Survival in the Shadows

The remarkable true story of two families that survived against all odds in the heart of the Nazi capital

Survival in the Shadows rivetingly chronicles the incredible survival of seven German Jews in Berlin through the final and most deadly years of the Holocaust.

In January 1943, unable to flee Germany, the four members of the Arndt family went underground to avoid deportation to Auschwitz. Soon they were joined by Ellen Lewinsky and her mother, Charlotte; a year later, Bruno Gumpel joined the group. Hiding in a small factory fewer than two miles from Hitler’s bunker, without identification cards or food-ration stamps, they were dependent on German strangers for sustenance and anonymity. When Russian soldiers finally rescued the group in April 1945, the families were perilously near death from starvation. But their will to live triumphed. Most joyously, two months later, four of the survivors—Erich Arndt and Ellen Lewinsky, and Ruth Arndt and Bruno Gumpel—reunited in a double wedding ceremony.

In her compelling and captivating book, Barbara Lovenheim shares this previously untold story, relayed to her by three surviving members of the group, whom she met by chance in her hometown. Survival in the Shadows is a touching portrayal of the resourcefulness and bravery of the seven Jews in hiding as well as the fortitude and humanity of the ordinary Germans who kept them alive.

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