by Scott Neuman (Author)
Have you ever heard of a Jew who saved a Nazi's life? Who evaded capture by pretending to be a Polish peasant, a Communist spy, a partisan, and a Rabbi? Who spent months starving in the woods, sleeping in haystacks in the freezing cold, only to finish off the war in a luxurious palace as the guest of a Polish princess? Over 30 years in the making, this unique and extraordinary account was recreated from cassette tapes which were recorded in the early 1980s and later found in the bottom of a closet, as well as videotaped interviews by Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation. The book describes Binem's Holocaust experience in harrowing detail, from its lows, including a suicide attempt in the Jewish graveyard where his parents were buried, to its highs, such as finishing off the war as an honored guest at the Osten-Sacken mansion, and his celebratory speech to the Russian Jewish officers who liberated him.