Kalman & Leopold – Surviving Mengele’s Auschwitz is the harrowing firsthand account of how two boys survived humanity’s darkest hour. As narrated to Richard K. Lowy, Leopold’s son, this extraordinary memoir delivers the raw truth from inside the Nazi killing machine with the intensity of a masterful thriller.

The boys are spared from the gas chambers along with their twin sisters, only to be subjected to Mengele’s grim experiments and forced to serve the hospital camp’s sadistic guards. Leopold’s determination to protect Kalman—and his hope of reuniting with his sister—became his anchor in the face of unimaginable horrors, while Kalman, unsure he would survive, clung to their fragile bond as a lifeline against despair.

Together, Kalman and Leopold survived over six and a half months in the camp’s twisted ecosystem. Imprisoned in Mengele’s torture chamber, they experienced the hospital camp’s obscene daily violence firsthand; endured brutal beatings by the SS guards; and bore witness to the unspeakable, grotesque results of human experiments conducted in Mengele’s laboratories. Amidst the casual barbarity, their bond became their salvation—a brotherhood of wit and courage.

The boys are separated when liberation arrives in January 1945, but for the next 56 years Kalman searches for Lipa—his nickname for Leopold, the boy who had protected him. Decades later, their story stands as a compelling testament to the enduring power of memory, resilience, hope, and survival.