Jack van der Geest Jack van der Geest ( September 17 , 1923 – March 5 , 2009 ) was one of only eight people ever to escape from Buchenwald concentration camp . He escaped on March 3 , 1943 . A copy of his own death certificate appears in his book , " Was God on Vacation ? " He was a member of the Dutch resistance movement and French resistance , afterwards he became a translator for the 101st Airborne during World War II . Biography . Jacobus Petrus Cornelis van der Geest , known as " Jack " , was born at Teijlerstraat 58 in The Hague , Netherlands . He was a member of both the Dutch and French Resistance . Van der Geest and his father , Jacobus van der Geest , were heavily involved in Dutch resistance activities , including hiding Jews . Van der Geest ' s father was president of Lensveld Nikola , a bread factory in The Hague . He had worked his way up from being an errand boy at the factory at age 14 to eventually become president . This was the only factory at the time that brought bread to the Dutch queen . Van der Geest ' s father ( b . November 7 , 1896 ) was sent to Kamp Vught and was killed there on February 19 , 1943 . It was previously thought that his father had died in Dachau , however , records recovered in spring 2009 indicate he was killed in Vught . In May 1940 , van der Geest and his friend , Fred de Koning , were in Rotterdam during the bombing of the De Bijenkorf Department Store . De Konig ' s father , an accountant , died in the bombing of Rotterdam . Van der Geest was also a close friend of a Jewish family in The Hague , the Cohens , who owned a clothing store there . Van der Geest and Sam Cohen were close friends . The Cohen family were sent to death camps and presumably died in the Holocaust . Van der Geest was educated at an Aviation Institute in Scheveningen . On his graduation date in 1942 , he decided not to go the graduation and found out later the Nazis had forcibly enlisted the graduating class for Hitler ' s war machine . In September 1942 , the Gestapo raided the van der Geest apartment in the Hague ( Soestdijksekade 43 - 3rd floor ) . They were betrayed by a neighbor . Jack and his parents were taken first to the Oranje Hotel . Van der Geest ' s mother , Anna ( née de Groot in 1894 ) was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp in September 1942 , where she was held for three and half months before being released . She survived the war and died in The Hague in 1961 . Van der Geest ' s sister , Wilhelmina ( Willie ) , was not home during the raid , so she was not arrested . She died in 1991 in The Hague . Van der Geest was sent to Buchenwald and was incarcerated there from September 15 , 1942 to March 3 , 1943 . His prisoner number was 512601 . He stayed in Block 46 and survived brutal medical experiments at the hands of Dr . Erwin Ding - Schuler . He escaped on March 3 , 1943 by pretending to be dead prior to the 5 : 00 a . m . roll call at Buchenwald . He was thrown into a pile of bodies approximately 50 yards long and four feet high . He lay there for 11 hours , and then , weighing about 80 pounds , killed an SS Guard , put on his uniform and rode a truck out of camp . He then traveled to Neufchâteau , France where , with the assistance of Maquis members Dr . Marvell , a dentist , and his wife Cherie , he became a member of the French Resistance . Van der Geest later became attached to the 101st Airborne Division as an interpreter . He became a U . S . citizen in 1953 and later joined the U . S . Air Force . In 1995 , he wrote a book titled " Was God on Vacation ? " . The third edition of the book , published in 2002 , includes a copy of his Buchenwald Death Certificate . He lived in Rapid City , South Dakota for more than 55 years . He was a member of the USA 101st Airborne association ( # 3272 ) . September 17 , 2008 , van der Geest ' s 85th birthday , was commemorated by a tribute made in the U . S . Senate by Senator John Thune . March 3 , 2009 , was Jack van der Geest Day in Rapid City and the State of South Dakota in celebration of the 66th anniversary of his escape . He died unexpectedly two days later at Rapid City Regional Hospital of natural causes . He was declared dead by the hospital at 4 : 59 am . He is buried in Calvary Cemetery on Sheridan Lake Road in Rapid City , South Dakota . After his death , the South Dakota State Senate issued a resolution honoring Jack van der Geest .