THE ACCUSED

by Alexander Weissberg- ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 28, 1951

The sprawling memoir of an ex-Communist, an Austrian who was one of those accused and convicted during the great purges. Weissberg-Cybalski was an engineer in an experimental physics station in the Ukraine during the '30's. Austrian- and suspect- when the Terror began first he, then his wife, were arrested. Given full treatment in various prisons, he reached a high point in his story when he records the methods used to produce confessions. He was subjected to seven days and nights of questioning before he signed, then he recovered sufficient stamina to retract, was put in the ""conveyor"" for four more days and nights, signed again, and again retracted. When his torturers realized that he would never be wholly subdued, he was shipped to another prison where he stayed until he was turned over to the Gestapo under the Stalin-Hitler pact of 1939. He escaped from a German prison in Poland and joined the Underground for the duration of the war...Arthur Koestler claims this as one of the best and most authentic pictures we've had, in his preface, and this reader found it far superior to the majority of books of this genre -- above par in presentation.

Pub Date: Dec. 28, 1951

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1951

Categories: NONFICTION