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From the Ashes of Sobibor: A Story of Survival (Jewish Lives) Paperback – June 25, 1997

4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 73 ratings
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From the Ashes of Sobibor: A Story of Survival is an invaluable, firsthand account of a child's survival in a Nazi concentration camp in Poland during World War II. When the Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Thomas Toivi Blatt was twelve years old. He and his family lived in the largely Jewish town of Izbica in the Lublin district of Poland—the district that was to become the site of three major Nazi extermination camps: Belzec, Sobibor, and Majdanek. Blatt tells of the chilling events that led to his deportation to Sobibor, and of the six months he spent there before taking part in the now-famous uprising and mass breakout. Blatt's tale of escape, and of the five harrowing years spent eluding both the Nazis and anti-Semitic Polish nationalists, is gripping account of resilience and survival.

This edition also includes the author's interview with Karl Frenzel, a former Nazi commandant at Sobibor.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    242 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Northwestern University Press
  4. Publication date
    June 25, 1997
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.9 x 8.75 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0810113023
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0810113022
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Among the most common questions asked of Holocaust survivors are why the Jews didn't fight back: Why, it is wondered, did they let their families go to their deaths so easily? The recollections of Blatt, a survivor of the extermination camp Sobibor, in Poland, where Jews staged a successful revolt, addresses these questions in a frank and gripping narrative. Blatt's account demonstrates how the Germans kept Jews in Poland subjugated through random terror combined with promises that the status quo would be maintained if the Jews cooperated. By the time Blatt reached Sobibor with his family, it was too late for resistance. Perhaps the most frightening, and dispiriting, part of Blatt's account is how Christian Poles at times robbed, terrorized, or even murdered Jewish fugitives, such as the Sobibor escapees. A chilling narrative; highly recommended for Judaica collections and Holocaust specialists as well as general readers.?Frederic Krome, Northern Kentucky Univ., Highland Heights
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"One of the era's true sagas." —Jerusalem Post Magazine

"Blatt's story is a powerfully written memorial to Sobibor's victims." —Publishers Weekly

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Northwestern University Press; 1st edition (June 25, 1997)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 242 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0810113023
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0810113022
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 73 ratings

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Thomas Toivi Blatt

Thomas Toivi Blatt

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Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
73 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

feemeister
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is totally riveting
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2010
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This book is phenomenal. I could not put it down until I finished it. I was expecting the worst part of the book to be about what was done in Sobibor. But to me, it wasn't. What was even worse to me, was what happened after the escape. I thought people would be honoring him as a hero for escaping. Instead, people were STILL trying to turn him in to the Nazis--after everything he had been through. And still a kid, for crying out loud. But nothing else compared, to me, to what happened at the very end of the book. The Germans were overthrown, and the Russians in control, so he should have been safe. But no, that is STILL not enough for some people. Now the Polish townspeople are ready to finish off what the Nazis started. Absolutely unbelievable! There were also parts in it that were very touching. When the German took Stefan out in the woods to shoot him, and then told him to run, while he shot in the air. And lots of people risked their lives to help. But then others would rather turn you in than look at you. What horrible psychological warfare for people, not knowing who they could trust, when they asked for help. This war was so brutal for so many different peoples.

This book is totally riveting. I'm reminded of one of the interviews for the movie "Uprising." Where one of the survivors asked the director of the movie if he thinks this same kind of thing could happen again, and the director said, ''I hope not.'' And the survivor said that he thought it could. After reading books like this on what DID happen in WW2, I believe he is right. This COULD happen again. When you read about all the people who turned on others, and some of the atrocities committed. And Stalin and Hitler were NOT the only people committing them. People's neighbors were committing them.

