El Médico de Himmler: El Hombre Que Salvó a Miles de Personas del Holocausto / H Immlers Physician

Hasta las figuras m嫳 temibles de la historia tienen sus debilidades, y la de Heinrich Himmler fue sin duda su m嶮ico, cuyas manos milagrosas eran las icas 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嫳 prestigiosos de los a隳s treinta, con una agenda internacional de pacientes y un buen patrimonio. En 1939, recibi?la petici鏮 de atender a Himmler y, tras vencer sus dudas iniciales, se convirti?en su m嶮ico personal o, en palabras del Reichsfrer, en su «Buda m墔ico . En lugar de recibir honorarios, pidi?que le remuneraran mediante la liberaci鏮 de jud甐s y combatientes de la resistencia.

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

Para seguirle los pasos a Kersten, Fran蔞is 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 嫚ice de ficci鏮.

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rer 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蔞is 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.