Edited by IPC Prešov | Košice and Žilina Regions
Vrbov and Wetzler report
Country: Slovakia
Region: Žilina Region
Type of inspiration: History
Inspiracja
Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler met in the Auschwitz camp. Vrba got there after he tried to escape to England as a young Jew, but was caught. Wetzler also came from a Jewish family and was on one of the first transports to Auschwitz. They both got into the labour divisions and so managed to survive.
When they found out that new barracks were being built in the camp, they knew that transports from other countries, especially Hungary, were also being prepared. To prevent this they decided to escape and report back. It was April 1944 when Vrba and Wetzler decided to carry out their plan. They hid near the camp for three days before they decided to crawl into the woods and set off on a 140-kilometre journey through the Polish forests towards the south. It took them two weeks to reach Slovakia, stopping in Žilina.
The 32-page report they submitted to Jewish representatives details life in the concentration camp. Among other things, it states that only a tenth of the people who arrived at the camp were taken to the barracks, the rest ended up in the gas chambers. Vrba and Wetzler estimated that more than one and a half million people died at Auschwitz. Although the report was handed in on April 25, for controversial reasons it was not made public until June 15, 1944. Hungarian officials had access to the information in the report immediately, but decided to continue negotiating with Germany and only intervened after 200,000 of their own population had been taken to Poland.
The first ever report depicting the real situation in Auschwitz and the escape of two brave Jews is commemorated today in the Vrba-Wetzler Memorial Room in Žilina. It is located in the premises of the former Jewish old-age home and faithfully replicates the place where they were staying when the report was written.
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