Alex’s Wake: The Tragic Voyage of the St. Louis to Flee Nazi Germany, and a Grandson’s Journey of Love and Remembrance
In the spring of 1939, Alex and Helmut Goldschmidt, along with more than 900 other Jewish refugees, flee Nazi Germany on board the SS St. Louis with the hopes of starting a new life in Cuba. Turned away by Cuban immigration authorities, they seek asylum in the United States and Canada, where they are also declined entry, and subsequently sent back to Europe. The two men repeatedly try to find a way, any way, out of Europe, but are eventually imprisoned in Auschwitz and there are sent to their deaths.
Goldsmith embarks on his own journey to Europe to follow the trail his grandfather and uncle took, a journey to connect with the family he’s never met and to somehow give them a voice. The most heartbreaking passages in the book are taken directly from Alex and Helmut’s letters to family members, begging for any assistance they can provide in getting the two men to safety. A powerful and honest examination of the Holocaust’s effects on its victims and those who survived.
