The Boy Who Vanished: A True Story of Surviving the Holocaust
Ernest Fontheim
Nov 2026 · Sold by Little, Brown
Ebook
288
Pages
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infoThis book will become available on November 17, 2026. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
The incredible true account of a young Jewish student who, in a desperate gambit to escape the Nazis, went underground in his hometown of Berlin, posing as an Aryan with another young escapee—a harrowing ordeal that he would miraculously escape not only with his life, but also with a love that would last a lifetime.
In 1933, the year that Hitler seized power in Germany, Ernest Fontheim was a bookish and playful 11-year-old, leading a charmed existence in Berlin with his assimilated upper-class Jewish family. In less than a decade, the Fontheims’ fortunes irrevocably changed: By 1941, Ernest’s father had been stripped of his law license, their luxurious apartment had been usurped by a Nazi official, and Ernest, now 19, had been forced into labor at the Siemens munitions factory. First his girlfriend, then his best friend, and then his entire immediate family were “deported to the East,” sent to fates unknown.
Finally, in desperation, Ernest approached his friend at Siemens, the charming Margot Hass, with a plan: along with her parents, they would go underground, posing as an Aryan family in order to avoid the roundups. Ernest and the Hasses soon joined the ranks of the roughly 6,500 Berlin Jews who went into hiding after deportations to the camps began. Most of the invisibles were caught within the first few weeks or months. But incredibly, this little group—joined by fate and by choice—would survive not only the terror of the war but also the chaos of its aftermath, when Ernest found himself facing death on numerous occasions at the hands of their Soviet liberators.
An instant classic, The Boy Who Vanished is the stunning tale of a young man’s struggle to hold onto his humanity in a country gone mad—and his unlikely triumph over the forces of darkness.
In 1933, the year that Hitler seized power in Germany, Ernest Fontheim was a bookish and playful 11-year-old, leading a charmed existence in Berlin with his assimilated upper-class Jewish family. In less than a decade, the Fontheims’ fortunes irrevocably changed: By 1941, Ernest’s father had been stripped of his law license, their luxurious apartment had been usurped by a Nazi official, and Ernest, now 19, had been forced into labor at the Siemens munitions factory. First his girlfriend, then his best friend, and then his entire immediate family were “deported to the East,” sent to fates unknown.
Finally, in desperation, Ernest approached his friend at Siemens, the charming Margot Hass, with a plan: along with her parents, they would go underground, posing as an Aryan family in order to avoid the roundups. Ernest and the Hasses soon joined the ranks of the roughly 6,500 Berlin Jews who went into hiding after deportations to the camps began. Most of the invisibles were caught within the first few weeks or months. But incredibly, this little group—joined by fate and by choice—would survive not only the terror of the war but also the chaos of its aftermath, when Ernest found himself facing death on numerous occasions at the hands of their Soviet liberators.
An instant classic, The Boy Who Vanished is the stunning tale of a young man’s struggle to hold onto his humanity in a country gone mad—and his unlikely triumph over the forces of darkness.
The incredible true account of a young Jewish student who, in a desperate gambit to escape the Nazis, went underground in his hometown of Berlin, posing as an Aryan with another young escapee—a harrowing ordeal that he would miraculously escape not only with his life, but also with a love that wo...
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About the author
Ernest Fontheim was a prominent professor of atmospheric physics at the University of Michigan from 1960-1991. Born in Berlin, he survived the Holocaust, although his parents, Georg and Charlotte, as well as his younger sister, Eva, were murdered in Auschwitz. He immigrated to America in 1947. In 1957, he received a Ph.D. in physics from Lehigh University. He passed away in 2019, leaving behind two children and three grandchildren.
Fred Rosenbaum has published eight books, including Cosmopolitans (UC Press), and has co-authored four memoirs of Holocaust survivors, including Taking Risks (with Joseph Pell), Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year; and the best-selling Out on a Ledge (with Eva Libitzky), a finalist for the Benjamin Franklin Award of the Independent Publishers Association. He is the Founding Director Emeritus of Lehrhaus Judaica (now New Lehrhaus), one of North America’s premier schools for adult Jewish education, and has taught at San Francisco State University and the Berkeley-based Graduate Theological Union. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Jordan Fontheim, Ernest’s grandson, is a senior consultant in the healthcare industry and an active member of the Jewish community of Washington, DC. Deeply involved in Jewish culture throughout his life, he grew up hearing his family’s survival story and joined the project to carry his grandfather’s legacy into print for the next generation. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Rochester and both an M.B.A. and an M.H.A. from Tulane University. He currently resides in Washington, DC with his partner.
Fred Rosenbaum has published eight books, including Cosmopolitans (UC Press), and has co-authored four memoirs of Holocaust survivors, including Taking Risks (with Joseph Pell), Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year; and the best-selling Out on a Ledge (with Eva Libitzky), a finalist for the Benjamin Franklin Award of the Independent Publishers Association. He is the Founding Director Emeritus of Lehrhaus Judaica (now New Lehrhaus), one of North America’s premier schools for adult Jewish education, and has taught at San Francisco State University and the Berkeley-based Graduate Theological Union. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Jordan Fontheim, Ernest’s grandson, is a senior consultant in the healthcare industry and an active member of the Jewish community of Washington, DC. Deeply involved in Jewish culture throughout his life, he grew up hearing his family’s survival story and joined the project to carry his grandfather’s legacy into print for the next generation. He holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Rochester and both an M.B.A. and an M.H.A. from Tulane University. He currently resides in Washington, DC with his partner.
Ernest Fontheim was a prominent professor of atmospheric physics at the University of Michigan from 1960-1991. Born in Berlin, he survived the Holocaust, although his parents, Georg and Charlotte, as well as his younger sister, Eva, were murdered in Auschwitz. He immigrated to America in 1947. In...
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