Swimmer of Auschwitz
Product details
- ISBN 9781800962965
- Weight: 190g
- Dimensions: 196 x 126mm
- Publication Date: 14 Aug 2025
- Publisher: Octopus Publishing Group
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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'Propulsive... Readers will be hooked' -Publishers Weekly
BASED ON THE EXTRAORDINARY TRUE STORY OF ALFRED NAKACHE, SUBJECT OF THE *OSCAR NOMINATED* SHORT FILM PAPILLON
Alfred Nakache, a Jewish child from Constantine, never imagined that he would one day swim for France at the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936, nor than he would achieve a world record, as he did in 1941. As a child he was petrified of the water and yet, somehow, through sheer willpower and determination, he rose to become one of the very best swimmers in the world. That was until 1943, when he was banned from the pool - and in the same year, deported and sent to Auschwitz.
Not knowing if he would ever see his wife and daughter again, Alfred battled on, through the humiliation and the pain, even defying the guards by swimming in the water reserves of Auschwitz. Somehow - miraculously - he survived, swimming every day until the end of his life.
The Swimmer of Auschwitz is the unique, true story of a forgotten hero, told with remarkable power and simplicity.
Alfred Nakache (1915-1983) was a Jewish French swimmer and water polo player. A member of the French team for the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympic Games, he also swam in the first post-war Summer Olympics in London in 1948. He is one of only two Jewish athletes to have competed in the Olympics after surviving the Holocaust.
Editor and writer, Renaud Leblond is the author of several books of history and investigation, including "Main basse sur le génome" (Anne Carrière, 2008), "Le Pouvoir des sectes" (Le Chêne, 2009) and "le Journal de Jules Rimet" (First Éditions, 2014). Passionate about sports, he founded the Jules Rimet Sports Literature Prize in 2012.
