Blood from a Stone : The Quest for the Life Diamonds

by Svoray, Yaron; Hammer, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780765307958
• ISBN10: 0765307952
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-05-01
• Publisher: Forge Books

Summary

The subject of the most ambitious documentary ever produced by the History Channel and A&E hey were known as Life Diamonds. Bought by Jews in Eastern Europe, these rough diamonds of the best quality were meant to be a passport to safety and a new life when peril descended. Blood from a Stone tracks forty diamonds from the mines of South Africa through the diamond centers in Amsterdam and Ant-werp to the ghettoes of Eastern Europe. The diamonds pass through the Nazi death camps to Strasbourg, and finally to a foxhole in Alsace on the border between France and Germany. This is the story of those who desired the diamonds, those who died for them, and the two American soldiers who liberated them from the SS, only to bury them. It is the story of the curse believed to lay over these stones, bringing disaster to all who own them. Ultimately, it is the story of Yaron Svoray, who spent more than a decade searching for that foxhole, lost somewhere in a thousand square miles of forest. Blood from a Stone is a tale of fantastic treasure and unbearable tragedy. It is the subject of the most ambitious documentary ever produced by A&E and the History Channel, featuring extensive re-creations and authentic historical details, set to air in June 2003.

Author Biography

Yaron Svoray is an investigative journalist and the author of In Hitler's Shadow and Gods of Death.

Richard Hammer is a two-time winner of the Edgar Award and is the author of more than a dozen books.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. 9
Prologue	p. 13
The Journey of the Diamonds
First Words	p. 19
Origins	p. 21
Moving West	p. 27
Diamonds and Jews	p. 31
A New Discovery	p. 37
The Greatest Discovery	p. 39
The Camps	p. 45
KZ Majdanek	p. 47
KZ Auschwitz II-Birkenau	p. 55
KZ Vught	p. 61
Sam Nyer's Journey
A World at War	p. 81
Out of the Mountains	p. 91
Plunder	p. 95
Killing Fields	p. 107
A Hole in a Foxhole	p. 117
Obsession	p. 127
Yaron Svoray's Journey
A Chance for Riches	p. 133
Persuasion	p. 137
To Alsace	p. 141
Finding a Friend	p. 149
The Missing Dozen	p. 161
Playing the Media Card	p. 165
From the Air	p. 171
Raising Money	p. 181
Neo-Nazis	p. 189
A Hunting Expedition	p. 197
KZ Sachsenhausen: The Master Forger	p. 205
Escape	p. 211
Zuckerman	p. 215
A Changed Mission	p. 219
End of the Journey
Into the Forest	p. 227
Cursed Diamonds	p. 263
Rhodes Versus Barnato	p. 271
Coming Home	p. 275
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.