Treblinka Survivor

The Life and Death of Hershl Sperling

Mark S Smith

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2010
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780752461304
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: History

The story of a man who survived Treblinka, to be haunted by his memories for 50 years—and ultimately, to be killed by them
 
More than 800,000 people entered Treblinka and fewer than 70 came out. Hershl Sperling was one of them. He escaped. Why then, 50 years later, did he jump to his death from a bridge in Scotland? The answer lies in a long-forgotten, published account of the Treblinka death camp, written by Hershl Sperling himself in the months after liberation, discovered in his briefcase after his suicide, and reproduced here for the first time. Including previously unpublished photographs, this book traces the life of a man who survived five concentration camps, and details what he had to do to achieve this. Hershl's story, from his childhood in a small Polish town to the bridge in faraway Scotland, is testament to the lasting torment of those very few who survived the Nazis' most efficient and gruesome death factory. The author personally follows in his subject's footsteps from Klobuck, to Treblinka, to Glasgow.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• PREFACE BY SAM SPERLING
• CHAPTER ONE : THE BRIDGE
• CHAPTER TWO : THE BOOK
• CHAPTER THREE : POLAND
• CHAPTER FOUR : KLOBUCK
• CHAPTER FIVE : CZĘSTOCHOWA
• CHAPTER SIX : THE PLAN UNFOLDS
• CHAPTER SEVEN : TO THE GATES OF HELL
• CHAPTER EIGHT : GHOSTS OF TREBLINKA
• CHAPTER NINE : TREBLINKA IN HISTORY
• CHAPTER TEN : THE SELECTION
• CHAPTER ELEVEN : BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH
• CHAPTER TWELVE : THE SPITE
• CHAPTER THIRTEEN : CONSPIRACY
• CHAPTER FOURTEEN : UPRISING AND ESCAPE
• CHAPTER FIFTEEN : THE FOREST
• CHAPTER SIXTEEN : AUSCHWITZ
• CHAPTER SEVENTEEN : GERMANY
• CHAPTER EIGHTEEN : RESTLESS AND HOPEFUL
• CHAPTER NINETEEN : MEMORY
• CHAPTER TWENTY : THE SEARCH FOR LIFE
• CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE : SHOCK TREATMENT
• CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO : THE FINAL STRUGGLE
• CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE : THE END
• CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR : HOPE
• POSTSCRIPT : PIECING TOGETHER A LIFE
• APPENDIX : HERSHL’S TESTIMONY
• Plates
• Copyright