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Vrba's school photo (4th child from left bottom)

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Vrba's school photo (4th child from left bottom)

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One of the sketches made by Vrba of the operations

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One of the sketches made by Vrba of the operations

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Detailed video on how Rudolf Vrba outsmarted Auschwitz

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Detailed video on how Rudolf Vrba outsmarted Auschwitz

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The Man Who Outsmarted Auschwitz: Rudolf Vrba's Story

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Skelton and Lisciotto. "Rudolf Vrba." holocaustresearchproject.org, Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, 2008, http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/revolt/vrba.html.

"Rudolf Vrba." Holocaust Memorial Day trust, https://hmd.org.uk/resource/rudolf-vrba/.

Dubey, Anna. "Rudolf Vrba". Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Sep. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rudolf-Vrba.

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Rudolf Vrba was born as Walter Rosenberg on September 11, 1924 in Topolcany, Czechoslovakia. He escaped Auschwitz at the age of 19 and warned the world about the horrors of Auschwitz.

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At age 17 Rosenberg ignored orders to assemble for deportation to Poland. After being intercepted by frontier guards, he then unsuccessfully tried to escape from the Novaky transition camp before being sent to Auschwitz in 1942. Rosenberg then met Alfred Wetzler, a fellow prisoner, and started to analyze their previous unsuccessful escape attempts to plan a successful one. Rosenberg found a flaw in Auschwitz security, and on April 7th, 1944, they went into hiding for 3 days until German guards deemed them escaped, and then escaped for real. They then began a 11 day journey to cross the Slovakia border to meet with the country's remaining Jewish leaders.

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Rosenberg and Wetzler created a detailed report describing the murder process of Auschwitz. The report contained maps, visual depictions of the gas chambers, and a description of the victims transported to the camp. Rosenberg was then given a new identity with the name "Rudolf Vrba", which he used for the rest of his life.

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The results of the Vrba-Wetzler report (4/6)

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The results of the Vrba-Wetzler report (4/6)

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The report was released anonymously in Switzerland in 1944, and the United States verified the report, making it the first testimony to achieve official credibility. However, more than 437,000 Hungarian Jews were killed due to the Hungarian Jewish leadership refusing to act on the report. The report still managed to save hundreds of thousands of lives by delaying the slaughter of Hungarian Jews.

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Rudolf Vrba completed a doctoral degree at Charles University in Prague. He eventually defected from Czechoslovakia, and later moved to Britain, where he worked as a professor of pharmacology at the medical school of the University of British Columbia, Canada for the next 15 years.

Vrba contributed to over 50 research papers in pharmacology, and documented the story of his escape in an autobiography, "I cannot Forgive."

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The Auschwitz Protocol (AKA The Vrba-Wetzler Report)

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The Auschwitz Protocol (AKA The Vrba-Wetzler Report)

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[Transcribed from the original O.S.I report of the US Department of Justice & the War Refugee Board Archives
(Photos added to enhance the text) I. AUSCHWITZ AND BIRKENAU
ON THE 13TH April, 1942 our group, consisting of 1,000 men, was loaded into railroad cars at the assembly camp of SERED. The doors were shut so that nothing would reveal the direction of the journey, and when they were opened after a long while we realized that we had crossed the Slovak frontier and were in ZWARDON.

The train had until then been guarded by Hlinka men, but was now taken over by SS guards. After a few of the cars had been uncoupled from our convoy, we continued on our way arriving at night at AUSCHWITZ, where we stopped on a sidetrack.

The reason the other cars were left behind was apparently the lack of room at AUSCHWITZ. They joined us, however, a few days later. Upon arrival we were placed in rows of five and counted. There were 643 of us. After a walk of about 20 minutes with our heavy packs (we had left Slovakia well equipped), we reached the concentration camp of AUSCHWITZ.

We were at once led into a huge barrack where on the one side we had to deposit all our luggage and on the other side completely undress and

valuables behind. Naked, we then proceeded to an adjoining barrack where our heads and bodies were shaved and disinfected with Lysol. At the exit every man was given a number which began with 28,600 in consecutive order

With this number in hand we were then herded to a third barrack where so-called registration took place. This consisted of tattooing the numbers we had received in the second barrack on the left side of our chests. The extreme brutality with which this was effected made many of us faint. The particulars of our identity were" also recorded.

Then we were put in groups of a hundred into a cellar, and later to a barrack W here we were issued striped prisoners' clothes and wooden dogs. This lasted until 10 a.m. In the afternoon our prisoners' outfits were taken away from us again and replaced by the ragged and dirty remains of Russian uniforms. Thus equipped we were marched off to BIRKENAU.

