I SEEK A KIND PERSON

Austrian youth are saved from the Holocaust in a unique way.

British journalist Borger provides an unusual tale of Holocaust survivors, saved from certain death with the help of newspaper advertisements. His book is based on a very personal search for answers after his father, Robert, died by suicide in 1983. Eventually Borger would be reminded of a family story: his grandparents had placed an advertisement in the Manchester Guardian with hopes of finding their son a new home in Great Britain, away from the Nazi menace. Borger managed to locate that original 1938 advertisement and was struck by other, similar notices from other Jewish families in Vienna also desperate to get their children to safety. This book records the stories he was able to piece together about a handful of such children. Their histories are on one hand weighed down by the pain of loss and the scars of terror yet on the other hand lead to the hope symbolized by their own progeny, who only exist because of their escape from Austria. Borger highlights the risks parents will take to save their children in a time of crisis, literally giving them up to strangers in a strange land. The survivors’ stories embody the lifelong trauma of separation and assimilation following the terror of flight. They are replete with examples of resilience and strength yet maintain the dark side of depression, anxiety, and guilt, which these survivors have tried hard to hide from later generations. Borger’s work demonstrates to the reader the level to which personal histories were lost in the Holocaust, be it in the gas chambers or through the traumatized silence of survivors. The stories he has been able to salvage are remarkable threads connecting the present to a dark past, marked by the will to survive.

Intriguing and humane, a worthwhile addition to Holocaust studies.