Rescued from the Reich

Introduction

"A penetrating account of an unknown, fascinating tale of intrigue—the near impossible rescue of a great spiritual leader from Nazi-controlled Poland." —David Kranzler, author of The Man Who Stopped the Trains to Auschwitz

The Siege of Warsaw and the Leader's Plight

When Hitler invaded Warsaw in the fall of 1939, hundreds of thousands of civilians—many of them Jewish—were trapped in the besieged city. The Rebbe Joseph Schneersohn, the leader of the ultra-orthodox Lubavitcher Jews, was among them. Followers throughout the world were filled with anguish, unable to confirm whether he was alive or dead. Working with officials in the United States government, a group of American Jews initiated what would ultimately become one of the strangest—and most miraculous—rescues of World War II.

The Rescue and Its Unveiling

The escape of Rebbe Schneersohn from Warsaw has been the subject of speculation for decades. Historian Bryan Mark Rigg has now uncovered the true story of the rescue, which was propelled by a secret collaboration between American officials and leaders of German military intelligence. Amid the fog of war, a small group of dedicated German soldiers located the Rebbe and protected him from suspicious Nazis as they fled the city together. During the course of the mission, the Rebbe learned the shocking truth about the leader of the rescue operation, the decorated Wehrmacht soldier Ernst Bloch: he was himself half-Jewish, and a victim of the rising tide of German antisemitism.

The Significance of the Rescue

A harrowing story about identity and moral responsibility, Rescued from the Reich is also a riveting narrative history of one of the most extraordinary rescue missions of World War II.

Endorsements

Just when you thought the Second World War had no more secrets, along comes a book that blows a crater in the ramparts of perceived opinion." —Norman Lebrecht, Evening Standard