Schohl family. - And the World Closed Its Doors: The Story of One Family Abandoned to the Holocaust

THE BOILERPLATE FORMULA in which an author swears that he could not have written his book without the help of many others is actually true in this case; this book could not even have been conceived, much less written, without the inspiration, guidance, and support of a host of individuals and institutions. Jody Hotchkiss, of Hotchkiss and Associates, New York, convinced me that a magazine piece published by Michael Winerip in the New York Times in 1987 constituted the raw material for a full-length historical study; my thanks to Jody for his prodding, and to Mr. Winerip for his original spadework. To translate the initial conception into a viable enterprise I needed the assistance of Dr. P. J. Wells, Max Schohls grandson, who gave me access to the trove of family letters and documents that his mother, Kthe Schohl Wells, entrusted to him. P. J.s wife, Fran, organized and catalogued the documents in a way that made them much easier to use. My agent, Agnes Krup, pushed the book along with her usual blend of patience and tenacity. Ive had editorial help at Basic Books from Don Fehr and, after he moved on, from Sarah McNally, who made useful suggestions for the final draft.

For contacts, leads, and the literal opening of archive doors during my research in Flrsheim I am indebted to Bernd Blisch, formerly the head of that towns cultural office. Two other local experts on Flrsheim, Werner Schiele and Peter Becker, shared with me their immense knowledge of their towns history and traditions; moreover, their published works constitute an invaluable source for this project. For her memories of life in Flrsheim in the 1920s and 1930s I thank Frau Irmgard Rad-czuk, who was a neighbor of the Schohls in that era. Thanks also to Jan Radczuk for his own stories, as well as for the several bottles of vodka that fueled our conversations (and on whose influence any errors in my recollection of those stories can be blamed). Mr. Janun Wloral, who works as a guide at the Auschwitz concentration camp, kindly sent me documentation from the camp archive on the death of Max Schohl.

Work in many archives and libraries in America and Europe was indispensable for this book. I wish to acknowledge the staffs at the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio; the Hessisches Staatsarchiv, Wiesbaden; the Library of Congress Manuscripts Division, Washington, D.C.; the National Archives, Washington, D.C.; the Public Records Office, London; the Stadtarchiv, Flrsheim; the Wiener Library, London; the Yivo Institute for Jewish Research, New York; the archive of The Charleston Newspapers, Charleston, West Virginia (especially Mr. Bob Schwarz); the Landesbibliothek, Wiesbaden; the Leo Baeck Institute, New York; the University of California Library, Berkeley; the Green Library, Stanford University; the Hoover Institution, Stanford; the New York Public Library; and the Renne Library, Montana State University, Bozeman.

Professor Robert Rydell of Montana State University vetted the manuscript from his vantage point as an expert on modern American social and cultural history; my wife, Dr. Margaret Wheeler, vetted the manuscript from her vantage point as an expert on just about everything. My thanks to them both.

Another convention in acknowledgment writing is to save the greatest debt for last, and in this case the convention again has genuine meaning. Kthe Schohl Wells has been my partner in this project from beginning to end, sharing with me sometimes painful memories of her familys experiences during the early phases of the Holocaust in Flr-xii sheim, of exile in Yugoslavia, and of slave labor in the war-torn Reich. She also painted vivid verbal portraits of the American relatives who tried to help her family escape to the United States during the Hitler era, and with whom she became personally close following her emigration to America after the war. To the degree that I have been able to bring the Schohl family and their would-be American rescuers to life, and thereby to endow this story with a vital human dimension, I have done so only with the constant assistance of my partner. This is her book as much as mine.