My deepest gratitude and love to my partner in everything, Chris Barton, for his support, intelligence and unflinching honesty. He has walked, laughed and cried with me every step of the way. Without him, nothing is possible. Finally, our children and their partners—Ben and Carolyn Alpers, Ben Barton, Monika Barton and Sean Fleet—have put up with a lot and responded by offering more love, support and inspiration that I could ever have hoped for. They and our grandchildren Sam, Ruby and Ari are the future my father never stopped trying to believe in.
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
Cover: Ben Wichtel in Sweden sometime between February 6, 1946 and October 6, 1947: Wichtel Family Collection
PART I
12Family group, Vancouver: Wichtel Family Collection
17Ben and Diana Wichtel and friend, Vancouver: Wichtel Family Collection
19Rozalia Wichtel, Warsaw: Wichtel Family Collection
20Members of Wichtel and Jonisz families: Linda Wichtel Collection
30Scantlebury family group, Auckland: Wichtel Family Collection
32Ben and Rosalind Wichtel in backyard, Vancouver: Wichtel Family Collection
34Annie Murray and family (four generations), Auckland: Wichtel Family Collection
36Family Christmas, Vancouver: Wichtel Family Collection
48Bar mitzvah family group, New York: Jerry Wichtel Collection
50Jerry Wichtel and admirers at bar mitzvah, New York: Jerry Wichtel Collection
51Bar mitzvah dinner, New York: Jerry Wichtel Collection
PART II
86Stew Downey, Patricia Wichtel and Jeffrey Wichtel, Nikko, Japan: Wichtel Family Collection
117Wedding of Sy and Mollie Wichtel: Linda Wichtel Collection
122Sabina and Estelle Lubell, place unknown: Lubell Family Collection
124Wedding of Sy and Lillian Wichtel: Linda Wichtel Collection
126Albert and Sabina Lubell, New York: Lubell Family Collection
128Yankel and Brandla Jonisz, probably Warsaw: Lubell Family Collection
132Jewish partisans, Janów, Poland, 1944: Yad Vashem Photo Archive, Jerusalem. 1349/11
135Wedding of Joe and Barbara Lubell, New York: Lubell Family Collection
PART III
152Umschlagplatz, the holding area next to the railway station in Warsaw from which more than 300,000 Jews were sent to their deaths in the Treblinka camp from 1942-43: Image in Public Domain
153Women and children being deported to Treblinka from the Siedlice ghetto, 90 miles from Warsaw. Photography courtesy Chris Webb Photo Archive
154Map of Poland, 1942/3: Geographx
156Monument in the former Treblinka death camp (c) Adrian Grycuk. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Poland
158Próżna Street, Warsaw, with art exhibition, 2010: Chris Barton photograph
164Jews being marched to Umschlagplatz after Warsaw Ghetto uprising: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, #18192
175Ben Wichtel and Paul Jonisz, c. 1946/47: Wichtel Family Collection
180Brockville Psychiatric Hospital: Chris Barton photograph
204Ben Wichtel’s grave, Brockville, 2015: Chris Barton photograph
232Jewish Cemetery, Warsaw, 2015: Chris Barton photograph
233Gravestone of Chaim Dov Wichtel and Jacob Joseph Wichtel, Jewish Cemetery: Chris Barton photograph
236Former Jonisz apartment in Warsaw, 2015: Chris Barton photograph
243Grazyna Frankowska, Żelechów, 2015: Chris Barton photograph
247Memorial stone at bunker, Okrzei, Chris Barton photograph
PART IV
259Wichtel family dedicate headstone for Ben Wichtel, 2016: Blair Ellis photograph
261Headstone for Ben Wichtel, 2016: Wichtel Family Collection
263Joe Lubell, Allentown: Lubell Family Collection
265Cattle wagon used to transport Jews to death camps, Yad Vashem, Israel: Chris Barton photograph
INDEX
Page numbers in bold refer to illustrations.
