El M�dico de Himmler: El Hombre Que Salv� a Miles de Personas del Holocausto

La verdadera historia de la lista de Kersten, un relato desconocido de terror, fanatismo, generosidad y hero?smo.

Hasta las figuras m?s temibles de la historia tienen sus debilidades, y la de Heinrich Himmler fue sin duda su m?dico, cuyas manos milagrosas eran las ?nicas capaces de aliviar sus insoportables calambres abdominales. Felix Kersten, nacido en Estonia y formado por un maestro tibetano en Finlandia, era uno de los fisioterapeutas m?s prestigiosos de los a?os treinta, con una agenda internacional de pacientes y un buen patrimonio. En 1939, recibi? la petici?n de atender a Himmler y, tras vencer sus dudas iniciales, se convirti? en su m?dico personal o, en palabras del Reichsf?hrer, en su «Buda m?gico . En lugar de recibir honorarios, pidi? que le remuneraran mediante la liberaci?n de jud?os y combatientes de la resistencia.

Todos conocemos a Oskar Schindler, que salv? a mil jud?os durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Pero sabemos mucho menos de la haza?a de Kersten y, sin embargo, el Congreso Jud?o Mundial estableci? en 1947 que este hombre hab?a salvado en Alemania a «unos cien mil prisioneros de distintas nacionalidades, entre ellos sesenta mil jud?os, arriesgando su vida , una cifra sin duda subestimada.

Para seguirle los pasos a Kersten, Fran?ois Kersaudy, gran especialista en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, se ha sumergido en diarios, notas y declaraciones en seis lenguas de los principales protagonistas, y emplea todo este material para narrar de un modo admirable esta trama sin un ?pice de ficci?n.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

The true story of Kersten's list, an unknown tale of terror, fanaticism, generosity, and heroism.

Even the most terrifying personalities in history have weaknesses, and Heinrich Himmler's was, surely, his personal physician, whose miraculous hands were the only capable of easing his unbearable abdominal cramps. Felix Kersten was born in Estonia and learned under the tutelage of a Tibetan master in Finland. He was one of the most prestigious physical therapists of the nineteen-thirties, with an international clientele and a sizeable estate. In 1939, he received a request to treat Himmler, and after overcoming his initial hesitation, became his personal physician, or in the words of the Reichsf?hrer himself, his "magical Buda". Instead of being given a fee, he asked to be paid by releasing jews and resistance fighters.

We all know Oskar Schindler, who saved a thousand jews during World War II. But we know much less about Kersten's deeds. And yet, the World Jewish Congress stated in 1947 that, back in Germany, this man saved "about one hundred thousand prisoners of different nationalities--sixty thousand jews among them--by risking his own life." No doubt, an underestimated figure.

To follow Kersten's path, Fran?ois Kersaudy, one of the leading experts in World War II, plunged into diaries, notes, and statements of the main protagonists, in six different languages, using all this material to admirably recount a storyline that doesn't have a trace of fiction.