{"product_id":"book-hofc","title":"The Counterfeit Countess","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe “remarkable…inspiring” (\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e) true story of Dr. Josephine Janina Mehlberg—a Jewish mathematician who saved thousands of lives in Nazi-occupied Poland by masquerading as a Polish aristocrat—drawing on Mehlberg’s own unpublished memoir.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWorld War II and the Holocaust have given rise to many stories of resistance and rescue, but \u003ci\u003eThe Counterfeit Countess\u003c\/i\u003e is unique. It tells the astonishing unknown story of “Countess Janina Suchodolska,” a Jewish woman who rescued more than 10,000 Poles imprisoned by Poland’s Nazi occupiers, becoming “a heroine for the ages” (Larry Loftis, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Watchmaker’s Daughter\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eMehlberg operated in Lublin, Poland, headquarters of \u003ci\u003eAktion\u003c\/i\u003e Reinhard, the SS operation that murdered 1.7 million Jews in occupied Poland. Using the identity papers of a Polish aristocrat, she worked as a welfare official while also serving in the Polish resistance. With guile, cajolery, and steely persistence, the “Countess” persuaded SS officials to release thousands of Poles from the Majdanek concentration camp. She won permission to deliver food and medicine—even decorated Christmas trees—for thousands more of the camp’s prisoners. At the same time, she personally smuggled supplies and messages to resistance fighters imprisoned in Majdanek, where 63,000 Jews were murdered in gas chambers and shooting pits. Incredibly, she eluded detection, and ultimately survived the war and emigrated to the US.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eDrawing on the manuscript of Mehlberg’s own unpublished memoir supplemented with prodigious research, Elizabeth White and Joanna Sliwa, professional historians and Holocaust experts, have uncovered the full story of this remarkable woman. They interweave Mehlberg’s sometimes harrowing personal testimony with broader historical narrative. Like \u003ci\u003eThe Light of Days\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSchindler’s List\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eIrena’s Children\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Counterfeit Countess\u003c\/i\u003e is a “riveting…stunning” (Debbie Cenziper, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of \u003ci\u003eCitizen 865\u003c\/i\u003e) account of inspiring courage in the face of unspeakable cruelty.","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster Audio","offers":[{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":50137918112048,"sku":"10hofc","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":50137918144816,"sku":"BDhofc","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/hofc-cover.jpg?v=1758148674","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-hofc","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}