A
Footbridge of Memory, A (Tomasz Lec) 235
Adorno, Theodor 163
Adventures of Hutu and Kawa, The (Acres) 33
After Such Knowledge (Hoffman) 256
Alpers, Ben 111, 113
Alpers, Philip 95–99
And I Still See Their Faces (exhibition) 158
Anielewicz, Mordecai 227
anti-Semitism & anti-Zionism 25, 103–6, 129, 142, 144–46, 226, 244
see also Holocaust
Arendt, Hannah 107
Armia Krajowa (Polish resistance) 142
Atlantic, The 109
Auckland 65, 67–81, 93–94, 99–101, 113
Auckland Second Generation Group 104
Auschwitz (van Pelt & Dwork) 148–49
Auschwitz-Birkenau 147–50, 163
Austerlitz (Sebald) 256–57
Awakenings (Sacks) 189
B
Bad Arolsen 165, 224
Barton, Ben 111–12, 113
Barton, Chris 100–101, 103, 108, 143–44, 147, 149, 259
Barton, Monika 103, 105–6, 111–12, 121, 133, 234, 259, 259–60
BBC History Magazine 106
Beaglehole, Ann 109
Beckett, Samuel 97
Bełżec 155
Berlin 161–65
Beveridge family 198
Birkenau see Auschwitz-Birkenau
Biss Thew Wine and Spirits 73, 83
Boder, David 182
Braunias, Steve 105
Bretholz, Leo 241
Brett, Lily 150
Brock, Isaac 205
Brockville (Ontario) 193–95, 205, 253–55
Brockville Psychiatric Hospital 179–85, 180, 187–91, 203–5
Bronstein, Mr 182–83
Brunton, Alan 97
Brzezinski, Matthew 266–67
C
Cambridge 143–44
CENTOS (school in Warsaw Ghetto) 169
Checkpoint Charlie (Berlin) 162
Corbyn, Jeremy 109
Crawford, Miss 182–85, 187
Cup of Tears, A (Lewin) 130–31
Czerniaków, Adam 130, 131, 170
D
Dawkins, Richard 111
De Nave, Caterina 97
Demnig, Gunter 161
Department of Manpower and Immigration (Canada) 184
Devonport (Auckland) 99–101, 113
Didion, Joan 118
Domański Restaurant 172
Dominion Post, The 111
Downey, Stewart (Stew) 73, 77, 83–86, 86, 93, 116, 254
Drozd, Anna Przybyszewska 223–26
Duszniak, Krystyna 223–24, 240
Dwór Sienkiewicz 245
Dwork, Debórah 148–49
E
Eichmann, Adolf 21, 107, 181
Einsatzgruppen (Nazi killing units) 129, 157, 170
Eisenman, Peter 161–62
Eisenstein, Bernice 21
Ellis, Blair 255, 259
Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute 222–23
Embrun (Ontario) 179, 186, 195–96, 202–3
Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities, Poland (Pinkas Hakehillot Polin) 225
English Textiles (store, Vancouver) 11, 31–32, 37
Erdos, Helen 104
Evans, Richard 110
Examined Life, The (Grosz) 191
Exodus (Uris) 19–20
F
Fear (Gross) 146–47
Filler, Deb & Saul 163
Fitzgerald, F. Scott 75
Fixer, The (Malamud) 112
Fleet, Sean 234, 259
Frankowska, Grażyna 242–44, 243
Fransecky, Tanja von 241
Fugitives of the Forest (Levine) 249
G
Gabbai, Dario 133
Gabrielle Auto Company, Toronto 179–80
Gardner family 198–99
Garwolin County (Poland) 224
Gastman, Bernard 127, 264–65
Gastman, Dina 127
Gebert, Konstanty 145
Goldberg, Zosia 131
Good, Edwin Dudley 109
Gordon, Mary 205
Great Gatsby, The (Fitzgerald) 75
Greenberg, Alan 201
Greenberg, Dr 15, 53
Greenberg, Harry & Rose 15, 22, 114–15, 117–18
Gripsholm (ship) 218
Gröning, Oskar 108
Gross, Jan T. 146–47
Grosz, Stephen 191
Gurs (internment camp) 163
H
Hartwell, Anne 26, 56, 61–62
correspondence 67, 69, 73, 76, 79, 81
Hayward, Joel 110–11
Hebrew Benevolent Society 182
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society 128–29, 216
