Alex's Wake: The Tragic Voyage of the St. Louis to Flee Nazi Germany-and a Grandson's Journey of Love and Remembrance

by Martin Goldsmith

A tale of two journeys...

On May 13, 1939, the luxury liner SS St. Louis sailed away from Hamburg, Germany, bound for Havana, Cuba. On board were more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Nazi Germany. But an indifferent world conspired against them. After being denied landing rights in Havana, the refugees were turned away by the United States and Canada and forced to sail back to Europe, where the gathering storm of the Holocaust awaited them.

Two of those refugees were Alex Goldschmidt, a sixty-year-old veteran of World War I, and his seventeen-year-old son Klaus Helmut Goldschmidt. After their trans-Atlantic voyage, they landed in France. They would spend the next three years in one French camp after another before being shipped to Auschwitz in 1942.

Sixty-nine years later, Martin Goldsmith, Alex's grandson and Helmut's nephew, retraced their sad journey. Beginning in lower Saxony where Alex was born, Martin spent six weeks on the road and covered more than 5,700 miles, setting foot on the earth Alex and Helmut trod during their final days. Alex's Wake is Martin's eyewitness report.

The book offers a compelling history of the voyage of the St. Louis, including testimony from those on board, a tale of espionage, and the brave resolve of Captain Gustav Schroeder. It also offers a harrowing chronicle of the vast network of camps in France, many of which were organized by the French themselves with little or no encouragement from the Germans.

But Alex's Wake is also a contemporary travelogue and a heartfelt memoir of a second-generation American Jew trying to make sense of his heritage and to escape the burden of guilt and fear he long thought was his sole inheritance. Setting forth with the irrational, impossible desire to save two members of his family who were murdered ten years before he was born, Goldsmith concludes his journey by coming home to a moving symbol of remembrance at one of the scenes of the crime.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, Holocaust, Audiobook, World War II, Memoir

354 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Martin^Golssmith

Reviews

[Reet Champion · Rating 3 out of 5]

More than half a century ago Martin Goldsmith's father failed to make any real effort to save a father and brother. And so they died...at the hands of Nazis....in captivity. Now, many years later, Martin still feels the sorrow of his father's guilt. Why did his father not do all in his power to launch a rescue of some sort? Why were Alex and Helmut Goldschmidt left to die sad deaths long before their time? And so the guilt came. But only after it was too late for Alex and Helmut. And from father to son it was passed; although Martin never knew the grandfather and uncle who died in a concentration camp he felt deeply connected to them. So begins a journey that will take Martin across the ocean and to the Continent where he attempts to retrace the journey of his family and come to terms with haunting "could-have dones".

I'm not too big on memoirs unless they are written by missionaries or sailors, and while the title doesn't say Alex's Wake is a memoir that's what it reminded me a little of. The historical sections are rather cut-and-dried and if you're looking for something about the voyage of the SS St. Louis, The Voyage of the Damned is a more thorough read. There are areas where the information is too biographical for my tastes - specifically when it comes to the genealogical material on the Goldschmidts (I don't have enough interest in the family to want to know all of that). And then in another respect it's like a travelogue as Mr. Goldsmith recounts his and his wife's journey, providing details about the towns they visit. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see how the author's physical and psychological journey allowed him to find a degree of peace with his father's apathy towards Alex and Helmut.

Don't get me wrong, it's a touching story. The letters written by the internees brought a very personal touch to the story. When all was said and done I felt like I knew Alex and Helmut and wanted so very much for them to be able to live...but they didn't. There was much anguish that came out of World War II. The Holocaust left behind many victims who had to cope in one way or another as a result of it. This is a chilling reminder of those left behind.

DISCLAIMER: In accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” we would like to note that we received an electronic copy of “Alex's Wake” from Netgalley.com provided by the publishers, Da Capo Press, in exchange for our honest review.

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[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Subtitled, “A Voyage of Betrayal and a Journey of Remembrance,” this is the story of a journey. When Martin Goldsmith wrote his previous book, “The Inextinguishable Symphony,” about the lives of his parents, he found that it gave him more questions than answers. Martin Goldsmith’s musician parents had escaped Nazi Europe and fled to the United States and that first book told their story. However, Martin’s paternal grandfather, Alex Goldschmidt and his father’s younger brother, Klaus Helmut Goldschmidt, were not so lucky. This was despite being among more than nine hundred Jewish refugees, who left Germany in May 1939 aboard the ocean liner the St Louis, bound for a new life in South America. The NY Times declared it, “the saddest ship afloat today,” as, after more than a month at sea, it was unable to find a harbour to take those aboard and returned to Europe. Alex begged his son, Martin’s father, to help him and felt he did not do enough for him and his brother. Martin Goldsmith decided to retrace the steps of his grandfather and uncle and also trace his paternal family history. This is the story of that journey.

