An Uncommon Journey: From Vienna to Shanghai to America--A Brother and Sister Escape to Freedom During World War II

by Deborah Strobin, Ilie Wacs

Overview

September 1939 - Nazi Austria turns on their Jews and the family Wacs flees Vienna, saving their lives. Destination: Shanghai; alien to them-different language, people, culture. Had they not escaped, one week later war broke out, and this family's fate might have been quite different. An Uncommon Journey addresses universal issues-persecution and the will to survive. This unique memoir by a sister and brother ten years apart shares different memories, often of the same events. The truth becomes a mosaic with many facets, creating a moving portrait of a family uprooted.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781569804520
Publisher:	Barricade Books, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/16/2011
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

Editorial Reviews

Sister and brother Strobin and Wacs look back across a gulf of over half a century to tell the story of their emigration from Vienna on the eve of WWII to the relative safety of China, and finally to America. Detailing the lesser-known plight of the Jews who sought shelter in the slums of Shanghai, Strobin and Wacs' youth is rendered with a compelling mix of innocence and candor, melding globally profound history with common childhood scenes, as when Strobin explains, "People couldn't afford to bury the dead...I jumped over the bodies on my way to school." Alternating between Strobin's and Wacs' accounts of their experiences, the book covers everything from young Wacs' girl-fueled teenage angst to the terror of American bomber planes attacking the occupying Japanese forces. Now living on opposite American coasts-Strobin in San Francisco and Wacs in New York-the story of survival stretches to the present day, illuminating how war-torn childhood influenced each author's life. A fashion designer and painter, Wacs writes, "I'd survived Hitler in Vienna and the ghetto in Shanghai. I could survive the fashion industry in New York." Ghostwriter Hodge's writing style is captivating and straightforward, and the humor and honesty with which Strobin and Wacs tell their story is enlightening. Photos.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly