Test of Courage: The Michel Thomas Story

by Christopher Robbins

Book Overview

Michel Thomas survived starvation in French concentration and slave labor camps and endured torture as a fighter with the French Resistance. He saw combat with the U.S. Army and after the war hunted... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743202635
• ISBN13: 9780743202633
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Grains of salt indeed

This new edition of Michel Thomas's biography contains a new final chapter, which describes Thomas's battle in the final years of his life to counter the false and misleading implications of a 2001 profile in the LA Times by its former humor columnist Roy Rivenburg. Rivenburg ignored a raft of evidence Thomas showed him, as well as extensive documentation in the book, and portrayed Thomas as a fraud who fabricated or exaggerated his WWII experiences. By cherry-picking minor contradictions, while ignoring overwhelming evidence that undercut his `angle', Rivenburg implied that Thomas did not serve as a CIC Agent, was not a Dachau liberator, played no role in the discovery of the Nazi Party's worldwide membership card files in May 1945, and lied about his encounter with Klaus Barbie. All of these implications are false. The investigation undertaken for Thomas's defamation suit against Rivenburg and the LA Times resulted in Thomas's WWII comrades coming forward, unanimously supporting his "claims" and providing documentation to the US Army which led to Thomas receiving the Silver Star for his bravery fighting with US troops in France in 1944. Senators Bob Dole and John Warner pinned the medal on Thomas at the new WWII Memorial in Washington during the week of its dedication in 2004. The Ambassador of France also attended, and saluted Thomas for his bravery fighting with the French Resistance. Here are some of the facts Rivenburg ignored, and continues to ignore more than six years after his profile was published: Michel Thomas served as a CIC Agent from 1945-47, as attested to by every surviving member of his CIC unit, all of whom gave sworn declarations in his defamation case against the LA Times. Agent Walter Wimer, for example, stated that Thomas "was sent out on missions by our commanding officers in the same capacity and with the same duties and powers as the other Agents of our unit." Agent Theodore "Ted" Kraus stated, "I worked closely with Thomas within the CIC for approximately 15 months from 1945 to 1947. Thomas operated as a full-fledged CIC Special Agent, not as a civilian employee, translator or investigator. " Kraus was interviewed by Rivenburg in 2001, but was never mentioned in the profile. Michel Thomas was at the liberation of Dachau on April 29, 1945. He took photos there - and kept the negatives -- that were verified by the curator of the Dachau Memorial museum. Thomas's presence at the liberation was later verified by the very sources Rivenburg quoted in his article to discredit Thomas. After reviewing this evidence and interviewing Thomas, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum honored Thomas before a large crowd at their "Salute to Liberators" event in May 2004. Thomas's role in the discovery of the Nazi Party's membership card files was confirmed by the leading expert on captured German war documents from the US National Archives, Robert Wolfe. In 2003, Wolfe wrote a monograph detailing this evidence and conclud

Extraordinary story of an extraordinary life

Hats off to Chris Robbins for telling the story of this man's extraordinary life.The story of Michel Thomas life, in particular his astonishing -- but thoroughly documented -- WWII experiences, is one of the last great untold stories from that era. Amazingly, Thomas lives today, still productive, still fighting, in New York, with his revolutionary language-teaching method finally having been discovered by the world, thanks to his putting it on tapes and CDs just a few years ago. They have become best-sellers in the UK, topping all the competition.And while Robbins weaves a gripping tale in this book, few realize that Thomas's most historic achievement is one that is given only passing mention in this biography. For it was Thomas who rescued the Nazi Party's worldwide membership card files from destruction by the SS at the end of the war. The ten million members of the NSDAP would have been able to hide their affiliation with the most notorious political movement in history, but for the determined efforts of Michel Thomas. And the defendants at the Nuremberg war crimes trials would not have been presented with such incontrovertible evidence of their crimes, were it not for Thomas's efforts in rescuing and preserving these crucial records.The NSDAP Master File became the heart of the collections of the Berlin Document Center, an enormous archive kept under US Military Police guard on the leafy street of suburban Wasserkafersteig in Berlin until 1994, when the US State Department turned the collection over the German Bundesarchiv.Robert Wolfe, the pre-eminent expert in the world on captured German war documents, has publicly attested to the fact that Thomas was the original rescuer of these crucial files.Thomas also escaped Klaus Barbie -- the "Butcher of Lyon" -- in 1942 and testified against Barbie more than 40 years later.His work in the French Resistance and US Counter Intelligence Corps won him praise in the Resistance and a nomination for a Silver Star by the US Army .Thomas' biography has been re-issued in 2003 by Hodder & Stoughton, with a new final chapter about his battle against the LA Times. It is a story of one man's relentless will to overcome overwhelming odds in a fight against ignorance and media arrogance in the 21st century, having done the same in the 20th century fighting the evils of genocidal Nazism.In an era that celebrates clever expedience over commitment to basic convictions, Thomas's life story is an enduring one of inspiring courage and indomitable will.

GRIPPING AND MOVING PAGE TURNER

This is a well-documented, gripping history that reads like a novel. In addition to exposing Vichy's complicity with the Germans during the occupation and the disgraceful beginnings of the cold war, Robbins' meticulously researched biography of Michel Thomas, whose existence during the Holocaust is distinguished by ingenious acts of courage, takes you inside the life of a singuarly brave man. This is not just another diary of surivival. In clear, unadorned prose Robbins has drawn the anatomy of triumph. In addition to being a well-written, intelligent book, Test of Courage is a deeply moving page turner

A REMARKABLE BOOK ABOUT A REMARKABLE PERSON

Another brilliant book on a fascinating subject from Robbins. Once again, Christopher Robbins has produced an outstanding volume detailing a hitherto unknown subject. Much of the information presented in this book is available nowhere else. Michel Thomas' biography is a must-read for anyone interested in the triumph of humanity over the seemingly overwhelming forces of evil. As for the review of this book by Mr. Holm, I doubt he so much as glanced at this fine work... perhaps he should stick to writing reviews of computer games and computer gaming accessories, as he seems to be a prolific reviewer of that genre, and leave serious historical and biographical works to others more suited to the task.

Test of Courage a winner

Absolutely loved it! I read any biography I can get my hands on and this definitely did not disappoint. Robbin's Test of Courage kept me riveted from page one and reads more like a novel than a biography. Robbins does not get mired in historical minutiae endemic to many bios.