163256: A Memoir of Resistance is Michael Englishman’s astonishing story of courage, resourcefulness, and moral fibre as a Dutch Jew during World War II and its aftermath, from the Nazi occupation of Holland in 1940, through his incarceration in numerous death and labour camps, to his eventual liberation by Allied soldiers in 1945 and his emigration to Canada. Surviving by his wits, Englishman escaped death time and again, committing daring acts of bravery to do what he thought was right—helping other prisoners escape and actively participating in the underground resistance.
A man who refused to surrender his spirit despite the loss of his wife and his entire family to the Nazis, Englishman kept a promise he had made to a friend, and sought his friend’s children after the war. With the children’s mother, he made a new life in Canada, where he continued his resistance, tracking neo-Nazi cells and infiltrating their headquarters to destroy their files.
Until his death in August 2007, Englishman remained active, speaking out against racism and hatred in seminars for young people. His gripping story should be widely read and will be of interest to scholars of auto/biography, World War II history, and the Holocaust.

Michael Englishman was born in Amsterdam and immigrated to Canada after the war. He was an advisor at the Holocaust Centre of Toronto and lectured to students in elementary and high schools as well as at the Ontario Institute of Secondary Education. He received honour and recognition from the government of Canada for his outstanding work on educating the public on the Holocaust.

Michael Englishman's profile page

• Short-listed, ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award, Autobiography/Memoir Category

In an appendix to this fine memoir, Michael Englishman (Engelschman) lists the members of his immediate family who were murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.... He survived in part because he was an electrician: his technical skills made him valuable.... He also developed...a keen sense of self-preservation [which] he used for his own benefit, but also to save the lives of others—he was able to get a number of his fellow prisoners transferred to safer work details.... Englishman emigrated to Canada after the war, and continued his fight against fascism by doing educational work and by taking on neo-Nazi groups. With this powerful memoir, his work continues.

Canadian Military History, Book Review Supplement, Autumn 2009, 2010 April