AUSCHWITZ is a concentration camp for political prisoners under so-called "protective custody." At the time of my arrival, that is in April of 1942, there were about 15,000 prisoners in the :amp, the majority of whom were Poles, Germans, and civilian Russians under protective custody. A small number of prisoners came under the categories of criminals and "work-shirkers."

AUSCHWITZ camp headquarters controls at the same time the work camp of BIRKENAU as well as the farm labor camp of HARMENSE. All the prisoners arrive first at AUSCHWITZ where they are provided with prisoners' matriculation numbers and then are either kept there, sent to BIRKENAU or, in very small numbers, to HARMENSE.

The prisoners receive consecutive numbers upon arrival. Every number is only used once so that the last number always corresponds to the number of prisoners actually in the camp. At the time of our escape, that is to say at the beginning of April, 1944, the number had risen up to 180,000. At the outset the numbers were tattooed on the left breast, but later, due to their becoming blurred, on the left forearm.

All prisoners, irrespective of category or nationality, are treated the same. However, to facilitate identification, they are distinguished by various colored triangles sewed on the clothing on the left breast under the matriculation number. The first letter indicates the nationality of the prisoner.
This letter (for instance "P" for Poles) appears in the middle of the triangle. The colored triangles have the following meaning:

red triangle -political prisoners under protective custody

green triangle -professional criminals

black triangle -"dodgers" (labor slackers), "anti-socials" (mostly Russians)

pink triangle -homosexuals

violet triangle -members of the religious sect of "Bibelforscher"

The Jewish prisoners differ from the Aryan prisoners in that their triangle (which in the majority of cases is red) is turned into a David's star by adding yellow points.

Within the enclosure of the camp of AUSCHWITZ there are several factories: a war production plant, Deutscher Aufrustungswerk (DAW), a factory belonging to the KRUPP works and one to the SIEMENS concern. Outside the boundary of the camp is a tremendous plant covering several square kilometers named "BUNA." The prisoners work in all the aforementioned factories.

The prisoners' actual living quarters, if such a term may at all be used, inside the camp proper cover an area of approximately 500 by 300 meters surrounded by a double row of concrete posts about 3 meters high which are connected (both inside and outside) with one another by a dense netting of high-tension wires fixed into the posts by insulators. Between these two rows of posts, at intervals of 150 meters, there are 5 meters high watchtowers, equipped with machine guns and searchlights.

In front of the inner high-tension circle there is further an ordinary wire fence. Merely touching this fence is answered by a stream of bullets from the watchtowers. This system is called "the small or inner chain of sentry posts." The camp itself is composed 0 three rows of houses. Between the first and second row is the camp street, and between the second and third there used to low a wall.

The Jewish girls deported from Slovakia in March nod April, 1942, over 7,000 of them, lived in the house separated by this wall up to the middle of August, 1942. After these girls had been removed to BIRKENAU, the wall between the second and and third row of houses was removed.

The camp entry road cuts across the row of houses, while over the entrance gate, which is of course always heavily guarded, stands the ironic inscription: "Work brings freedom." At a radius of some 2,000 meters the whole camp is encircled by a second line called "the big or outer chain of sentry posts" also with watchtowers every 150 meters. Between the inner and outer chain of sentry posts are the factories and other workshops.

The towers of the inner chain are only manned at night when the high-tension current is switched into the double row of wires. During daytime the garrison of the inner chain of sentry posts is withdrawn, and the men take up duty in the outer chain. Escape through these sentry posts-and many attempts have been made is practically impossible.

Getting through the inner circle of posts at night is completely impossible, and the towers of the outer chain are so close to one another (one every 150 meters, i.e., giving each tower a sector with a 75-meter radius to watch) that approaching unnoticed is out of the question. The guards shoot without warning. The garrison of the outer chain is withdrawn at twilight, but only after it has been ascertained that all the prisoners are within the inner circle. If the roll call reveals that a prisoner is missing, sirens immediately sound the alarm.

The men in the outer chain remain in their towers on the lookout, the inner chain is manned, and a systematic search is begun by hundreds of 55 guards and bloodhounds. The siren rings the whole surrounding countryside to a state of alarm, so that if by miracle the escapee has been successful in getting through the outer chain he is nearly certain to be caught by one of the numerous German -police and SS patrols.

The escapee is furthermore handicapped by his clean-shaven head, his striped prisoner's outfit or red patches sewn on his clothing, and the passiveness of the thoroughly intimidated inhabitants.

