New York: Anchor Books [a Division of Random House, Inc.], 1999. Fourth printing [stated]. Trade paperback. xxii, [2], 263, [1] pages. The front cover curls a bit at fore-edge. Foreword by Michael Olesker. Map. Illustrations. Inscribed by the principal author on the half-title page. The inscription reads To Billy & Chris, With my warmest best wishes--Leo Beltholz April 21, 2004. Leo Bretholz (March 6, 1921 – March 8, 2014) was a Holocaust survivor who, in 1942, escaped from a train heading for Auschwitz. He has also written a book on his experiences, titled Leap into Darkness. He escaped seven times during the Holocaust. Leo Bretholz appeared in the documentary films, Survivors Among Us, and See You Again Soon. Until his death in 2014, he lived in Pikesville, Maryland, and was a regular speaker at a range of venues, including the annual Holocaust Remembrance Project, and a number of schools. Prior to his death, Leo Bretholz fought for reparations from SNCF, the French rail company that transported Jews to Nazi concentration and death camps. When the class action lawsuit refused to be heard by the Supreme Court, the lower court ruling that the case was outside US jurisdiction stood and the case died. When his home state of Maryland proposed a high speed rail line, he testified in the state legislature against permitting SNCF to bid on the project. A harrowing, action-packed account of the author's series of audacious escapes from the Nazis' Final Solution--"riveting...a fascinating and moving piece of history" (Library Journal). More

Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. xiii, [3], 346, [6] pages. Illustrations. Michael Olesker (born 1945) is a former syndicated columnist for The Baltimore Sun newspaper in Baltimore, Maryland, and a book author. Olesker attended the University of Maryland where he was on the staff of the school newspaper, The Diamondback, serving as the sports page editor. Olesker started writing for the Baltimore News-American in 1978, prior to becoming a Baltimore Sun writer between 1979–2006. He was also a commentator on WJZ-TV from 1983 through December 2002, and his columns were syndicated in other newspapers such as Newsday and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. After leaving The Baltimore Sun, Olesker was a columnist for the Baltimore Examiner until that newspaper ceased publication in 2009. Olesker is known for his liberal viewpoints and for his criticism of the administration of Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), whose press office in November 2004 issued an executive order banning state executive employees from talking with Olesker. The Sun unsuccessfully sued over the ban, in a case decided by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Olesker is the author of Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore and co-authored Leap into Darkness, a 1998 memoir of a Holocaust survivor. More