Herszenborn, Felipe 264–65
Herszenborn, Israel 264
Herszenborn, Nir 264
HICEM (Jewish aid organisation) 129
Himmler, Heinrich 157
History of Love, A (Krauss) 10
Höcke, Björn 162
Hoffman, Eva 256–57
Hoffman, Roald 107–8
Holocaust, The (Shoah) 18–21, 23, 58, 88–89, 97, 128–37, 142, 161–66 see also anti-Semitism; individual places
children of survivors 21, 111–12, 120–21, 159, 256–57
denial 108–11
humour 163–64
survivors 106–8, 126, 132–38, 176, 181–83, 191–92, 210–12, 224
Holocaust, The (Rees) 133
Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington 13, 155, 167, 233, 240
I
I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors (Eisenstein) 21
If This is a Man (Levi) 148
IG Farben 111
Iglicki, Wacław 247–48
International Tracing Service (Germany) 165, 224
Inwentarz family 228–30
Irving, David 110
Isaac’s Army (Brzezinski) 266–67
Izett, Andrew Pattle 39–40
Izett, James & Sarah 39
J
Janish see Jonisz, Pawel
Janiszewski see Jonisz, Pawel
Japan 85–86, 91–93, 209
Jedwabne 146
Jewish Escapes from Deportation Trains 241
Jewish Genealogical Society 201
Jewish Immigrant Aid Society 201, 216
Jewish Museum, Old Synagogue, Kazimierz 147
Joest, Neinrich 233–34
Jonisz, Barbara (Bronisława, Bronka) see Jonisz, Pawel
Jonisz, Berl (Bernard) 127–28, 143
Jonisz, Chaim Jakob (Yankel) & Brandla 125, 128, 131, 167–69, 233
Jonisz, Dora (Gastman) & Bernard Gastman 127, 136, 264–65
Jonisz, Faiga (Pel) 128, 129–31
Jonisz, Herszel & Maria 127
Jonisz, Paul (Pawel)
& Barbara (Bronisława, Bronka) 168–71, 2
& Lillian 1, 49, 51, 135, 136–37, 211
wartime 128, 148, 167–76 175, 216–19, 223, 225
Jonisz, Rozalia (Wichtel) 9, 18, 19, 49, 53, 94, 127, 225–26
Jonsiz, Sabina (Lubell) see Lubell, Sabina
Jonisz, Salomon & Dina 127
Jonisz, Szymon 128
Jost, Udo 166
K
Kazimierz 144–47
Kennedy, John & Jackie 25–26
Kerr, Deborah 33
Kielce 109, 146
King and I, The (Walter Lang) 33
Knowles, Deborah 104–5
Kolbe, Father 148
Korczak, Janusz 234–35
Kraków 144, 147, 226
Kraków Post 146
Krauss, Nicole 10
L
Lahdelma, Ilmari 227
Lanzmann, Claude 155, 157
Lapalme Nursing Home 179, 186, 195–96, 202–3
Lasting Memory Foundation, The 246, 247, 248
Latvians 156
Lawrence, D.H. 42–43
L-Dopa (drug) 189–90
Lec, Tomasz 235
Leszczyński, Dr 171
Levi, Primo 148, 150
Levine, Allan 249
Lewin, Abraham 130–31, 151–52
Lichtenstein, Israel 223
Lisowski, Witold (Witek) 228–31
Listener see New Zealand Listener
Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million, The (Mendelsohn) 4, 121, 266
Lubell, Estelle (Singer) 121–22, 122, 125, 218
Lubell, Joe
& Barbara 52, 135, 262–64, 263, 265–66
family history 1, 121–27, 131–38, 143, 148, 158, 166
Lubell, Sabina & Albert 121–25, 122, 126, 129, 218
Ludwisin Ghetto 228
M
Macdonald, Finlay 105
Mahlamäki, Rainer 227
Makara Cemetery 110
Małkinia 241
Malamud, Bernard 112
Malczewski, Krzysztof 228–35, 240, 242–46, 248–50
Maori Lore (Izett) 39
Maus (Spiegelman) 81, 163, 176
Mein Kampf (Hitler) 68
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Berlin) 161–62
Mendelsohn, Daniel 4, 121, 266
Mickey Mouse in Gurs (Rosenthal) 163
