This book is a whimsical, yet spirited and detailed look back at a European family’s travails, documented from the turn of the twentieth century, starting in what was then Austrian Poland.
The saga follows the various members of a hard-working Jewish family who relocate to glittering Vienna, the fabled capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, after a family tragedy.
The story follows the family through the carnage of the Great War, and through the persistent anti-Semitism that was a way of life between the wars.
WILLI MARCUS and his wife JENNY have three sons, two of whom, GEORG, an architect, and FRANZ, a medical intern, live with them. The youngest son, FREDDI is a gifted cellist who fortuitously becomes a diplomat thanks to his father’s wartime connection, and in 1936 is posted to South Africa.
LEO is Willi’s octogenarian uncle; at the turn of the century, he led the family to Vienna. He has three children, one of whom, KURT, is a famous journalist.
Willi’s brother ARNIE owns a glass and picture-frame business; he once bought sketches from a starving artist named ADOLF HITLER.
One of the family’s neighbors is a rising star in the Nazi Party, ANTON ZUCKER. Franz provides medical assistance to Zucker’s father, who subsequently dies. Zucker Jr. swears vengeance.
When the Nazis seize power, the Marcus family is scattered to the winds. Arnie tries to save his family by bartering Hitler’s sketches. Willi and Jenni flee to southern France, where they encounter a dedicated group of Americans, headed by VARIAN FRY.
Fry is striving to save as many of Europe’s artistic and cultural elite as possible from the clutches of the Nazis. He helps the Marcuses; Anton Zucker follows Willi’s trail up to the mountain-top French-Spanish border for a fatal confrontation.
The saga follows the various members of a hard-working Jewish family who relocate to glittering Vienna, the fabled capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, after a family tragedy.
The story follows the family through the carnage of the Great War, and through the persistent anti-Semitism that was a way of life between the wars.
WILLI MARCUS and his wife JENNY have three sons, two of whom, GEORG, an architect, and FRANZ, a medical intern, live with them. The youngest son, FREDDI is a gifted cellist who fortuitously becomes a diplomat thanks to his father’s wartime connection, and in 1936 is posted to South Africa.
LEO is Willi’s octogenarian uncle; at the turn of the century, he led the family to Vienna. He has three children, one of whom, KURT, is a famous journalist.
Willi’s brother ARNIE owns a glass and picture-frame business; he once bought sketches from a starving artist named ADOLF HITLER.
One of the family’s neighbors is a rising star in the Nazi Party, ANTON ZUCKER. Franz provides medical assistance to Zucker’s father, who subsequently dies. Zucker Jr. swears vengeance.
When the Nazis seize power, the Marcus family is scattered to the winds. Arnie tries to save his family by bartering Hitler’s sketches. Willi and Jenni flee to southern France, where they encounter a dedicated group of Americans, headed by VARIAN FRY.
Fry is striving to save as many of Europe’s artistic and cultural elite as possible from the clutches of the Nazis. He helps the Marcuses; Anton Zucker follows Willi’s trail up to the mountain-top French-Spanish border for a fatal confrontation.
