Two Wheels to Freedom: The Story of a Young Jew, Wartime Resistance, and a Daring Escape

"A rarity in Holocaust literature, an uplifting, inspiring story of a young man taking his fate into his own hands."

Arthur Magida knows how to spin a good story. Holocaust tales are usually emotionally difficult, dark, and tragic. There is plenty of horror in what Cioma Schonhaus faced as a young teen in Berlin under the Nazis, but there's also an unusual lightness. As Magida notes himself in the preface:

"Cioma's exuberance doesn't correspond to the usual story of Jews—or of anyone—in Europe during World War II. His joys and pleasures, sorrows and sadness, were shaped by knowing what we can do when no one expects we can do anything. Through persistence, determination, and a spunky delight in defying the odds, Cioma's spirit was free and expansive: a light on a continent in which most of the lights had gone out."

The first part of the book, most of its pages, are devoted to how Cioma goes underground, hiding sometimes in plain sight from the Nazis, while others around him are loaded onto the notorious transports to death camps in Poland. His parents, clinging to the hope that the Germans could not really be murdering all Jews, disappear in just this way. Magida provides a detailed sense of how daily life for German Jews got smaller and smaller, from losing their homes to not being allowed on public transit to only being able to sit on park benches specially allocated to Jews. It's a granular picture, as detail after detail collides with the sense of numb denial many Jews had about the perils they faced.

Through it all, Cioma manages to survive, thanks in large part to his Aryan looks. He was able to pass as a good German as long as he acted like one, as he did whenever he went to a popular bar or restaurant:

"All that the generals, admirals, and Nazis in the room saw was a self-assured young man, one who was sure that he belonged in Germany. . . . Cioma was putting on a good show. What the rest of the bar didn't see was that behind his confident facade, he was wobbly and shaky and just wanted to get the hell out of the joint."

Cioma strives to stay in school, to train as artist, until even the segregated schools are closed. Fortunately his training as a graphic artist turns out to be exactly what he needs to become one of the best forgers in the city. Cioma wrote his own biography, The Forger, about his experience creating fake documents for escaping Jews. Magida draws heavily on the memoir, along with interviews he had with the aging Cioma, to describe Cioma's years working for the Jewish underground in Berlin.

"Over the course of his forging career, Cioma faked as many as two hundred IDs. His handwriting ended up on documents that were used all over Berlin and beyond."

Naturally, Cioma forged his own identity papers, which was a good thing since he kept losing them. Ultimately his carelessness leads the Nazis to his identity—at least to what he looked like, even if they had no idea what name he was using. In September 1943, Cioma decides to flee the Reich. He picks a route he is sure the Nazis won't suspect—riding a bicycle through Germany hundreds of miles into Switzerland.

The last section of the book describes the daring bravado that sustains Cioma as he stays in hotels, eats in restaurants, rides on public thoroughfares, and hands over his ID to all who ask for it. It's an impressive feat, and Magida does justice to Cioma's achievement.

Magida has clearly done his homework, with the text amply footnoted. The only thing missing is a bibliography, which would help the reader understand all of Magida's sources. That's a minor fault in such a well-written story, one future editions could correct.

The book is a rarity in Holocaust literature, an uplifting, inspiring story of a young man taking his fate into his own hands, a testament to the "pure and audacious expression of Cioma's nature." It's a much needed corrective to the image of Jews patiently being led to the slaughter. And a grand tale of adventure while still being grounded in careful historical detail with a vivid cast of characters.