The mere fact of neglecting to give information on the whereabouts of a prisoner, not to speak of extending help, is punished by death.

Provided that the prisoner has not been caught sooner, the garrison of the outer chain of sentry posts remains on the watch for three days and nights after which delay it is presumed that the escapee has succeeded in breaking through the double circle. The following night the outer guard is withdrawn.

If the escapee is caught alive, he is hanged in the presence of the whole camp; but if he is found dead, his body wherever it may have been located-is brought back to camp (it is easy to identify the corpse by means of the tattooed number) and seated at the entrance gate, a small notice clasped in his hands, reading: " Here I am."

During our two years' imprisonment many attempts to escape were made by prisoners but, with the exception of two or three, all were brought back dead or alive. It is not known whether the two or three escapees who were not caught actually managed to get away. It can, however, be asserted that among the Jews who were deported from SLOVAKIA to AUSCHWITZ or BIRKENAU we are the only two who were lucky enough to save ourselves.

As stated previously, we were transferred from AUSCHWITZ'' to BIRKENAU on the day of our arrival. Actually there is no such district as BIRKENAU. Even the word BIRKENAU is new in that it has been "adopted" from the nearby Birch Forest (BRZEZINSKI). The district now called BIRKENAU was, and is still, called "RAJSKA" by the local population.

The existing camp center of BIRKENAU lies 4 kilometers distant from AUSCHWITZ. The outer control zones of both BIRKENAU and AUSCHWITZ meet and are merely separated by a railway track. We never found anything out about NEW BERUN, probably about 30 to 40 kilometers away which, odd I enough, we had to indicate as postal district for BIRKENAU,

At the time of our arrival in BIRKENAU we found there one huge kitchen for 15,000 people and three stone building, two of which were completed and one under construction. The buildings were surrounded by an ordinary barbed wire fence ( The prisoners were housed in these buildings and in others later constructed.

All are built according to a standard model: A house is about 30 meters long and 8 to 10 meters wide. Whereas the height of the walls hardly exceeds 2 meters, the roof is disproportionately high-about 5 meters-so that the house gives the impression of a stable surmounted by a large hayloft.

There is no inner ceiling, so that the room reaches a height of 7 meters in the center; in other words the pointed roofing rests directly on the four walls. The room is divided in two by a partition running its whole length down the middle and fitted with opening to enable communication between the two parts thus separated.

Along both sidewalls, as well as along the middle partition, two parallel floors, some 80 centimeters apart, have been built which are in turn divided into small cells by vertical partitions.

Thus there are three floors: the ground floor and the two built in the sidewalls. Normally three people live in each cubicle. As can be judged from the dimensions indicated, these cubicles are too narrow for a man to lie stretched out and not high enough for him to sit upright.

There is no question of having enough space to stand upright. In this way 400 to 500 people are accommodated in one house or "block," as they are also called.

The present camp of BIRKENAU covers an area of some 1,600 by 500 meters which is surrounded-similar to AUSCHWITZ by a so-called small or inner chain of sentry posts. Work is now proceeding on a still larger compound which is to be added later (In to the already existing tamp. The purpose of this extensive planning is not known to us.

Within a radius of 2 kilometers, as with AUSCHWITZ, BIIRKENAU is also surrounded by an other chain of sentry posts with the same type of watch system as at AUSCHWITZ.

The buildings we found on our arrival had been erected by 12,000 Russian prisoners of war brought there in December, 1941. In severe winter weather they had to work under inhuman conditions as a result of which most of them, with the exception of a small number employed in the kitchen, died of exposure.

They were numbered from 1 to 12,000 in a series which had no connection with the ordinary camp numbering system previously described. Whenever fresh convoys of Russian prisoners arrived, they were not issued the current AUSCHWITZ prisoner numbers, but received those of deceased Russians in the 1 to 12,000 series.

It is, therefore, difficult to estimate how many prisoners of this category passed through the camp. Apparently Russians were transferred to AUSCHWITZ or BIRKENAU on disciplinary grounds from regular prisoners-of-war camps. We found what remained of the Russians in a terrible state of destitution and neglect living the unfinished building without the slightest protection against cold or rain. They died "en-masse". Hundreds and thousands of their bodies were buried superficially, spreading a stench of pestilence. Later we had to exhume the corpses and burn them.

A week before our arrival in AUSCHWITZ the first group of Jews reached the camp: (the women were dealt with separately and received numbers parallel to those of the men; the Slovak women received serial numbers from 1 to 8,000) 1,320 naturalized French Jews from Paris. They were numbered from 27,500 onwards.