And as has been said by other reviewers, you will not look at your life in the same way after reading this. You will be so much more thankful for so many things. I'm so glad the author lived to tell his story to us.
27 people found this helpful
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Camille R
5.0 out of 5 stars Stirs up many emotions
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2014
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What an incredible story this is. It's one of those stories that really fail you somewhat in explainable words. It's something that moves you internally, moves many emotions within your heart and awakens your most vivid imagination. Mr Blatt has written an account that is certainly haunting and tragic. He manages to introduce you to the most evil and hideous of human behaviour you somehow think is beyond any person. But in fact, all this man has written is true. He begins his story in the town he was born in. Izbica, Poland. From the months the Nazis came, dominated then began the murderous spree. He and his families constant fear, near death experiences and escapes will have you feeling the fear and dread along with them. At times it seems so unreal! Like a fabricated story. You somehow never cease to keep in the back of your mind the thought of "can people really be capable of such cruelty against fellow humans?" However, we know it to be true. Mr Blatt had an inward strength I found remarkable while reading his story. It's the reason he came thru it all with his life. It's a chilling strength, something I could not wrap my mind around. But then, I have no right to as I shall never be in the position he and others were in. Each page is an adventure and incredibly entertaining. From the beginning in his home town, to his efforts to flee the country, to the Sobibor death factory and the historic camp escape of prisoners, I found myself pause in certain sections, as I became very emotional and felt simply dumbfounded. It is history that will linger in your mind forever. Mr Blatt's life account will linger in your mind forever. This is one book that shall never leave you.
5 people found this helpful
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Becha H
5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic for a history lover
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2018
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I was very skeptical about this as it was a required reading for a class that I was in. I was assigned certain parts of the book but ended up going back to read the entire thing. You should know that this is a Holocaust survivors first hand recollection of the events that lead them to a kill camp, so be weary if you are not looking for true individual history. overall, I would recommend this book to anyone with a passion for history, love for WWII era, or interest in the past of Germany, Poland, and Austria.
3 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a personal story of an amazing rebellion in a death camp
Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2016
Verified Purchase
This is a personal story of an amazing rebellion in a death camp. Because it is so detailed it grips the reader with empathy and understanding. The book was written some years after Toivi's escape from Sobibor and its dangerous aftermath, but his memories were kept alive by his determination to tell this story and by his contact with other survivors.
4 people found this helpful
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Al Dahlstrand
4.0 out of 5 stars A Suprise Experience
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2014
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Book was a great read. I have previously read other books covering the same issues but never heard of Sobibor. Life there was somewhat different than the other camps.
2 people found this helpful
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upontheroof
5.0 out of 5 stars The story of Toivi is one that needs to be told
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2014
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I was fortunate enough to listen to Thomas Toivi Blatt speak as a youngster and was moved by his courage in the face of the most awful time in our world's history (well at least it seems that way to me). His story of the revolt and courage of the Sobibor survivors and the ones who didn't survive is so important and such a part of so many generations of people. Haunting.
5 people found this helpful
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Ernest J. Boehr
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought of My Own Relatives
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2016
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13 of ny my wife's own Paternal Relatives were tortured and cremated in Sobibor and as much as she wanted the details at the same time it has been painful.
5 people found this helpful
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M. Becker
5.0 out of 5 stars I never get tired of reading the stories of survival
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2013
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This book, along with others from survivors from Sobibor is just hard to put down. I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like. To not only lose everything you own, but your family too.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Javi Ruiz
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read
Reviewed in Poland on January 31, 2022
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A must read for everybody interested in the Holocaust. Riveting and shocking. Hard to accept how mean was the world at that time. According to this book not only Nazis but also many local people collaborated in the genocide
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Bonnie
5.0 out of 5 stars A very good read.
Reviewed in Canada on June 15, 2017
Verified Purchase
Very good book. Well worth the buy. Toivi did a remarkable job bringing the reader into his hellish world of the Holocaust
One person found this helpful
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Pablo
5.0 out of 5 stars An extermination camp experience and much, much more
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 24, 2008
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This excellent book is historically necessary as it is the only survivor witness account of the Sobibor camp about which little was generally known until some four decades after the war. But this 4-part history gives the reader insights into even more.
The first section describes the nazi persecution and murder of Jews in a small town in occupied Poland, seen through the eyes of a young teenager and detailing - as he does throughout the book - the range of behaviour exhibited by both Jews and non-Jews, and bringing alive those characters with whom the author had close contact.
The second part describes the author's attempts to elude the deportations. It is an almost incredible journey of repeated escape and capture in which the author lives what can only be described as a charmed existence as he eludes the constant threat of death. Both bizarre yet chillingly real, the narrative naturally incorporates resonances both Dantesque and Kafkaesque as the author assumes three successive false identities in his attempt to survive the anti-semitic bureaucracy.
The third section, subtitled "Hell", is predominantly Dantesque, yet with vivid vignettes of the human dealing with the horrific, such as the newly-arrived Dutch twins who are as yet unaware of the kind of place they now inhabit, or the cruel kapo who nonetheless has moments of kindness and gentleness. It ends with a detailed account of the revolt and escape.
The fourth part details life on the run: 320 managed to escape the camp. The author's depiction of the initial chaos would seem to indicate that both Darwinian and Kropotkinist views of human nature contain seeds of truth: we see the survival of the fittest behaviour patterns but also those of mutual aid. The author and two fellow escapees eventually embark on an 8-month clandestine struggle for survival, never knowing what to expect from the Catholic Poles, encountering greed and generosity, curiosity and rejection, fear, treachery and human kindness. As throughout the book, each experience is narrated with a stark and unpretentious simplicity.
3 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars This copy of "From the ashes of Sobibor" was my ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 21, 2017
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This copy of "From the ashes of Sobibor" was my second; I bought it in order to give it to the local library. The author Toivi Blatt, who was married to my sister Dena, died in October 2015. The first time I heard Toivi's story, in summer 1958, I was in Israel with my Polish born husband. Although I could not get much meaning from the words, mostly Polish, it was very clear to me that Toivi Thomas Blatt wanted his story to be known. They went on talking the whole night. I learned and also read in this book, how Toivi even risked his life to record details; and when pages were lost, he would rewrite while memory was fresh. I cried a lot while reading this book.
5 people found this helpful
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Peony7
5.0 out of 5 stars Unsung hero
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 28, 2014
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Fascinating but frightening book by survivor of Holocaust,sombre warning of mans capability of cruelty.
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