The German army had successfully invaded Poland. Now, just a few days after the Nazi victory, a young yeshivah student silently handed the keys of the beautiful Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin building - built with so much toil and devotion by Rav Meir Shapiro - to the Gestapo.

And thus began the riveting journey of a group of young yeshivah students, a journey that would take them through thousands of miles - and almost endless miracles of survival.

In these pages we meet an incredible group of young men, bitterly missing their homes and families and clinging to the only truth in a world gone mad: Torah learning.

With many primary sources and rare and dramatic photographs, From Lublin to Shanghai is an important addition to Holocaust-era scholarship. And with its deeply moving account of mesirus nefesh for Torah, it is also a book that will inspire and elevate us.