Escaping Hitler’s Final Solution

Chilling events

This important book records chilling accounts of mass murders, a cruel Nazi ban on births, forced attendance by young and old at a public hanging, the saving of a ruthless SS officer by a Jewish doctor and the transport of hundreds of ghetto children to their deaths at in the gas chambers at the Auschwitz Death Camp. Such events may horrify but the bravery shown by the family and their neighbors make it a compelling read — as intriguing as it is inspirational. While the narrative is fact-based, it reads like fiction, thus making it accessible to all generations of readers.

Harrowing story

This harrowing story takes place in a small Baltic country that even today wrestles with its collective conscience. It does so, not because so many of its population stood by and watched their Jewish neighbours perish but because too many among them played an active role in the annihilation of more than 200,000 Jews – 96 percent of the pre-war Jewish population.

Today’s Lithuanians are constantly reminded of the complicity of many of their forebears. Virtually every community is stained by the blood of murdered Jews, who lie in shallow mass graves on the edge of town identified only by simple memorial stones that chillingly reveal the numbers of Jews buried there.

Good neighbors

While Ruta’s Closet explores this dark side of recent history, it also celebrates the few who risked their lives to save their Jewish brethren. If not for those “good neighbors” this story would have had a different ending.

The book was written by veteran newspaper journalist Keith Morgan with the family’s eldest daughter Ruth Kron Sigal, sadly now deceased. It was first published in limited circulation in Canada in 2009, as a fundraiser for the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC), then in the UK a few years later. At its initial release, the late Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill’s official biographer and the most published Holocaust author, described it in the book’s Foreword as “one of the finest Holocaust memoirs”.

This revised third edition launched worldwide, in stores and online, on April 8, 2025. It’s offered for purchase in print, eBook formats and, for the first time, as an audiobook. The audiobook, read by author Keith Morgan, was produced with sound effects and a musical soundtrack to enhance the listener experience.

Holocaust awareness

The book’s widespread republication comes at a time when it is evident from media reports and surveys that the depth of Holocaust awareness is shallow among too many people — adults and youth alike.

For that reason, the book is offered as one element of a wider awareness and educational project. This will be driven by an interactive website currently under construction at rutascloset.com, set to go live at the same time as the book publication. Check out the current site now for news about the revamped site and the launch of the Ruta’s Closet Podcast, set to run for at least 25 weeks.

In addition, VHEC has produced a Talking Points book club guide and a Teacher’s Guide for use in high schools. Both will be downloadable free of charge.