Seventy years ago, Joe Rubinstein walked out of a Nazi concentration camp.
Until now, his story has been hidden from the world.
Shortly before dawn on a frigid morning in Radom, Poland, 21-year-old Joe answered a knock at the door of the cottage he shared with his widowed mother and siblings. German soldiers forced him onto a crowded open-air truck. Wearing only an undershirt and shorts, Joe was left on the truck with no protection from the cold. By the next morning, several around him would be dead. From there, things got worse for young Joe, much worse. Joe arrived at Auschwitz April 30, 1942, and until now, has never revealed what he did to stay alive.
Joe's story is a remarkable account of enduring several of the most notorious Nazi concentration camp and, it is a story of love and the ultimate triumph-the triumph of the human spirit. While the Nazis took everything else, they were unable to take Joe's love of life, his affection for others, and his unassailable joy. His is a story of unconquerable courage and discovering light in the darkest of places.
From the ashes of his past, Joe would find a way to rebuild his life. Barefooted when he was taken by the Nazis, he would become one of New York's' leading shoe designers - shoes sought after by First Ladies and movie stars alike.
