Listening to the Silence

Martin Goldsmith is a second generation survivor of the Holocaust. While his parents, Gunther/George and Rosemarie/Rosemary, were able to escape to America, they left behind four family members who would become evental victims of the Nazi regime. Martin's grandmother,Toni, and his aunt, Eva, would perish in the Riga ghetto. His grandfather, Alex and uncle, Helmut were murdered at the most infamous of Germany's extermination camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Prior to their gruesome death's however Alex and Helmut would undertake a long and sad journey lasting 40 long mont. They started their travels filled with hope aboard the luxury liner SS St. Louis which departed for Cuba filled with Jews looking to start a new life following the Kristellnacht. Unfortunately due to internal politics the ship was refused entry in Cuba, followed by the United States, Canada, and the UK. Finally able to disembark in France, they spent the rest of their lives being moved from one containment camp to another, culminating in a short stay at Drancy before finally being shipped to Auschwitz-Birkenau. This book is a memoir of a six week pilgramage following in the footsteps of Alex Goldschmidt made by his grandson in an attempt to reconcile both his and his father's guilt. It is also a moving memorial to the lives not only of the Goldschmidts, but to everyone who was forced to make their own tragic journey to a Nazi death camp.