Big Influences on my writing, my Dad and Hemingway! 75 years ago my Dad was transferred from Auschwitz to Buchenwald alive - it was a miracle that he survived Auschwitz - today is March 11, 2019, he was very likely in transit to Buchenwald via the cattle train about this time...75 years ago!
Hey, am I being channeled?
Life and Brexit Is Multifaceted
My dad's concentration camp survival is proof that you can still hold a positive perspective about life and the future despite what other human beings do and say about you. I believe "Life is Multifaceted!" Maybe there needs to be more compromoise on Brexit.
Hey, am I being channeled?
Life and Brexit Is Multifaceted
This weekend an article called, Why America did not Bomb Auschwitz 75 years ago. Why? By Jack Schwartz made me, "Stand at Attention!" Decisions, can be easily debated, after the fact, often with no clear consensus of what should, could or was not done!
Mr. Schwartz's writing made me reflect on the issue of, Why? "After Dunkirk!, did Churchill decide to withdraw and leave the local, Belgium population, to fend for themselves?" My ancestors were like, "Sitting Ducks", who now had to make their way back from Dunkirk to Ostende, only to be occupied by the Germans!
Right now, Brexit seems to have the same demobilizing effect on the British population, both at home and abroad. Seemingly, mobilizing the people into creating new and different tribes. During the "2018, Christmas Speech," Queen Elizabeth II, mentioned, that it seemed to her, that people were becoming more tribal! It has been said, that we are naturally a tribal species and hone towards what we know or are most familiar with, especially as we age.
Although, my dad found himself in new and potentially negative situations he learned to change and adapt as he went along. I believe he passed on his good attitude and characteristics either through DNA or maybe a combination of both!
Another strong influence in my life was my maternal grandmother, from London.
If you even tried to complain, my grandmother, who was a real cockney, used to say, "You just have to get on with it!" and, "The world does not stop because you want to get off!" Maybe, some people might think my grandmother's words harsh. Of course, it depends on your outlook and perspective, as do most things in this life. I always found her comments to be a positive force in my life.
Ironically, one of my Dad's closest brushes with death, as a political, prisoner, in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, were during an allied bombing raid, during which a good friend of his was killed.
I obtained the following information from the International Tracing Service.
Inquiry on Louis Fynaut
... was transferred from Auschwitz concentration camp to Buchenwald on March 14, 1944 (date on arrival). Upon arrival in Buchenwald he was assigned the prisoner number 53152 and was housed in block 57, later he was moved to block 42.
My dad wrote in his memoir, "After liberation, we had all returned, myself first, then soldier Barbaix and eventually Daniel from the east. The only thing we could think about was enjoying ourselves but where was the money going to come from, that was the question... ?
I had just passed our Control Commission, which decided on who was a Political Prisoner and who was most certainly not! Besides all this, of the ten thousand genuine survivors, there were ninety thousand imposters: all this prolonged our agony with endless waiting.
The whole process was embedded in red tape. Then there was the battle of the government. The one we had experienced during occupation and the one in exile. All this had to be sorted out by the competing factions or eventually compromised on.
Mr. Schwartz's writing made me reflect on the issue of, Why? "After Dunkirk!, did Churchill decide to withdraw and leave the local, Belgium population, to fend for themselves?" My ancestors were like, "Sitting Ducks", who now had to make their way back from Dunkirk to Ostende, only to be occupied by the Germans!
Right now, Brexit seems to have the same demobilizing effect on the British population, both at home and abroad. Seemingly, mobilizing the people into creating new and different tribes. During the "2018, Christmas Speech," Queen Elizabeth II, mentioned, that it seemed to her, that people were becoming more tribal! It has been said, that we are naturally a tribal species and hone towards what we know or are most familiar with, especially as we age.
Although, my dad found himself in new and potentially negative situations he learned to change and adapt as he went along. I believe he passed on his good attitude and characteristics either through DNA or maybe a combination of both!
Another strong influence in my life was my maternal grandmother, from London.
If you even tried to complain, my grandmother, who was a real cockney, used to say, "You just have to get on with it!" and, "The world does not stop because you want to get off!" Maybe, some people might think my grandmother's words harsh. Of course, it depends on your outlook and perspective, as do most things in this life. I always found her comments to be a positive force in my life.
Ironically, one of my Dad's closest brushes with death, as a political, prisoner, in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, were during an allied bombing raid, during which a good friend of his was killed.
I obtained the following information from the International Tracing Service.
Inquiry on Louis Fynaut
... was transferred from Auschwitz concentration camp to Buchenwald on March 14, 1944 (date on arrival). Upon arrival in Buchenwald he was assigned the prisoner number 53152 and was housed in block 57, later he was moved to block 42.
My dad wrote in his memoir, "After liberation, we had all returned, myself first, then soldier Barbaix and eventually Daniel from the east. The only thing we could think about was enjoying ourselves but where was the money going to come from, that was the question... ?
I had just passed our Control Commission, which decided on who was a Political Prisoner and who was most certainly not! Besides all this, of the ten thousand genuine survivors, there were ninety thousand imposters: all this prolonged our agony with endless waiting.
The whole process was embedded in red tape. Then there was the battle of the government. The one we had experienced during occupation and the one in exile. All this had to be sorted out by the competing factions or eventually compromised on.
