Book cover of Hanged at Auschwitz: An Extraordinary Memoir of Survival

Book description

A Jewish member of the French Resistance, Sim Kessel lived for almost three years in Nazi captivity. The bulk of his time was at the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he survived torture, starvation, and even his own public execution through extraordinary luck. His remarkable and terrifying story shows in knowing…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Hanged at Auschwitz as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The almost unbelievable memoir of a semi-professional Jewish boxer who was saved in Auschwitz by another former boxer.

Sim Kessel tried to escape in 1944, got caught, and was supposed to be hanged on the main square with six other escapees. The campband played march music, thousands of inmates had to watch. The rope broke when SS-guards tried to hang Sim Kessel and he was brought to the hangman of Auschwitz, whose job was to finish him.

His name was Bunker Jakob, inmates said he was the former trainer of the German former world champion boxing heavyweight Max Schmeling. Bunker…

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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