It is clear, therefore, that between this French group and our convoy no other men arrived in AUSCHWITZ, since we have already pointed out that our numbers started with 28,600. We found the 700 French Jews who were still alive in terrible condition, the missing 600 having died within a week after their arrival.

The following categories were housed in the three completed buildings:

I. The so-called "prominencia": professional criminals and older Polish political prisoners who were in charge of the administration of the camp.

II. The remainder of the French Jews, namely some 700. III. The 643 original Slovak Jews to whom were added a few days later those who had been left at ZWARDON.

IV. Those Russians who were still alive and housed in the unfinished building as well as in the open air and whose numbers diminished so rapidly that as a group they are scarcely worth mentioning.

Together with the remaining Russian prisoners the Slovak Jews worked at the construction of buildings, whereas the French Jews had to do spade work. After three days I was ordered, together with 200 other Slovak Jews, to work in the German armament factories at AUSCHWITZ, but we continued to be housed in BIRKENAU. We left early in the morning returning at night and worked in the carpentry shop as well as 011 road construction. Our food consisted of one liter of turnip soup) at midday and 300 grams of bad bread in the evening.

Working conditions were inconceivably hard, so that the majority of III weakened by starvation and the inedible food, could not stand it. The mortality was so high that every day our group of 200 had 30 to 35 dead. Many were simply beaten to death by the overseers-the "Capos"-during work, without the slightest provocation.

The gaps in our ranks caused by these deaths were replaced daily by prisoners from BIRKENAU. Our return at night was extremely painful and dangerous, as we had to drag along over a distance of 5 kilometers our tools, firewood, heavy caldrons, and the bodies of those who had died or had been killed during the working day. With these heavy loads we were forced to maintain a brisk pace, and anyone incurring the displeasure of one of the "Capos" was cruelly knocked down, if not beaten to death.

Until the arrival of the second group of Slovak men some 14 days later, our original number had dwindled to 150. At night we were counted, the bodies of the dead were piled up on flat, narrow-gauge cars or in a truck and brought to the Birch Forest (BRZEZINSKI) where they were burned in a trench several meters deep and about 15 meters long.

Every day on our way to work we met a working party of 300 Jewish girls from Slovakia who were employed on ground work in the vicinity. They were dressed in old Russian uniform rags and wore wooden clogs. Their heads were shaven and, unfortunately, we could not speak to them. Until the middle of May, 1942, a total of four convoys of male Jews from Slovakia arrived at BIRKENAU and all received similar treatment to ours.

From the first and second transports 120 men were chosen (including myself) and placed at the disposal of the administration of of the camp of AUSCHWITZ, which was in need of doctors, dentists, intellectuals, and clerks. This group consisted of 90 Slovak and 30 French Jews.

As I had in the meantime managed to work my way up to a good position in BIRKENAU -being in command of a group of 50 men, which had brought me a considerable advantage-I at first felt reluctant to leave for AUSCHWITZ. However, I was finally persuaded to go and left.

After eight days, 18 doctors and attendants as well as three further persons were selected from this group of 120 intellectuals. The doctors were used in the "sick building" or "hospital" at AUSCHWITZ, while we three were sent back to BIRKENAU.

My two comrade, Ladislav Braun from Trnava and Gross from Vrbove' , both of whom have since died, were sent to the Slovak block while I was ordered to the French section where we were employed collecting "personal data" and at "nursing" the sick. The remaining 99 prisoners were sent to work in the gravel pit where they all died within a short time.

War Refugee Board at the F.D. Roosevelt Library, New York, NY

Holocaust Historical Society

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The Auschwitz Protocols, The full text of the Vrba & Wetzler Report -Page 1 http://www.HolocaustResearchProject.org

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Transcribed from the original O.S.I report of the US Department of Justice & the War Refugee Board Archives (Photos added to enhance the text) I. AUSCHWITZ AND BIRKENAU ON THE 13TH April, 1942 our group, consisting of 1,000 men, was loaded into railroad cars at the assembly camp of SERED.

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To escape for my own sake would be ridiculous.

It is evil to submit actively or passively to evil as its instrument, its observer, or its victim.

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Rudolf Vrba, at the age of 81, died on March 27, 2006, in Vancouver, Canada, one month before his book was going to be republished in Britain under the title I Escaped from Auschwitz.

Vrba estimates that he devoted 95% of his life to science and 5% to talking about the Holocaust.

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Rudolf Vrba risked his life to show the world the horrors of Auschwitz to the world, and he helped save an incredible amount of lives in doing so.

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We can learn from Vrba's experiences that we should try to help other people as much as possible, even if it seems futile trying to do so.