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    Alex's Wake: A Voyage of Betrayal and Journey of Remembrance
    Alex's Wake: A Voyage of Betrayal and Journey of Remembrance
    Alex's Wake: A Voyage of Betrayal and Journey of Remembrance
    Audiobook12 hours

    Alex's Wake: A Voyage of Betrayal and Journey of Remembrance

    Written by Martin Goldsmith

    Narrated by Martin Goldsmith

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Alex#8217;s Wake is a tale of two parallel journeys undertaken seven decades apart. In the spring of 1939, Alex and Helmut Goldschmidt were two of more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany aboard the St. Louis, #8220;the saddest ship afloat#8221; (New York Times). Turned away from Cuba, the United States, and Canada, the St. Louis returned to Europe, a stark symbol of the world#8217;s indifference to the gathering Holocaust. The Goldschmidts disembarked in France, where they spent the next three years in six different camps before being shipped to their deaths in Auschwitz.In the spring of 2011, Alex#8217;s grandson, Martin Goldsmith, followed in his relatives#8217; footsteps on a six-week journey of remembrance and hope, an irrational quest to reverse their fate and bring himself peace. Alex#8217;s Wake movingly recounts the detailed histories of the two journeys, the witnesses Martin encounters for whom the events of the past are a vivid part of a living present, and an intimate, honest attempt to overcome a tormented family legacy.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateApr 8, 2014
    ISBN9781622314089
    Alex's Wake: A Voyage of Betrayal and Journey of Remembrance

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    • 4/5
      Author Martin Goldsmith’s grandfather and uncle were aboard the ill-fated ship the St Louis, which embarked from Hamburg Germany heading to Havana Cuba in 1939. It carried 937 passengers, most of them Jewish refugees who believed they had the proper permits and documentation for Cuba to grant them asylum.Unfortunately, due to the Cuban political situation, almost all were denied admittance to Cuba and the ship was sent back to Europe. Many countries including the US and Canada, denied asylum to the refugees. Eventually, they were divided among four countries with about 25% each going to the UK, Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Goldsmiths’s relatives were among those released to France. At first the pair were in resettlement camps, but once the territory was under Nazi control, they moved to prisons camps and eventually were shipped to Birkenau where they were murdered in the Nazi gas chambers.In this account, Goldsmith follows their journey to Cuba and then step by step across Europe, visiting the sites, finding evidence of their lives in the camps and their eventual deaths.It’s a disturbing and humbling story, made very immediate by recent refugee criseses where refugees are also often denied asylum in the US and elsewhere.
    • 4/5
      The author undertakes a trip to trace where his grandfather and uncle traveled in 1939 and thereafter. They were on fthe ship "ST. Louis" but were not allowed to land in Cuba nor the U.S. and ended up in France and when the Nazis took over France they fell into the clutches of collaborating Vichy. In 2011 the author and his wife retraced the route of the doomed pair, ending up in Auschwitz. Soem of the travel details are expatiated on at undue length and the author is addicted to sometimes cloying adjectives which might have been omitted. In other words there is no understatement in the book, but the denouement as they visit Auschwitz is searing. It is always worthwhile to be reminded of the sheer evil which was celebrated by the Nazi subhumans within our lifetime and this book does that.
    • 5/5
      Choices sometimes create some unintended results when faced with fear. In 1939 Hitler's determination to rid Germany of Jews was at first seen as fine with the rest of the world. His Gestapo henchmen gave passage to those who could pay for it. This story is about over 900 people who were placed on a ship to leave Germany and travel to Cuba. They paid for the passage and also for the special visas which they thought would get them into the country. As it turned out the start was a scam by someone who represented that he had the authority to allow them into Cuba. The then leadership of Cuba refused those on board to enter even with these visas. President Roosevelt refused their entry into the US. The ship was turn about and sent on a voyage back across the ocean to return to Germany. As it turned out arrangements were made for the passengers to enter several different countries. England turned out to be the best as others went to the Netherlands and France which later were overrun by the Nazis. This story is the of the journey of a Father and Brother who were ultimately murdered.