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.

The spectre and enforcement of Nazi ideology accompanied by the acquiescence of the German and much of the Polish population, sees the Jewish population inexorably losing their rights, herded into ghettos, subjected to increasing crowdedness, forced labour, disease and starvation, and ultimate death, all expertly and deceptively orchestrated by the German Nazi rulers aided by selected inmates, coerced or otherwise.

The final solution was enacted by the selection process beginning with “invitations” to start a new life with the opportunity to commence rewarding work, all directed towards disguising the short trip on the way to be gassed or shot.

Dr Reich’s father’s painful and almost fatal journey was experienced by many others with only a very few survivors, most reluctant to tell their story. Fortunately a recording was found of his father’s testimony which anchors this book. No such testimony was available for his wife, who like many whose suffering was even greater, refused to tell of their experiences.

That was well illustrated by my late mother-in-law. She survived the holocaust in Slovakia by taking on false papers. She was only willing to speak of the good that happened to her. Namely the German doctor who continued caring for her despite she being shifted with all the other Jewish patients to a shed behind the hospital, and eventually saved her severely damaged legs caused by a bomb thrown into a café in Prague frequented by young Jews. And the Slovakian Policeman aware that the papers she carried were false, asked for them so that he could have them restamped. And the Russian Captain himself a Jew who had liberated her town, who immediately recognised that she was Jewish and promised to take care of her.

We Should Have Talked: The biography of my father should be compulsory reading for the senior classes in the Jewish day schools.

Apart from providing a very well researched and documented landscape of what Jewish life was before, during and after the Holocaust, the book raises multiple ethical issues to be discussed and argued upon while being mindful of the overriding tenet of Jewish Law with respect to “Pikuach Nefesh” (the preservation of life – not merely allowed but as a religious obligation).

In addition it should become a standard text for state and private schools to draw attention to those who misuse the term genocide either deliberately, through malice or ignorance.

“Never again” helps explain the close and unique bond between Jews and the State of Israel, so well-illustrated after the Bondi massacre allegedly by Islamic terrorists.

We Should Have Talked: The biography of my father is published by Hybrid Publishers, $32.99 rrp