Nightmare's Fairy Tale: A Young Refugee's Home Fronts, 1938–1948Fleeing the Nazis in the months before World War II, the Korman family scattered from a Polish refugee camp with the hope of reuniting in America. The father sailed to Cuba on the ill-fated St. Louis; the mother left for the United States after sending her two sons on a Kindertransport. One of the sons was Gerd Korman, whose memoir follows his own path—from the family’s deportation from Hamburg, through his time with an Anglican family in rural England, to the family’s reunited life in New York City. His memoir plumbs the depths of twentieth-century history to rescue the remarkable life story of one of its survivors. |
Contents
Prologue | 3 |
Part I The Battlegrounds | 7 |
Part II Miss Cottage of Talaton | 29 |
Part III Miller Avenue of East New York | 73 |
Part IV The End of the Beginning | 135 |
Epilogue | 149 |
Acknowledgments | 169 |
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American Amsterdam apartment arrived asked Bar Mitzvah Basker become boys Brooklyn Brooklyn College brother camp celebrated consulate Dutch East New York Elberfeld Engelberg England English Etty Hillesum European event Friday night friends Gdinya Gerd Korman German Hamburg heard Hebrew historians Holland Holocaust immigration Kindertransport knew kosher later Laufer learned letter lived London looked Louis loved Manfred Manfred's Max Korman Miami Miller Avenue Mitzvah mother Mutti Mutti and Pappi Nadnia Narol Nazi neighborhood never officials Osias Korman Otwock Pappi parents passengers Passover Petrovers Poland Polish Jews postcard railway refugee reichsmarks relatives reported Rifkins Rosa Rose Cottage Ruth Gosling seder sent Shabbat Shabbes Shimen ship soccer station stay street student subway Talaton teacher tion told took train transport tried turned uncle walked wanted Warsaw weeks Westerbork World Club wrote Wuppertal Yossel Zbaszyn Zionist