Refuge In Hell: How Berlin’s Jewish Hospital Outlasted the Nazis

by: Daniel B. Silver (Author)

Publication Date: September 15, 2004

Language: English

Print Length: 352 pages

ISBN-10: 0618485406

ISBN-13: 9780618485406

Book Description

In 1945, when the Red Army liberated Berlin, they found in the Nazi capital a functioning Jewish hospital. In Refuge in Hell, Daniel B. Silver explores the many quirks of fortune and history that made the hospital’s survival possible. His engrossing account of this little-known slice of history “reads like a novel imbued with the richness of a strong narrative and the depth of compelling characters” (Forward). Not since Schindler’s List has there been such a wrenching story of personal sacrifice and triumph. Silver’s narrative centers on the intricate machinations of the hospital’s director, Dr. Lustig, a German-bo Jew who managed to keep the Gestapo at bay throughout the war, in part because of his power over his staff and patients and his finely honed relationship with the infamous Adolf Eichmann.
In 1945, when the Red Army liberated Berlin, they found in the Nazi capital a functioning Jewish hospital. In Refuge in Hell, Daniel B. Silver explores the many quirks of fortune and history that made the hospital’s survival possible. His engrossing account of this little-known slice of history “reads like a novel imbued with the richness of a strong narrative and the depth of compelling characters” (Forward). Not since Schindler’s List has there been such a wrenching story of personal sacrifice and triumph. Silver’s narrative centers on the intricate machinations of the hospital’s director, Dr. Lustig, a German-bo Jew who managed to keep the Gestapo at bay throughout the war, in part because of his power over his staff and patients and his finely honed relationship with the infamous Adolf Eichmann. Read more