On the Run in Nazi Berlin ― A Memoir

Bert Lewyn was still a teenager when he and his parents were arrested by the Gestapo. It was 1942 in wartime Berlin. While his parents were sent to a concentration camp, Bert’s youth and training as a machinist made him useful. He was sent to work in a weapons factory. He received one postcard from his parents, then never heard from them again. Through a combination of luck and will to survive, Bert fled the factory and lived underground in Berlin. By hook or crook, he found shelter, sometimes with compassionate civilians, sometimes with others who found his skills useful, sometimes in the cellars of bombed out buildings. Without identity papers, he survived in part by successfully mimicking German civilians—even masquerading as a German soldier or SS officer. He had several close calls with the Gestapo and was eventually captured. But Bert masterminded an ingenious escape and remained free until the end of the war. Before World War II, there were 160,000 Jews living in Berlin. By 1945 only 3,000 remained alive. Bert was one of the few who survived.

Bert Lewyn was born Dagobert Lewin in Berlin. He emigrated to the United States in 1949, and settled in Atlanta, Georgia. He “Americanized” his name and started a family. He never discussed his wartime experiences with anyone. In 1993, his daughter-in-law, Bev Lewyn, who worked as a researcher for CNN, persuaded him to tell his story. His son, Lawrence, edited the final manuscript and Bert self-published his memoir in 2001. He died in 2016.