Impossible Escape: Prologue–Chapter 5

by Steve Sheinkin
This is the true story of Slovakian teenager Rudolf Vrba, who escaped from the Auschwitz concentration camp in April 1944 and provided eyewitness testimony that stopped the deportation of 200,000 Jews in Hungary, including his childhood friend and future wife, Gerta Sidonová, who reconnected with him through her underground resistance network.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Prologue–Chapter 5, Chapters 6–12, Chapters 13–19, Chapters 20–27, Chapter 28–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. invincible
    incapable of being overcome or subdued
    He had a box of matches, a compass, and some clothes in a small travel bag. Not much for the epic trek he planned.
    But he was seventeen. He felt invincible.
  2. spare
    give up what is not strictly needed
    She’d gathered every cent she could spare from her dressmaking business and handed it all to her son.
  3. fascist
    relating to authoritarian hierarchical government
    No one could avoid hearing about Hitler, the fascist leader in Germany with the little square mustache, ranting and raving about Jews, vowing to make Germany a great power again, demanding territory from neighbors, constantly threatening war.
  4. rave
    talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner
    No one could avoid hearing about Hitler, the fascist leader in Germany with the little square mustache, ranting and raving about Jews, vowing to make Germany a great power again, demanding territory from neighbors, constantly threatening war.
  5. bloc
    a group united for a particular purpose
    But in a country badly divided between rival parties, he had one of the largest blocs of voters.
  6. chancellor
    the person who is head of state (in several countries)
    He became chancellor of Germany in 1933, and from there moved quickly to seize the powers of a dictator.
  7. deem
    judge or regard in a particular way
    The Nazis used these camps to terrorize anyone deemed an “enemy of the state,” anyone who didn’t fit Hitler’s vision of German society—a long list that included union leaders, communists, gay men, and Jews.
  8. inferior
    of or characteristic of low rank or importance
    He relentlessly attacked Jews as “subhuman,” comparing them to a contagious disease, labeling them an inferior race with no place in Germany’s future.
  9. preposterous
    inviting ridicule
    He blamed Jews for Germany’s loss in the First World War, for its economic hardships, for everything.
    This was plainly preposterous.
  10. vulnerable
    susceptible to attack
    The goal was to unite a large group of people by turning them against a smaller, more vulnerable group. A typical tactic of tyrants.
  11. annex
    take territory as if by conquest
    Hitler annexed Austria in 1938, then demanded that a huge part of Czechoslovakia come under German rule.
  12. devastate
    cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
    But this was just twenty years after the end of the First World War, which had devastated an entire generation of young men. Unwilling to face the horrors of another European war, French and British leaders caved in to Hitler’s demands.
  13. enact
    order by virtue of superior authority; decree
    In Slovakia, following Hitler’s lead, the government enacted a series of anti-Jewish laws.
  14. glum
    moody and sorrowful
    Jewish students were even ordered to turn in their school books. This was particularly painful for Rudi. He dropped off his textbooks and walked away, “glum and empty-handed,” as he’d later say.
  15. defiance
    an act boldly resisting authority or an opposing force
    A friend of his, Erwin Eisler, came up beside him and whispered: “Don’t worry. I’ve still got that chemistry book.”
    Rudi was impressed by this act of defiance.
  16. knack
    a special way of doing something
    He had a knack for languages and a prodigious memory—he already spoke Slovak, Czech, Hungarian, and German.
  17. prodigious
    great in size, force, extent, or degree
    He had a knack for languages and a prodigious memory—he already spoke Slovak, Czech, Hungarian, and German.
  18. scrawl
    write carelessly
    People threw bricks through their windows, scrawled “Jew” on the walls of their homes.
  19. utter
    complete
    Gerta told the group about the non-Jewish “adviser” assigned to her parents’ butcher shop—Mr. Šimončič, the father of her former friend Marushka. The man openly robbed them. Far more chilling to Gerta was his utter lack of the slightest hint of shame.
