‘On the Run in Nazi Berlin’ by Bev Saltzman Lewyn

Capturing her father-in-law’s escape from Nazi Germany, Congregation Beth Jacob member Bev Saltzman Lewyn’s new and updated edition of her book first published in 2001 includes new research to fill in the gaps in the shocking story.
As opposed to many other Holocaust memoirs, Dagobert ‘Bert’ Lewyn, “was never in a concentration camp, nor was he hidden in one place,” she said.

Instead he was in Berlin the entire war, doing whatever it took to survive and mirroring as much a “Hollywood action film” as anything else. The book, originally planned to take a few months, took Lewyn more than seven years to write, as more twists in the tales began to appear, including a forgotten second family in Germany.

The new edition of the book contains added information about Gunther Gerson, a man with whom Bert shared many wild adventures during the war, as well as Bert’s parents and his first wife, Ilse. It also includes added photographs of Berlin locations where Bert lived and worked during the war.

While Bert is no longer alive, the book tells the story of an unquestionably, “clever, charming, smart and hard-working,” man, according to Lewyn.

Summarized from the AJT’s March 6, “Lewyn Reveals Unusual Story of Escape, Loss, Discovery” by Marcia Caller Jaffe

The book willl be featured at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7.