# data[].attributes.body
Rudolf Vrba was born on September 11th, 1924 (as Walter Rosenberg) in Topolcany, Czechoslovakia. He was born to Helena and Elias Rosenberg, the latter of which was the owner of a local sawmill. One of four children, he attended the gymnasium (what us Americans refer to as High School) in Bratislava until his expulsion in 1939 due to being a Jew.

# data[].attributes.body
After being prohibited from school, Walter began working as a laborer and continued to educate himself at home. Around this time, he met his future wife, Gerta Sidonova.

Despite previously complying with the Jewish Code instated in Slovakia prior to his expulsion, he soon grew a thirst for rebellion. Following a government announcement that all Jews would be rounded up and sent to "reservations", he ripped off his state-mandated yellow star, got a taxi, and fled across the border. He was caught and sent to Novaky.

# data[].attributes.body
Highlighted in yellow

# data[].attributes.body
On June 15th, 1942, Walter was transported to the Majdanek concentration camp in occupied Poland. Immediately following arrival, he saw his brother and saluted to him. Unbeknownst to either brother, this would be the last time they would see each other alive. He was shaved of all of his hair, given the standard uniform, and assigned to be a builder's laborer.

# data[].attributes.body
Only 2 weeks after arriving in Majdanek, Walter was moved to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Despite considering an escape, no prisoners escaped during the transport for fear of capture and the execution of other prisoners.

Walter was bought by a higher-ranking prisoner, Frank, and assigned to work in the food store. During his time there, he witnessed countless brutalities, including the beating and eventual killing of a prisoner for missing a button on his uniform.

In August, Walter was moved to cleanup, and recounted terrible stories of having to clear out trucks of new arrivals, with most being dead.

According to Walter, "The whole murder machinery could work on one principle: that the people came to Auschwitz and didn't know where they were going and for what purpose. The new arrivals were supposed to be kept orderly and without panic marching into the gas chambers."

After almost two years in the camps, he decided it was time to escape.

# data[].attributes.body
On Friday, April 7th, 1944, at 2:00 PM local time, Rudolf Vrba began his escape attempt from Auschwitz. Along with another prisoner, Alfred Wetzler, the two men first climbed inside a hollowed-out space in a pile of wood. The men wore civilian clothes throughout the escape to deter suspicion. The men climbed through the space, out of a fence, and sprinkled gasoline-soaked Russian tobacco in order to trick the regime's search dogs. Once they were out, two other prisoners put the wood back in its former position. Rudolf and Alfred were two of less than 150 people to ever successfully escape Auschwitz.

# data[].attributes.body
After finding refuge in the Slovakian town of Zilina, Rudolf and Alfred began to write about Auschwitz. The Vrba-Wetzler Report, as it would later be titled, consisted of 33 pages of diagrams, maps, and other information regarding Auschwitz, as collected and memorized by the two men. The report contained details regarding the crematoriums, factories, camp geography, and how the Jews died. The report was first published on November 25th, 1944, as part of the Auschwitz Protocols.

The report provided groundbreaking information and evidence for Allied forces regarding Auschwitz, and was responsible for putting an end to Hungarian deportation of Jews. It is estimated that over 200,000 lives were saved as a result of the report.

# data[].attributes.body
Rudolf joined the Czechoslovakian partisan units in September 1944, formally adopting Rudolf Vrba as his name and April 7th, the day he escaped Auschwitz, as his birthday.

After WW2, Vrba moved to Great Britain, where he began to work with the Neuropsychiatric Research Unit in Surrey. He moved to the University of British Columbia in 1967, and later became a professor of Pharmacology. He wrote more than 50 research papers as an academic, with many new discoveries regarding brain chemistry and cancer.

Rudolf remarried to Robin Vrba in 1975, and had one child, a daughter. Rudolf Vrba died on March 27th, 2006 in Vancouver. He was 81 years old.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The story of Rudolf Vrba - Revolt & Resistance www.HolocaustResearchProject.org

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
014 jiri petvaldsky, milan nedved,michal tupy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Dedicated to Vrba and Wetzler who escaped from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in April 1944 in order to tell the world about the death factory

# data[].attributes.headline
English Translation of the Vrba-Wetzler Report

# data[].attributes.subject
English Translation of the Vrba-Wetzler Report

# data[].attributes.body
“Remember that one day of your idleness kills 12,000 souls ... there is only one thing that may be said in your exoneration-that you do not know the truth. This is possible, The villain does his job so shrewdly that only a few guess the truth. We have told you several times. Is it possible that you believe our murderers more than you believe us?”