In the Lion's Den: The Life of Oswald Rufeisen

by Nechama Tec

Overview

"An unusual tale of heroism and survival during World War II"—Library Journal. "Ms. Tec...has a good eye for historical detail....She captures well the emotional complexity of Mr. Rufeisen's position"—The New York Times Book Review. This is the gripping story of Oswald Rufeisen—a Polish Jew who passed as a German, working as a translator for the German police in Poland. Using his post to aid victims of Nazi atrocities, he narrowly escaped detection and fled to a partisan unit. After the war, he moved to Israel, where he now works to bring Jews and Christians together.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195039054
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/05/1990
Pages:	298
Product dimensions:	9.38(w) x 6.32(h) x 1.06(d)

About the Author

Nechama Tec is Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut, Stamford. She is the author of When Light Pierced the Darkness, Dry Tears, and other writings which explore the rare aspects of human experience during the Holocaust.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1. Before and Into the War
2. In Search of Solutions
3. Imprisonment
4. Life on the Farm
5. Becoming Someone Else
6. The Town of Mir
7. Becoming a Police Officer
8. Working for the Authorities
9. The Savior of Simakowo
10. Involvement with the Ghetto
11. Organizing the Escape
12. Exodus and Confrontation
13. Conversion
14. Moving to the Forest
15. Life as a Partisan
16. Becoming a Carmelite Monk and a Priest
17. A Catholic Jew?
18. An Independent Life
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

Rufeisen's story is extraordinary, especially as recreated by Tec ( Dry Tears ). A Polish Jew imprisoned by the Nazis at age 18, he escaped and passed as a Catholic. Wearing a Nazi uniform as assistant to the German police chief in the Russian town of Mir, he aided Jews and non-Jews in evading the captors. He warned Mir's ghetto of its impending liquidation, gave its residents arms and helped 300 Jews escape. His deception discovered, Rufeisen fled to a convent and converted to Christianity; in 1943 he joined a Russian partisan brigade. After the war, he became a Carmelite monk, later a secular priest. Emigrating to Israel in 1962, Rufeisen, as Father Daniel, now leads the Jewish Christian Church. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Based upon interviews and documents, Tec recounts an unusual tale of heroism and survival during World War II and pursues themes of earlier works ( Dry Tears: The Story of a Lost Childhood; When Light Pierced the Darkness, LJ 1/86). Rufiesen, a Polish Jew, posed as a Christian and became a gendarme and translator for the Germans in order to escape the Holocaust. Through his position he saved many Jews and partisans from death. When forced to flee and take refuge in a convent, he became a Catholic and later a priest and monk. Following the war he served his church in Israel, where he sued unsuccessfully for recognition as a Jew by nationality, not religion. Tec makes Rufiesen's life into a testament that the individual may not only endure but prove his moral strength when confronted with evil. Recommended for Holocaust, World War II, and area collections.-- Rena Fowler, Northern Michigan Univ. Lib., Marquette

Library Journal

"Tec paints a graphic picture of the horrors of war."—L'Eylah

"Ms. Tec...has a good eye for historical detail. She illuminates the Russian partisan movement and its connection to the Jewish resistance fighters. She captures well the emotional complexity of Mr. Rufeisen's position."—The New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher