Author Lee Jun-ho, who shared his extensive knowledge of war history and fascinating backstories in his previous work, Traitors and Betrayers, has published his new book, Survivors.
In this book, the author delves into the details of World War II, which plunged the 20th century into a swamp of screams, and focuses especially on the 'survivors' who survived with indomitable will and mental strength.

The Polish soldier who walked into Auschwitz to tell people about hell, the 'Human Butcher of Lyon' who served as an American intelligence agent and presidential aide, artists who shone with intellect and creativity even in the ruins of war...
The survivors are very diverse.
The book highlights a diverse range of cases, including survivors of a single incident, victims of wartime sexual violence, soldiers who became victors through heroic actions, people who forgave their perpetrators and overcame trauma, and villains who saved their lives through their resourcefulness.
By gathering the fragmented stories of these individuals into a single book, the author emphasizes the irony of war: how solidarity, will, and vitality burn fiercely in the midst of war.

While many people died helplessly, there were also those who miraculously survived in extreme situations with incredible mental strength and will.
This book contains the amazing and thrilling survival stories of these 'miraculous survivors'.
Although each of their survival backgrounds and circumstances are different, their survivals each deal with the background of a huge historical event.
They had one important thing in common.
He had a strong will to live, loved and respected himself, and never gave up in any situation, but faced it with dignity.
Unfortunately, this also applies to those who, despite being criminals or villains, used all means possible to survive to the end.
(…) Through their extreme survival stories, we will learn how cruel and vicious humans can be to each other.
At the same time, you will be able to see how strong and great a human being is in the face of challenges and persecutions.

--- pp.4-5

Whole families were often killed, the most famous of which was that of Tatyana Savicheva, then just 11 years old.
Born in Leningrad and having lost her father when she was only six, Tatiana wrote about the siege of Leningrad in her notebook, much like Anne Frank wrote her diary from her hiding place in Amsterdam.
The young girl chronicled the deaths of six family members, down to the minute, on one side of her notebook.
First her sister died, then her grandmother, brother, uncles, and finally, on May 13, 1942, Tatyana's mother died.
Fortunately, she was later evacuated from Leningrad, but died in July 1944 from tuberculosis caused by prolonged malnutrition.
Tatiana's diary was accepted as evidence at the Nuremberg war crimes trials.
At the end of her diary was a short sentence: “Tanya (Tatyana’s nickname) was left alone.”

--- p.20

Ironically, the ship that was built to provide the Germans with the utmost comfort and enjoyment sank into the sea along with most of its passengers.
Despite the enormous tragedy, 1,252 people, including one newborn, miraculously survived.
Many of the survivors were refugees from the East (equivalent to refugees from North Korea in Korea), who later became a driving force in German society's economic revival in the 1950s, along with returned prisoners of war, surviving women (originally women who cleared the ruins), and foreign workers.

--- p.41

In addition to the sea route, the refugees also used the land route over the Pyrenees to escape to Spain.
In fact, the person who pioneered this route with his own know-how was Albert Hirschmann, a German Jew who escaped with Gold's support.
Hirschmann, who was born in Germany and studied economics in France and Italy, moved to Bayul-sur-Mer near the Spanish border and then walked through the rugged Pyrenees mountain paths with his sister, traveling all night.
Unsure of when the French police or border guards would arrive, they continued their journey disguised as local vineyard workers or shepherds, eventually crossing the border into Spain.
After that, Hirschmann sent his sister to America first and returned to Marseille to join Gold's party.
He continued to travel back and forth along this 'Pyrenees Route' he knew, helping others escape safely.
It was an extremely difficult journey, but thanks to Hirschmann, many were able to cross the border and survive the Nazis (he later served as a German interpreter at the Nuremberg trials, helping to convict the Nazis).

--- p.49

Refugees began to gather here one by one.
These were some of the most intelligent people in Europe, if not the world, writers and artists, many of whom were Jewish.
In the restaurant, the German-Jewish political scientist Hannah Arendt was translating her writings from German to English, and in the outdoor pool, the German painter Max Ernst enjoyed swimming naked.
André Breton, the French poet and founder of surrealism, enjoyed contemplation and reading in his second-floor study.
We also saw Marcel Duchamp, a painter and sculptor who led Surrealism and Dadaism, and Oscar Dominguez, a Spanish painter, and Wifredo Lam, a Chinese-Cuban painter who also enjoyed walking in gardens with people.
Additionally, French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, who would later gain world-renowned fame with his book Tristes Tropics, and best-selling authors Heinrich Mann and Franz Werfel also conversed.
Marc Chagall, a Russian-born Jewish painter known for his vibrant colors, lived in a nearby house and often visited the area with his wife.
All the greatest intellectuals and artists of the time gathered in one place.
Although they were refugees, they did not lose their dignity and did not despair of their fate.

--- p.52

In April 1943, Wainwright and 117 other high-ranking prisoners were transferred to a camp near Kagoshima in southern Japan.
The good news is that there were no beatings for a while after arriving here.
However, there was no significant change in food rations and the prisoners still starved.
One thing worth noting is that writing letters to the home country was permitted.
Wainwright wrote the following to his wife, Adele, to indirectly inform her about his weight loss:
“Honey! I’m doing well.
“My weight is fine, the same as when we were married.” But there was no reply.
The Japanese military intentionally hid this out of fear that news would be revealed to the outside world.