The book begins in Sachenhagen, where Martin Goldsmith found the home of his great-great-grandfather. He traces the history of his family as prosperous horse traders, the birth of Alex and his move to Oldenburg in Lower Saxony. Alex was a successful businessman, who owned a dress shop, and was respected and liked. As the author meets those that knew his grandfather and uncle, you get a sense of who these people, who had been reduced to statistics, actually were. A kindly man who reduced the price of a dress so a young girl could afford it; a bookish boy who cared for his father and became his companion. Kristallnacht saw Alex and Helmut arrested and their decision to try to leave the country. We read of their approval for visas to Cuba, their voyage on the St Louis, arrival in France and then the refugee and internment camps, before the final destination of Auschwitz.

This is a really moving memoir. The author is adept at showing you what was happening to Alex and Helmut and, also, what the journey meant to him. Along the way he has to come to terms with the well meaning gestures of plaques and memorials, understand how Alex and Helmut coped with their hopes raised and dashed; their boredom, fear and frustration. Both men reproached Martin’s father, although he was also trying to build a new life for him and his young wife, and was limited in what he could achieve. Goldsmith bravely asks whether his father did do enough and whether he was affected by guilt, after the loss of his family. This is a very well written and, almost unbearably, tragic book. You wish, like the author, that you could change the end. Obviously, that is not possible, but in a way, the author does bring his grandfather and uncle back to life – you feel you get to know them, like them and that this is a fitting tribute to their life.

I received a copy of this book, from the publisher, for review.

[Jill Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martin Goldsmith has written "Alex's Wake", the search for his grandfather and uncle, who had been two of the passengers on the "SS St Louis". The boat, which set out from Hamburg to Havana in 1939 and carrying a total of 937 Jewish passengers, who had been promised asylum in Cuba. After being turned away from landing in Cuba, the ship was also denied entry in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. After being shunted around for two weeks, the passengers were accepted by the UK, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Those passengers who ended up in the UK were the only ones who reached safety; the other three countries were occupied the following year by the Germans and the Jews there were sent to their deaths in concentration camps.

Born 10 years after his grandfather and uncle died, Martin Goldsmith was the son of the one son who reached safety in the US, along with his wife, Martin's mother. Martin was determined to honor his dead relatives by tracing their path from their home in Oldenburg, Germany, to the St Louis, and then through the French camps they were sent to before being shipped by train from Drancy to their deaths at Auschwitz. He and his wife, set off on a multi-week driving trip, beginning in Hamburg and ending up in Auschwitz and this book is an excellently written recounting of Goldsmith's thoughts and emotions in 2011 as he walked in the steps of his dead relatives.

However, while reading the book, I felt there was something missing. And that is the story of Martin's grandmother and aunt, also killed in the Holocaust. Martin begins the book in Oldenburg, Germany, where Alex Goldschmidt had built a fortune in horse trading and then in women's retail. Alex and Toni had four children, two sons and two daughters. One daughter died early in life, but the other three reached at least their teen years. One son, Martin's father, did reach safety in the United States, but the parents and the other son and daughter were murdered. Martin's book is about how the father and son were going ahead of the mother and daughter, but nothing about the mother and daughter is mentioned, other than the fact they were sent to Riga and were killed there. I'd have liked to know more about the mother and daughter. It seems as if there's a piece or two of the puzzle missing. What was happening while Alex and his son were on the SS St Louis and then when they were captives in France?

In any case, Goldsmith's book is a wonderful look at learning about the past by walking in the steps of those lost years before.

[Rita Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin Goldsmith knew that although his father and his wife had escaped Nazi Germany, his grandfather and his father's younger brother had not. Martin began a search through letters and documents that led him to all the places that his ancestors had lived during the downward spiral from a home which was a showplace to smaller and smaller places and then to interment camps, a refugee ship which was refused entrance to many countries including the United States, and finally to a concentration camp where the grandfather met his death. The younger brother died a few years later at the age of only 21. Martin realized that their letters through the years to his father for help had been ignored. This is a heart-rending book which reveals that the mistreatment of Jews was not all at the hands of the Germans. Through his research and travels to the exact places in his grandfather's life, the author finds solace in those willing to acknowledges that wrongs had been done.

