cover image The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz: A True Story of World War II

The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz: A True Story of World War II

Denis Avey and Rob Broomby, read by James Langton. Tantor Audio, , unabridged, eight CDs, 9.5 hours, $34.99 ISBN 978-1-4526-0248-6

During WWII, British soldier Denis Avey was imprisoned at E715, a labor camp near Buna-Monowitz, the concentration camp known as Auschwitz III. While at E715, Avey decided to break out of prison and into Auschwitz to see its horrors firsthand. After disguising himself as a Jewish inmate, Avey entered Auschwitz and even witnessed the death march, in which thousands of prisoners were slaughtered in the face of advancing Soviet troops. James Langton ably narrates this audio version of Avey and Broomby’s international bestseller. Although Langton’s mellifluous tones—his voice light, fluting, and delicate—are occasionally at odds with the brutal ugliness of the tale, his narration is well paced and steady. Additionally, Langton uses the silence between sentences to punctuate the narrative, allowing those pauses to remind listeners that behind the story’s excitement and valor remained a regular man who bore witness to the horrors of the Holocaust. A Da Capo hardcover. (July)