In the Lion's Den: The Life of Oswald Rufeisen

by Nechama Tec

Few lives shed more light on the complex relationship between Jews and Christians during and after the Holocaust--or provide a more moving portrait of courage--than Oswald Rufeisen's. A Jew passing as a Christian in occupied Poland, Rufeisen worked as translator for the German police--the very people who rounded up and murdered the Jews--and repeatedly risked his life to save hundreds from the Nazis. In this gripping biography, Nechama Tec, a widely acclaimed writer on the Holocaust, recounts Rufeisen's remarkable story.
A youth of seventeen when World War II began, Rufeisen joined the exodus of Poles who fled the approaching German army. Tec vividly describes how Rufeisen used his ability to speak fluent German to pass as half German and half Polish in Mir, where he came to serve as translator and personal secretary to the German in charge of the gendarmerie. As he carried out his duties--reading death sentences to prisoners, swearing in new police officers before a portrait of Hitler--he earned the trust and affection of the German commander, yet lived in constant fear of discovery. He used his position to pass secret information to Jews and Christians about impending "aktions" and to sabatoge Nazi plans. Most notably, he thwarted the annihilation of the Mir ghetto by arming hundreds of doomed Jews and organizing their escape, and saved an entire Belorussian village from destruction. Denounced, Rufeisen escaped and found shelter in a convent, where he converted to Catholicism. Though a
pacifist, he spent the rest of the war fighting in a Russian partisan unit.
After the war, Father Daniel (as he is now known) became a priest and a Carmelite monk. Identifying himself as a Christian Jew and an ardent Zionist, he moved to Israel, where he challenged the Law of Return in a case that reached the High Court and attracted international attention. Today he continues to devote himself to bridging the gap between Christians and Jews.
In the Lion's Den offers a stirring portrait of a Jewish rescuer during the Holocaust and its aftermath, illuminating the intricate connections between good and evil, cruelty and compassion, and Judaism and Christianity.

Genres: Holocaust, Biography, History, World War II, Nonfiction, Polish Literature

298 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Nechama Tec (née Bawnik) (born 15 May 1931) is a Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Connecticut.[1] She received her Ph.D. in sociology at Columbia University, where she studied and worked with the sociologist Daniel Bell, and is a Holocaust scholar. Her book When Light Pierced the Darkness (1986) and her memoir Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood (1984) both received the Merit of Distinction Award from the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. She is also author of the book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans on which the film Defiance (2008) is based, as well as a study of women in the Holocaust. She was awarded the 1994 International Anne Frank Special Recognition prize for it.[2]

Reviews

[Anthony Bracciante]

In the Lion's Den tells the story of Oswald Rufeisen from a small village in southern Poland near the Czechoslovakian border. Although his family was Jewish they were not Orthodox. Since the area of Poland they lived in had once been part of the Austrian empire the family spoke fluent German as well as Polish. At the outbreak of WW II his family fled eastward. Oswald was separated from the rest of his family and wound up in Mir where he survived by claiming to be of Polish and German ancestry. It was here that his amazing tale of survival began that includes working as an interpreter for the Germans; becoming a policeman; a partisan; and his eventual conversion to Catholicism and ordination as a Carmelite Priest.. Throughout his varied roles and disguises he was instrumental in saving the lives of many Jewish and Non-Jewish people. Fr. Daniel eventually was transferred to a monastery in Israel where he sees himself as a Jewish Priest working to establish Jewish Christianity as it existed in the early Church before the 3rd century.

[erl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. I had a hard time putting it down. I read this book because I was intrigued not only by Rufeisen's heroic deeds during the war, but his conversion to Catholicism afterward, and his becoming a priest. After all he went through, after all he saw, how could he turn his back on his people? That question was answered quickly. Although he grew up in a Jewish home, it was devoid of spirituality. His father kept his business open on Shabbos, for example. Later, a group of nuns hid him from the Nazis, and there he saw spiritual devotion up close for the first time. Neither Tec nor Rufeisen speaks English as a first language (or did they even converse in English?), and she really could have benefitted from an editor. Still, Oswald's many close calls and constant quick thinking would have broken anyone else. The book is riveting. Rufeisen never grasps that one cannot be both a Jew and a Catholic, nor does he have any sense that he has betrayed his people. Still, he comes across as so guileless and beloved by all who know him, it's hard not to come away with some warm feelings for the man. And of course the hundreds of lives he saved earns him all our gratitude.

[Yibbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oswald Rufeisen is an incredibly brave man. He saved hundreds of lives while risking his own life many times over.
I found the writing style a bit hard to follow at times. The author introduces witnesses a bit abruptly. She also spends a lot of time trying to figure out peoples motives, even when there is no way to know what people were thinking.
Through out most of the book Catholicism is equated with Christianity, and there is quite a bit of Catholic theology.
The saddest part is that even though he reads the New Testament, he never finds the Truth. Jesus came to die for our sins. No one else is forces to suffer for our redemption. Jesus the only sinless one could pay another's debt of sin.

[Suzanne Skelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most moving non-fiction books I've read in a long time.

A true story of how a Jewish youth of Poland not only survived the holocaust but how as a Jew passing as a Christian of Polish/Germany decent managed to help many jews survive. He earned the trust of the German commander of the gendarmerie, risking his life to sabatoge Nazi plans and pass secret information to Jews and Christians about impending "akions".

The book shows an entirely different side to the Holocaust, and the struggle between Judism and Christianity. I would encourage with an interest in that time frame of history or religion in general to read it.

[George Arees · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was about a young man who managed to survive the Holocaust - Oswald Rufeisen in Poland. I was somewhat disappointed that the time period during the Holocaust was not expanded. I have read more than 30 books about this era, and this one falls short. The author writes several of the last chapters with his religious Catholic conversion and blending it with his original Jewish religion. The focus seems to be the reconciliation of Rufeisen's Jewish upbringing with his Catholicism.

[John Gaynard · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing story, that has to be read to be believed.