**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER** 'A riveting compelling mesmerizing journey. Josef Lewkowicz
is a hero in every sense of the word. The Survivor both terrifies us and inspires us. It's a
must read.' Tova Friedman author of The Daughter of Auschwitz. One of the last great untold
stories of the Holocaust The Survivor is an astonishing account of one man's unbreakable
spirit unshakeable faith and extraordinary courage in the face of evil. At only sixteen years
old Josef Lewkowicz became a number prisoner 85314. Following the Nazi invasion of Poland he
and his father were separated from their family and herded to the Kraków-Plaszów concentration
camp. Forced to carry out hard labour in brutal conditions and to live under the constant
threat of extreme violence and sudden death before the war was over Josef would witness the
unique horrors of six of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps including Auschwitz
Mauthausen and Ebensee. From salt mines to forced marches summary executions to Amstetten
where prisoners were used as human shields in Allied bombing Josef lived under the spectre of
death for many years. When he was liberated from Ebensee at the end of the war conditions were
amongst the worst witnessed by allied forces. With his freedom Josef returned home to find
that he was the only one left alive in an extended family of 150. Compelled by the need to do
something to avenge that loss he joined the Jewish police while still in a displaced persons'
camp and was recruited as an intelligence officer for the US Army who gave him a team to
search for Nazis in hiding. Whilst rounding up SS leaders he played a critical role in
identifying and bringing to justice his greatest tormentor the Butcher of Plaszow Amon Göth
played by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List. He then committed his life to helping the orphaned
children of the Holocaust rebuild their lives. The Survivor is Josef's extraordinary testimony.
