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Rudolf Vrba was born as Walter Rosenberg on 11 september 1924 in Topolcany, Czechoslovakia. He was the son of Elias Rosenberg and Helena Rosenberg. The Rosenberg owned a steam sawmill in Jaklovce and lived in Tranva.

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His wife was Gerta Sidonová, born on 26 November 1926 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Gerta was also been exclueded from school. Rudolph and Gerta went to Czechoslovakia's Department of Education for those who had missed out on schooling because of the Nazis. After, they moved to Prague where they married in 1947.

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When he was fifteen, he was excluded from the high school of Bratislava and forced to study at home. He searched and found and little work as a labourer and continued his studies at home.

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Vrba was transfered another time to the Aufräumungskommando, in Auschwitz II, the extermination camp, 4km away from Auschwitz I in August 1942. His work  was to clear out the train, who brought the prisonners. It could took 2-3 hours to clear a train, where's the most of them were dead. Vrba was in Auschwitz for about five months when he had typhus, which caused his weight to drop to 42 kilogrammes (93 lb) and his mental state to deteriorate.He received assistance from Josef Farber, a Slovakian camp resistance member, who brought him medicine at his lowest moment and afterwards extended to him the safety of the Auschwitz underground.

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Vrba was deported on 15 June 1942 to the Majdanek concentration camp in Lublin. He encountered his older brother Sammy, they saw each other for the last time. He also encountered Kapos, a prisoner in a the camp to supervise forced labor or carry out administrative tasks. Everyone were dressed like clown. Vrba's was all shaved and was wearing an uniform with wooden shoes and a cap. They had to removed whenever the SS (Schuttzstaffel) came within three yards. The guards were beating the prisoners for talking or moving to slow. When they were dying during the night, the bodies were pilled up behind the living. Vrba got a job as a builder's labourer, looking for a chance to escape. Vrba had a friend kapo who told he was in auschwitz.

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On 29 June 1942, Vrba was transferred to Auschwitz I by the Reich Security Main Office. Vrba had a plan to escape from the train but the SS told taht ten men would be shot if someone his missing. On his seconde day, he watched the guard pilling tons of bodies, "the head of one between the legs of another to save place". The next day, he and 400 other guys were forced to take a frigid shower in a shower area designed for 30 people before being forced to march naked outdoors to register. Young and robust, Vrba was "bought" by kapo Frank for a lemon (wanted for its vitamin C content) and given a job working at the SS grocery shop.

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Vrba and his fellow prisoner Alfred Wetzler entered a hiding hole in "Meksyk" (Mexico), as one section of Auschwitz II-Birkenau was known, on April 7, 1944, over two years after they were sent to Auschwitz. After three days of hiding there, they found their way outside the camp. They were able to flee to Slovakia.

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Rudolf Vrba on the Resistance in Auschwitz (Shoah, 1985)

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The first Jew to escape Auschwitz helped save 200,000 lives

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The first Jew to escape Auschwitz helped save 200,000 lives

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Vrba passed away from cancer at the age of 81 on March 27, 2006, in a Vancouver hospital. His surviving family members include his daughter Zuza Vrbová Jackson, his grand-daughters Hannah and Jan, as well as his first and second wives, Gerta Vrbová and Robin Vrba.

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Vrba in New York, November 1978, during an interview with Claude Lanzmann for the documentary Shoah

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Vrba in New York, November 1978, during an interview with Claude Lanzmann for the documentary Shoah