Miła Street (Warsaw) 130–131
Milford (Auckland) 65, 67–81
Milton, Keith 198
Mitchell family 200
Mixed Blessings (Deborah Knowles, ed.) 104
Modernize Tailors (Vancouver) 197
Moll, Otto 133
Montreal 4, 78, 193, 201–2, 207
Murray, Annie 34
Murray, Patricia Valentina Pattle see Scantlebury, Patricia Valentina
Museum of an Extinct Race 150
N
Nash, Walter 109
National Press Club 110
New York 120–21, 133–34, 219–20
New Yorker, The 107
New Zealand Herald, The 58, 108–10
New Zealand Jewish Council 110
New Zealand Listener 104, 105, 119, 191
Nizinsky, Zbigniew 248–49
Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto 169, 223
O
Oakland Cemetery 194, 203
Okrzei (Poland) 244–48
Olshak, Samuel 225, 240
On the Beach (Shute) 76
Oneg Shabbat Archives 222–23
P
partisans
Jewish 132, 132, 119, 224–25, 227, 240, 247–49
Polish 142, 155
Soviet 225
Pawia Street (Warsaw) 130–31
Pelt, Robert Jan van 148–49
Pianist, The (Polanski) 151, 210, 232
Pianist, The (Szpilman) 232, 234, 250
Pinkas Hakehillot Polin see Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Poland
Plagier, Sara 130
pogroms see Holocaust, The; anti-Semitism; individual places
Poland 142, 143–60, 154, 168–74, 221–30, 231 see also Holocaust; individual places
Polanski, Roman 151
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews (Warsaw) 227–28
Pollack, Susan 108
Poynting, Scott 111
Praga (Warsaw) 127, 161, 210, 225–26, 228, 235–37, 236
Prague 150
Prawda Młodych (Young People’s Truth) 165
Protocols of the Elders of Zion, The (fabricated text) 106
Public Trustee 186
Punch Me in the Stomach (Filler) 163
R
Rajzman, Samuel 156
Rapoport, Nathan 150
Rees, Laurence 106, 133
refugees 109
religion 10, 24, 35, 45–52, 71–72, 137–38
Remnants: Te Last Jews of Poland (Niezabitonska) 146
Remuh Synagogue (Kraków) 147
Righteous Among the Nations 228
Ringelblum, Emanuel 164, 169–70, 222–23, 224–25, 227
“Rocking-Horse Winner, The” (Lawrence) 42–43
Rosenthal, Horst 163
Rumkowski, Chaim 129–30
Running Through Fire (Goldberg) 131
S
Sacks, Oliver 189
Safdie, Moshe 107
Scantlebury, Ethel (Ettie) 29–31, 30, 33, 34, 39–40, 68–69, 72
Scantlebury, June (Sister Mary Regis) 30, 34, 39
Scantlebury, Patricia Valentina (Wichtel) 10–11, 12, 30, 34, 36, 48, 50, 86, 209, 254
early life 29–32, 38–40
in Auckland 67–81, 83–85, 113
in Japan 85–86
in Vancouver 9–27, 32–38, 42–63
Scantlebury, Rosemary (Rosie) (McKinstry) 30, 35–37, 36, 78–79 Scantlebury, Wendy (Perrier) 30, 35–37, 78
Scantlebury, William Rymell (Scan) 39–40, 72–73, 78
Scantlebury family 29–31, 30, 34, 39–40
Schneebaum family 161
Sebald, W.G. 256–57
Seinfeld, Jerry 164
Sekstein, Gele 223
Sereny, Gitta 158
Shadbolt, Tim 96
Shadow Man, The 205
Shoah see Holocaust, The
Shoah (Lanzmann) 155
Shute, Nevil 76
Siedlice Ghetto 153
Singer, Babette 121
Skotnicki, Aleksander 146
Skyflite Luggage 210
Sobibór (extermination camp) 155
SodaStream 111
Spiegelman, Art 81, 163, 176
Stangl, Franz 158
Stevenson, Jim 4, 178, 216, 241
Stolpersteine 161
Strewe, Odo 97
Suchomel, Franz 155–57
Sweden 216–17
Szpilman, Przemysław 231–32
Szpilman, Władysław 151, 232, 234
Driving to Treblinka Page 23