--- p.71

Auschwitz was literally a man-made 'hell on earth'.
But there was one person who voluntarily entered this hellish place and escaped.
This brave, if reckless, man was a Polish soldier whose incredible experiences brought the horrors of the Auschwitz concentration camp, previously shrouded in mystery, to light and paved the way for the post-war prosecution of Nazi criminals.
His life was as turbulent as his remarkable story, almost like a compressed version of the twisted modern history of Poland.
From now on, let's walk together through the life of this 'man with a twisted fate'.
--- p.78

Hartmann made a total of 16 emergency landings during the war.
Returning to duty, Hartmann finally shot down his 100th enemy aircraft on September 20, becoming the 54th German pilot to achieve the feat.
On October 29th he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his achievements, and by the end of 1943 his kill marks had reached 159.
From this time on, a black tulip pattern mark was drawn on his horse.
The legend of the 'black tulip' had just begun.
At the same time, the Soviet army feared him, calling him the 'Black Devil' and even offered a bounty of ten thousand rubles for his capture.
But his prime was yet to come.

--- p.103

Pechersky was not at all intimidated, but rather overwhelmed the Nazi overseer.
Franzel, who had left, returned a little later and brought me bread and butter.
At this point, Pechersky made a statement that he would not dare to make unless he had two lives to live: he proudly refused the offer, saying, “I am not hungry.”
After a while, Franzel disappeared without a word.
This novel-like heroic tale quickly spread throughout the camp, and many people were surprised but refused to believe it.
But because there were so many witnesses, Pechersky quickly became a 'hero of the prisoners'.
That night, Polish Jews who were desperately looking for a capable leader with a military background began to approach him.
The Messiah they had been waiting for had finally appeared.

--- p.122

Eventually, the two agreed on a method of escape, or rather, uprising, and began checking the date.
The rough plan was this:
First, lure the guard supervisors before the roll call and kill them en masse.
Afterwards, at 5 p.m. roll call, a false order was given that there would be outdoor work, and all personnel except those working in the gas chamber (they were physically distant) were ordered to walk out of the camp together.
Pechersky had anticipated that without the SS inspectors, the guards would be left without a commander.
It seemed like a crazy plan at first glance, but it was better than sitting still and dying, and in fact, there was no better alternative.
The date of the uprising was set for approximately mid-October, and was later set for October 14th.

--- p.124

In July 1940, Berlin was filled with excitement as the country's victorious army paraded in France and Western Europe.
The city's main street, Unter den Linden, was filled with jubilant crowds, and Hitler, at the height of his power, inspected his proud troops.
But just five years later, in April 1945, Berlin was a completely different place.
The laughter and energy of the people were no longer visible, and the city was a gray ruin filled with smoke.
The city was slowly dying, trapped in a Red Army encirclement on all sides.
--- p.135

A post-war survey conducted in Berlin found that 100,000 citizens had suffered injuries from sexual assault or had to be treated for venereal diseases.
According to British historian Antoni Beevor, two million people across Germany were victims of gang rape before and after the war.
Between 1946 and 1947, approximately 3 to 4 percent of German newborns were illegitimate children born from sexual abuse by Soviet soldiers.
--- p.142

Female prisoners were forced to endure various forms of humiliation, including bowing their heads at a 90-degree angle whenever they encountered Japanese soldiers in the camp.
They were also mobilized to clean toilets with their bare hands, and during the daily "Tenko" (Japanese for "roll call"), they had to bow toward the Tokyo side where the Emperor was, and repeatedly shout childish slogans such as "Japan is first, and Britain and the United States are last."
The prisoners joked self-deprecatingly, “The Japanese soldiers hate prisoners and women the most.”
They were the worst beings who had both conditions.
--- p.161

Unable to bear the pain, the soldiers began drinking salty sea water, but this only made the situation worse, and they soon began foaming at the mouth and complaining of extreme pain with swollen lips.
As several people boarded a small lifeboat, about 2 to 3 meters in size, water began to enter the boat and some sank.
As time passed, the soldiers, exhausted from hunger and dehydration, became half-delirious and began to fight each other.
In the sea, murderers were coming in droves, smelling the blood of the wounded.
It was a shark.

--- p.179

By the standards of the Japanese military, Sakamaki was a man who should not have been alive.
As a 'soldier of the Empire', he had to sacrifice his life to carry out his duty, and if that was impossible, he had to remain loyal until the end, even if it meant committing suicide.
Being a prisoner of war was considered a betrayal and a grave shame not only to oneself but also to one's family and country.
Although the US military personnel or guards who were watching him did not specifically beat or abuse him, every day was painful for Sakamaki, and eventually, unable to bear it any longer, he formally requested the US military to allow him to commit suicide.
The US military officer just laughed, thinking Sakamaki was out of his mind, and of course his request was not accepted.

--- p.193

There are not only good people in the world.
More evil people than good people participated in the war, and despite all their evil deeds, they survived in the end.
They read the changes and trends of the times well and appealed to the winners with their devilish strengths to the fullest extent.
Some tried to avoid judgment by pretending to have physical or mental problems.
Ultimately, the combination of all these factors creates the optimal survival equation for the situation at hand.

--- p.237