  20. rabid
    marked by excessive enthusiasm for a cause or idea
    A longtime member of Hitler’s inner circle, Himmler was a rabid antisemite, with a square mustache like his idol’s.
  21. implemented
    forced or compelled or put in force
    “The Führer has given orders for the Final Solution of the Jewish question to be implemented,” he told Kommandant Rudolf Höss, “and we—the SS—are to put those orders into practice.”
  22. privy
    informed about something secret or not generally known
    He did not understand why he was suddenly privy to Hitler’s personal orders, or what was meant by “Final Solution.”
  23. vital
    urgently needed; absolutely necessary
    The Auschwitz concentration camp, Himmler explained, had a convenient combination of railroad access and isolation. Isolation was vital, as this “work” was to be done in absolute secret.
  24. mobilize
    get ready for war
    By the spring of 1942, U.S. forces were still mobilizing, and far from strong enough to challenge Hitler in Europe.
  25. glare
    look at with a fixed or angry gaze
    A woman in an elegant dressing gown glared at him, awaiting an explanation.
  26. authoritarian
    characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule
    He knew Hungary’s authoritarian government had taken Hitler’s side in the war, joining the Axis alliance, Germany’s wartime pact with Italy and Japan.
  27. accomplice
    a person who joins with another in carrying out some plan
    “You’re a spy,” the officer charged. “Who are your accomplices?”
    “I’m a refugee. I have no accomplices.”
  28. ominous
    threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
    Word of his arrest had spread, Rudi realized. Someone had taken pity on him. A kind gesture, but ominous also.
  29. ignorance
    the lack of knowledge or education
    Antisemitism, like other forms of prejudice and racism, has always been rooted in ignorance and lies.
  30. bubonic
    relating to inflamed or swollen lymph nodes
    During the Middle Ages, Jewish communities faced a series of ridiculous charges: They murdered Christian children and used their blood in religious rituals, some said. They spread bubonic plague by poisoning wells.
  31. impoverished
    poor enough to need help from others
    European rulers routinely expelled Jews, or segregated Jewish communities into impoverished “ghettos”—a term taken from a section of the Italian city of Venice into which Jewish homes were confined in the 1500s.
  32. ghetto
    the restricted quarter of European cities where Jews lived
    European rulers routinely expelled Jews, or segregated Jewish communities into impoverished “ghettos”—a term taken from a section of the Italian city of Venice into which Jewish homes were confined in the 1500s.
  33. protocol
    code of correct conduct
    This conspiracy theory was sparked in large part by The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a text that first appeared in Russia in 1903.
  34. manipulate
    influence or control shrewdly or deviously
    The Protocols supposedly contained the minutes of secret meetings at which Jewish leaders made plans to manipulate the global economy and gain world domination.
  35. debunk
    expose while ridiculing
    Adolf Hitler endlessly echoed these debunked conspiracies. Did he worry that telling such obvious untruths would damage his credibility? Not at all.
  36. blatant
    without any attempt at concealment; completely obvious
    When the Office of Strategic Services, the American wartime intelligence agency, compiled a psychological profile of the German dictator, the authors noted Hitler’s reliance on blatant lies.
  37. accordingly
    in agreement with
    To the authorities in Slovakia, Rudi was a little less than human and would be treated accordingly.
  38. slate
    designate or schedule
    The one thing he could figure out about Nováky was that it was a transit camp, a place to hold Jews slated for “resettlement.”
  39. barbed
    having or covered with protective points, spines, or thorns
    The camp was surrounded by barbed wire, patrolled by armed Hlinka guards.
  40. stuffy
    lacking fresh air
    The men over there worked in the sunshine, doing various construction jobs. It looked a lot nicer than the stuffy barracks.
Created on Tue Jun 04 10:38:45 EDT 2024 (updated Wed Jun 05 13:29:35 EDT 2024)

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