings Leap Into Darkness to a higher level. Do not fear - it reads like a novel - very well written. To follow Leo through all of his escapes and captures and escapes was a true lesson in the human spirit. . With each escape there came a capture and my forlorn thought of ON NO NOT AGAIN would only bring Leo to another escape. Throughout Leo's story he relates the times, his fears, situations of fellow Jews and the fate of his family with a real life twist at the end that made the story even more sad, yet more endearing. His braveness (not that he felt brave) and his stamina to live even had him jump from a train heading to Auschwitz. Each of his captures brought more emotional and physical pain but no sooner was he captured, he was already planning an escape. After the war he finally emigrates to Baltimore MD but never does he forget his roots, his family nor any of the people that aid him.
My favorite quote of the book.....Leo was on a train heading to Auschwitz stuffed in a railcar with many other Jews - women, children, men, young and old. He was devising yet another plan of escape. Most of the other on the tried tried to disuade Leo and his friend from jumping from the railcar out of a tiny one foot by one foot window and a woman's voice was hear to say...."If you jump, maybe you'll be able to tell the story. Who else will tell this story?" - a real honor and tribute given to Leo Bertholz.
My favorite quote of the book.....Leo was on a train heading to Auschwitz stuffed in a railcar with many other Jews - women, children, men, young and old. He was devising yet another plan of escape. Most of the other on the tried tried to disuade Leo and his friend from jumping from the railcar out of a tiny one foot by one foot window and a woman's voice was hear to say...."If you jump, maybe you'll be able to tell the story. Who else will tell this story?" - a real honor and tribute given to Leo Bertholz.
August 18, 2018
This is such an amazing story of a very brave young man who just would not give up until he was finally free at the end of the war. A real page turner that will keep you reading to find out what happens next. I really like the historical facts that are included in the telling of this story, about some of the politics and how governments and society dealt with people fleeing the Nazis in the various countries Leo Bretholz traveled through, stayed in, was arrested in, and/or was deported from during those seven years on the run. In reading Leo's story we also get a glimpse of the stories of his family members as well as friends and foes he meets along his remarkable journey. Everyone played a role but has a different story. I like the way we are introduced to Leo's family members and told about a little of what happened to most of them from the beginning. In the last pages of the book we get to find out where Leo ended up and how he and other family members and friends tried to reconcile what they had gone through during and after the war.
November 26, 2018
I was lucky enough to hear Leo Bretholz speak in person several years ago. He told a fantastical story full of escapes and near-misses, but what he told was not a story but his life. In 'Leap into Darkness' Leo tells his story, growing up as a tailor's son in Vienna, he loses his father at age nine and that is only the beginning of the losses he will suffer. When he is 17, Hitler invaded Austria. Leo Bretholz leaves Vienna and his family only days before Kristallnacht. He will spend the next seven years trying to stay ahead of the Nazis and all those who follow them.
November 5, 2019
Very interesting book. I don’t normally like biographies because they get boring and mundane. But Leo’s story was always changing. Some of his decisions were really selfish and caused harm to others, but he did admit that. And it was a scary/stressful situation for 7 years. His bravery is to be commended, although most of his bravery was for himself. He didn’t help others get to safely until the very end, and only when he was safe. He had opportunities to save others and chose to only save himself.
April 13, 2021
Leon Bretholtz’s story is different from many others I have read. He was on the run from the Nazis and their collaborators for seven years. He ended up in Maryland and I learned of him when he planned to testify at the Maryland Capitol. A subsidiary of the French railroad SNCF, which had transported so many Jews to certain death, was bidding on a contract in Maryland. I remember Mr. Bretholtz asking (in response to the claim that SNCF had no choice in the matter): Why did they invoice the Nazis for services rendered if they had no choice? (I paraphrase.)
November 10, 2020
In 1938 the Germans invaded Vienna. 17 year old Leo was encouraged by his family to flee Austria to save his life. Leo spent 7 years on the run. He was caught several times. Put into internment camps and jail and always manged to escape, staying one step ahead of his captors. He found safe houses and sympathizers along the way and ended up working for the French Resistance movement in 1944 until the war's end. An incredible story.
February 14, 2022
A young Jewish man manages to escape multiple times from the Nazis and the final solution of the Holocaust. In the beginning of World War II he is a 17 year old teenager sent by his mother to be safe in Belgium. By the end of the book the war is over and and he is an American citizen. Most of his large family perishes but the story of his survival is riveting! Well worth the read!
June 18, 2024
An excellent book. Learned so much about an aspect of WWII that I did not know much about: a young man who hides in southern France for most of the war. His escapes from the Nazis, his youthful escapades, mistakes he made due to over-confidence.........this book is riveting.
September 27, 2025
Writer endured enough ups & downs to drive someone with less fortitude to distraction. This was an engrossing read. 80 plus years ago some of the world's most civilized countries descended into madness. Will it happen again?
October 22, 2017
Such a remarkable story of a desperate journey through war to survival.
September 10, 2018
Very good - like sitting and having a conversation.
July 9, 2019
Wonderful, wonderful book. His survival was a miracle, a testament to his courage.
April 10, 2020
Scary, well written, engrossing, and must admit the ending really startled me.
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