A painful and almost fatal journey

Dr Joe Reich has excelled himself in his recently published biography of his late father.

He traces his origins in Poland, describes his extended family and its pride in siring a child prodigy steeped in learning, obtaining his Smicha (Rabbinical qualification) while still in his late teens, only to be overtaken by the events of the time – the rise of Nazi Germany, the conquest of Poland and the relentless subjugation of its Jewish population, their imprisonment, humiliation, forced labour, starvation and murder.

Surviving the Lodz ghetto and its liquidation, the biography traces Dr Reich’s father’s fate in concentration and work camps, forced marches and more, ending in his almost miraculous liberation and his subsequent meeting with his future wife, herself a holocaust survivor whose experiences were considered even more daunting than that of her husband.

The traumatised survivors, now a couple, eventually made their way to the lucky country of Australia where they successfully re-established themselves and grew a fine family, becoming vital members of their community.

The biography is set against the landscape of pre-war Poland, the richness of Jewish life there, the importance of traditional customs and values, further exemplified by the high price placed on education, still pursued despite the daily traumas of Polish antisemitism.