Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler, two Slovak Jews who escaped from Auschwitz on 10 April 1944, wrote the report by hand or dictated it, in Slovak, between 25 and 27 April, in Žilina, Slovakia. Oscar Krasniansky of the Slovak Jewish Council typed up the report and simultaneously translated it into German.
What happened to Vrba and Wetzler?
After the war Vrba trained as a biochemist, working mostly in England and Canada. Vrba and fellow escapee Alfréd Wetzler fled Auschwitz three weeks after German forces invaded Hungary and shortly before the SS began mass deportations of Hungary’s Jewish population to the camp.
How old was Rudolf Vrba when he got to Auschwitz?
Vrba was born Walter Rosenberg in Topolcany, Czechoslovakia. He was working as a laborer in March 1942 when he was taken into custody because he was Jewish. Two months later, Vrba, then 18, was deported and — after an initial stop at another concentration camp — reached Auschwitz on June 30, 1942.
Who wrote the Auschwitz Protocol?
The Auschwitz Protocols comprise three separate reports including (1) the Vrba-Wetzler report, (2) “The Polish Major’s Report” written by Jerzy Tabeau (who escaped in November 1943 and created the report between December 1943 and January 1944), and lastly, (3) “Death Camp at Oswiecim” by Arnost Rosin and Czeslaw …
How long did it take prisoners to dig tunnels for the Great Escape?
For three months three prisoners, Lieutenant Michael Codner, Flight Lieutenant Eric Williams and Flight Lieutenant Oliver Philpot, in shifts of one or two diggers at a time, dug over 30 m (100 ft) of tunnel, using bowls as shovels and metal rods to poke through the surface of the ground to create air holes.
How did Witold Pilecki escape Auschwitz?
Escape. On the night of 26–27 April 1943 Pilecki was assigned to a night shift at a camp bakery outside the fence, and he and two comrades managed to force open a metal door. They left the SS guards in the woodshed, barricaded from outside. Before escaping they cut an alarm wire.
What was the Polish Major’s report?
Pilecki’s Report supplemented the report of “the Polish major” Jerzy Tabeau, one of three reports, known jointly as the Auschwitz Protocols, that warned about the mass murder that was taking place inside the camp.