Andrey Pogozhev was born in Ukraine and he receives his call up papers for the Russian Army and he’s becomes a member of 787th Artillery Regiment. The troop train he's travelling on was bombed by the Germans and he's captured and sent to Auschwitz in October of 1941. Andrey had heard rumours about German concentration camps, and I won’t tell you what happened to him and the other Russians soldiers for the first two months of their incarceration as it’s a spoiler, he discovers the SS Officers and Kapos all enjoy their suffering and misery.
Andrey was expected to work, he’s part of the construction team who build Birkenau, he and the others toil away every day, in terrible weather and all the time being yelled at, threatened, beaten, whipped and tormented. Two groups of prisoners attempt to escape, this gives Andrey and others the idea of doing the same, and all they needed was one person to report them and they would be beaten, tortured and shot.
On the 6th of November 1942, seventy Russian soldiers escape from Auschwitz, in the forest they split up, hide and run. Andrey travels east, through the Carpathian Mountains into Ukraine, he returns home to his wife and daughter.
Andrey has no idea how he managed to endure what he did, both in Auschwitz and escaping, he was malnourished, his clothes were rags and over the years his body healed, but the memories and pain in his heart remained. Twenty years later he was asked to give evidence at a war crimes trial, with the help of his interpreter he was cross examined and he had to prove he had been a prisoner in Auschwitz and with the accused watching him, these men were dressed in suits and with slicked back hair. At first Andrey panicked, then he thought about all his fellow soldiers, women, children and older people they had killed and he managed to composed himself.
I received a copy of Escape From Auschwitz by Andrey Pogozhev from NetGalley and Pen & Sword in exchange for an unbiased review. What an amazing and heartbreaking biography, Andrey didn’t know how he survived, did he have super human stamina, good health, luck and I think it was because they needed a witness to make the Nazi’s pay for what they did and he was an amazing man and he lived through unimaginable hell, it was much worse than other accounts I have read and fours stars from me.