Breaking Free: A Journey for Survival

By Henry Radoff

It is 1938 and Adolf Hitler has just become the supreme leader of Germany. In Freiburg, a Jewish doctor learns that he, along with all other doctors of his faith, will be reassigned to practice in ghettos. Determined not to become victims of the Nazi occupation, Herschel and his wife, Sophia, hastily make plans to escape.

As their quest to survive begins, the couple journeys deep into the Black Forest to reach a guide who will help them cross the Swiss Alps to a refugee camp. But what Herschel does not know is that his wife is pregnant and that their journey will be even more challenging than he imagined. As they race against time, they are joined by an older couple and their granddaughter. Finally when the group arrives at the base of the mountains, they realize that their guide is not a man, but instead, mans best friend. As another joins their expedition, now only one question remains: how many of them will make it over the mountain range before the German soldiers find them?

In this book based on true events, a Jewish doctor, his pregnant wife, and four others attempt to escape the Nazi occupation by embarking on a journey of salvation, with help from a prodigious, furry guide.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Jan 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9781480839151

Henry Radoff

Henry Radoff practiced commercial litigation in Houston, Texas, for fifty years. During that time, he collected survivor’s stories and taught a Holocaust course. He is also the author of Breaking Free: A Journey for Survival, Taking Chancey, Chancey’s Overture, and Where the Squirrels Run. Radoff and his wife, Marla, divide their time between a retirement community outside Houston and a home in Pensacola, Florida.

Book preview

Breaking Free

A JOURNEY FOR SURVIVAL

Henry Radoff

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Copyright © 2016 Henry V. Radoff.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Archway Publishing

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-3914-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-3915-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016921585

Archway Publishing rev. date: 12/30/2016

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

We Survived

Because the

Will to Live

Burns Greater

Than the Fire around Us

DEDICATION

To my father, J. P. Radoff, who taught the Holocaust course at Congregation Emanu El in Houston, Texas.

And

to Liny Pajgin Yollick, a survivor, who told me the basis of the story and urged me to write this novel.

PROLOGUE

In the midst of what could be comes courage and determination. Six people survive a horrible fate by traversing a forest and becoming alpinists. Without the assistance of a prodigious guide, their journey to salvation could never have been fulfilled. This story is based upon true events.

Somewhere in the United States

Current Day

It is a gloomy, rainy day, certainly not one to go to the park and play. What to do with a seven-year-old I am babysitting. He is always restless. I promised his parents I would take him to the park, but those plans must change. After all, I am an old man, not as spirited as I used to be. But I am not so old as to have forgotten my past. My dog is as old as I am, slightly blind and arthritic, and just called Dog. He is always by my side. He understands that I take it slow and easy. After all, we are lucky to be alive. Heck, my grandson is lucky to be alive.

Grandpa? Grandpa, are you awake? It is too wet go to the park. How about you tell me that story instead?

Now that he is seven, perhaps I can tell him the whole story. What do you say, boy? I pat my dog. "Should I tell him the whole story?

Get us some cookies and milk, and come sit on my lap, I respond.

When he is properly situated, I ask, Do you want to hear the one about the people having to leave their home, cross a mountain, and go to a strange place?

Yes, Grandpa, that one! replies the grandson.

I will start the story, but if you get too frightened, you yell out and I will stop. Understood?

Yes, Grandpa.

CHAPTER 1

Freiburg, Germany

November 1938

Once there was a man and his wife, like your mom and dad. They lived in a house just like your home in a small, faraway town called Freiburg in Germany. It was a lively town with tree-lined streets, with alleyways covered in ivy, surrounded by a river, and on the southern edge of a big forest. In the center of the city was a town square, where on weekends a string quartet would play and the people of Freiburg would gather on blankets and have a picnic. This was such a weekend. Opposite the town square was an old synagogue. For the Jewish community, it was a gathering place where one could not only pray but also participate in many social events. Around the corner there was a major university. The man was a doctor, on the faculty of medicine at the university. He treated little boys just like you for those scrapes and cuts you little rascals get.

***

Oh, Grandpa. Like the cut I have here from falling off my bicycle? asked the grandson.

Just like that cut.

***

Well, one day while the doctor was in the clinic attending to a small boy, an announcement came over the radio: We interrupt this program for a special bulletin. Dateline: Berlin. The National Socialist Party has gained power in the Reichstag. I repeat: the National Socialist Party has gained power. Adolph Hitler is now the chancellor of Germany, our supreme leader.

***

What is a supreme leader? asked the grandson. Is that like Superman?

A man, all right, but hardly super.

***

Now, the doctor who was treating the small boy was Jewish. He was about thirty years old, lean, and athletic-looking. Let’s call him Herschel. He was married to Sophia, a beautiful, slender, soft-spoken woman in her thirties. They were originally from Holland and had settled in Freiburg so Herschel