Journey of a Lifetime

 Today is November 11. Remembrance Day in Canada Veterans Day in the States. 75 years ago World War 2 ended and 102 years ago World War 1 ended.  

My father was born an Austrian Jew in Vienna. By the time he was 4 his mother had died and his father was struggling to support and make it on his own supporting a young son. My father was sent to Prague to live with his maternal grandparents. In 1939 with the Germans preparing to roll into Prague, my father was given safe passage at the age of 9 from Vienna to London. This was courtesy of the British Red Cross and a women who would later be his stepmother.  He was part of the Kindertransport. 

He said goodbye to his grandparents clutching a little suitcase in one hand and a stuffed teddy bear in the other as he boarded a train. His grandparents were rounded up by the Germans and perished in an internment camp.

He had to change trains in Germany one to safety the other not,  and then to the port city of Ostend in Belgium to board a ferry for England. The ferry captain didn’t want him to board the ferry even though he had the right documentation.  For fear he would be ward of the state. The fellow ferry passengers vouched for him and he boarded bound for London where he would meet up with his father and stepmother. The irony is that a day earlier his father was on the same ferry. 

My father grew up in rural England was an honours student at Alford school where he excelled at cricket and soccer. He did his stint in the military as a cook at an RAF base. He went on to Oxford and London School of Economics. After college he got a job while completing his doctorate with the British Foreign Service translating captured German war documents. 

He became a history professor teaching at Universities in Australia, England, United States and finally Canada. His area of expertise the era between the two World Wars. He was living history. The experience at age 9 shaped him throughout his life. He learnt how to fend and survive for himself at that early age. I remember auditing one of his history lectures and the students were riveted to his every word. 

In 1999 a reunion for all of Kindertransport children was held in London. My father was reluctant to attend and had to be coaxed into going. The events of this reunion would shape the last few years of my father’s life. He became more in touch with his Jewish heritage. He gave talks throughout the country on anti-semetism. On several occasions he invited me to attend. It was an evening well spent. 

September 11, 2001 was a heavy day for all. He was lecturing and ended up giving his class a lesson about Al-Quida and Bin Laden. That evening I went for a walk and ended up at his place where we talked for hours about the events of the day. The who, what and why. 

On November 16 would be his 91rst birthday. I miss my father every day and knowing he is one of my guardian angels shining down on me. Every year on his birthday and the day he died. I have a glass of single malt and toast him. He loved his scotch. Every November 11 I remember his journey of a lifetime.

I love and miss you Dad.