163256: A Memoir of Resistance

by Michael Englishman

Overview

163256: A Memoir of Resistance is Michael Englishman’s astonishing story of courage, resourcefulness, and moral fibre as a Dutch Jew during World War II and its aftermath, from the Nazi occupation of Holland in 1940, through his incarceration in numerous death and labour camps, to his eventual liberation by Allied soldiers in 1945 and his emigration to Canada. Surviving by his wits, Englishman escaped death time and again, committing daring acts of bravery to do what he thought was right—helping other prisoners escape and actively participating in the underground resistance.

A man who refused to surrender his spirit despite the loss of his wife and his entire family to the Nazis, Englishman kept a promise he had made to a friend, and sought his friend’s children after the war. With the children’s mother, he made a new life in Canada, where he continued his resistance, tracking neo-Nazi cells and infiltrating their headquarters to destroy their files.

Until his death in August 2007, Englishman remained active, speaking out against racism and hatred in seminars for young people. His gripping story should be widely read and will be of interest to scholars of auto/biography, World War II history, and the Holocaust.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554586806
Publisher:	Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Publication date:	07/21/2009
Series:	Life Writing
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	128
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Michael Englishman was born in Amsterdam and immigrated to Canada after the war. He was an advisor at the Holocaust Centre of Toronto and lectured to students in elementary and high schools as well as at the Ontario Institute of Secondary Education. He received honour and recognition from the government of Canada for his outstanding work on educating the public on the Holocaust.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents for
163256: A Memoir of Resistance by Micheal Englishman

Preface

Introduction: Words at the Ready

1. Growing Up Jewish in Amsterdam

2. Deportation

3. From the Burght to Vught—and Auschwitz

4. The Coal Mines of Janina and the Buna Works

5. The Death March to Dora-Nordhausen and Building the “Secret Weapon”

6. Liberation

7. Finding the Children

8. Picking Up the Pieces

9. Canada, Here We Come

10. Déjà Vu

11. Fighting Back by Telling the Truth

12. Family Reunion

13. March of the Living—April 2004

Afterword

Appendices

I. Family Relationships

II. List of Prison and Concentration Camps

Editorial Reviews

‘‘In an appendix to this fine memoir, Michael Englishman (Engelschman) lists the members of his immediate family who were murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.... He survived in part because he was an electrician: his technical skills made him valuable.... He also developed...a keen sense of self-preservation [which] he used for his own benefit, but also to save the lives of others—he was able to get a number of his fellow prisoners transferred to safer work details.... Englishman emigrated to Canada after the war, and continued his fight against fascism by doing educational work and by taking on neo-Nazi groups. With this powerful memoir, his work continues.''

Canadian Military History