After three days without food or water (or bathroom facilities), the two men emerged from the wood pile and began their journey to freedom. Rudolf Vrba (19 years old) and Alfred Wetzler (26 years old) were inmates in Auschwitz. Both men were obsessed with bringing the true story of the Holocaust to the outside world. They had compiled a wealth of information about what took place in the camp. They had contact with Sonderkommandos who described the extermination process. They memorized statistics about arrivals by train, specifically about the influx of Hungarian Jews. They found about the wood pile scheme from other Jews. Four had used it to escape, although they were subsequently recaptured. The pile was outside the perimeter, but you had to survive the three days of intense searching by the SS. Russian tobacco soaked in gasoline, spread around the hideout, kept the dogs from sniffing them out. The guards did not discover the pile, so on April 7, 1944, it was their turn. After three days, the dogs were called off, so to speak. The duo headed for the hills, planning on crossing the mountains to their homeland of Slovakia. Chased by troops and dogs, they threw off the scent via an ice-cold stream. They were aided by Polish peasants along the way. One of whom acted as a guide after their ravenous eating of food proved to him that the two were not Gestapo agents trying to entrap him. Once safely in their homeland, they produced their detailed report which was smuggled to Switzerland where it was sent on to British intelligence and the media. Publicizing of the deportation of Hungarian Jews was credited with halting the deportations, saving about 200,000 lives. Unfortunately, the recommendation that camps like Auschwitz be bombed was turned down.
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/vrbas-and-wetzlers-escape/31/
https://www.martingilbert.com/blog/rudolf-vrba-and-alfred-wetzlers-escape-from-auschwitz-april-1944/
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