BOOK REVIEW: “Miracle: The Boys Who Escaped the Gas Chamber at Auschwitz” by Michael Calvin and Naftali Schiff

‍ ‍“Miracle: The Boys Who Escaped the Gas Chamber at Auschwitz” is a remarkable story of the reprieve of 51 Hungarian Jewish teenagers trapped inside the gas chambers at the Auschwitz concentration camp. It is the only known group of Holocaust survivors to actually escape from the jaws of the Nazis.

     It was an early morning in October, 1944 when eight-hundred teenage boys were taken out of a block at Auschwitz. It was just the night before that Dr. Josef Mengele had their identification cards stamped with just one German word – gestoben – ‘died’ in English. They were then marched by bayonet-wieldiing SS men to Crematorium 5, stripped, and sent into a gas chamber.

      It is here that this book describes the true-life miracle of 51 boys who were pulled from the gas chamber – the only Holocaust survivors known to have escaped such a close brutal death at the hands of the Nazis.

     This powerful book is based on first-hand harrowing testimonies of six of the survivors whose stories are shared for the very first time. It articulates the lives of the boys and how they survived this brutal sweep of human life. It is a story of hope, faith and fortitude in the face of one of the worst crimes against humanity in history.

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     Michael Calvin is an award-winning writer and internationally bestselling author, whose books have been hailed for their insight and influence. His current book, “Miracle : The Boys Who Escaped the Gas Chamber in Auschwitz”, was an instant best seller when it was released in January 2026.

     Naftali Schiff has been actively involved in Holocaust education for many years, and has travelled the world interviewing Holocaust survivors to record their stories. He founded JRoots, which specializes in passing on the legacy of Holocaust survivors and educating young Jewish people about their heritage and identity.