My connection with this book was further enhanced because I listened to this book being read by the author himself. Powerful!

[Sunset · Rating 4 out of 5]

"From 1919 until 1932 this was the private house of the respected citizen Alex Goldschmidt. With the forced sale of this house to the National Socialists, the sorrowful journey of this Jewish family began. Alex Goldschmidt and his son Helmut in the Auschwitz concentration camp, and his wife Toni and daughter Eva in the Riga ghetto, were murdered in 1942." ~~plaque on house that the author's grandfather owned.

Remembrance has a rear and front.'Tis something like a home.----Emily Dickinson

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alex's Wake: A Voyage of Betrayal and a Journey of Remembrance by Martin Goldsmith Is about the author's grandfather, Alex Goldschmidt, a sixty-year-old veteran of WWI and his seventeen-year-old son, Klause Helmut Goldschmidt, the author's uncle. Concerned about the rise of Adolph Hitler and the Nazis in Germany and their anti-Jewish policies, they had secured passage as refugees on the SS St. Louis in 1939 departing from Hamburg, Germany, and bound for Havana, Cuba, along with over 900 fellow refugees. After being denied entry by Cuba, the United States, and Canada, they were forced to return to Europe. Many eventually ended up in Nazi concentration camps or death camps including Alex and Klause. The author undertakes his own journey to see the places where Alex lived before departing on the SS St. Louis and then where they went and what happened to them after returning to Europe. I found the story very compelling in parts, but at the same time the book covers the family history so broadly that at times I forgot about the central part of the ship being denied landing rights and everyone being sent back to Europe and for many of them death in the camps. If you are interested in WWII, the Holocaust, and the plight of Jewish families before and during the war, you should read this book for another perspective about the sailing of the SS St. Louis due to political decisions made regarding immigration and how allowing these refugees a safe haven may negatively impact FDR's re-election chances.

[Robert Melnyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly powerful and moving story of one family so tragically affected by Nazi Germany. Martin Goldsmith re-traces the route taken by his grandfather and uncle trying to flee Germany at the start of WWII. They were aboard the SS St. Louis which was denied docking in both Cuba and the U.S. and had to return to Europe. They were able to disembark in France. There they were forced from one internment camp to another before finally being shipped to Auschwitz were they were murdered. Goldsmith does an excellent job of recounting their story, and of helping us remember the unbelievable atrocities of the holocaust.

[Donna Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holocaust memoirs take on added urgency right now, between the revisionists who want to rewrite history and claim that the entire thing was either a hoax or dreadful exaggeration, and the fact that the eye witnesses and survivors are nearly all dead now. Martin Goldsmith retraces the journey, both academically and where possible, literally, to the places his Uncle Helmut and grandfather Alex were taken. It’s quite a story, and would be a fun read if it were not so horribly, terribly true. As it stands, Goldsmith’s narrative pulls his readers in one slim finger at a time, until we are held firmly to the text and must remain until it’s done.

The narrative starts out introspective and almost dreamlike. If I were not reading this free courtesy of Net Galley in exchange for my review, I think I might have set it aside about twenty percent of the way in and not returned, thinking to myself that of course, I know the Holocaust was real, but do I want to read about it again? It’s not an enjoyable topic, and what good can it do to revisit it? Furthermore, I started to believe that this particular narrative was not so different from other heartbreaking stories, and might be more of interest to the writer and his surviving kin than to strangers like me.

I am glad I kept reading, because just past this point is where we quit the runway and the story takes wing. The writer starts with the visits, first to the Holocaust museum, and then to Europe. He is greeted warmly in his family’s former homeland, and he makes speeches and accepts certificates and expresses appreciation to the family who now occupies what was once the family manse for their clumsy token gesture. The current owners clearly understand that circumstances have skewed things badly, and they want to make it up in some impossible way. They were wondering what he would think of a nice plaque on the building’s exterior noting its place in history and recognizing his family.

He understands these folks aren’t the ones who stole from him. He says and does the right things, but the edge is unmistakably there, as part of him longs to say that if they really want to make things right, to give him back his family’s home. Like many who lost wealth and/or family in the Holocaust, he waxes nostalgic, looking with poignancy at the beautiful place that should rightfully be his.

Here I squirm a bit. I don’t read rich people’s stories for a reason. I don’t believe anybody is entitled to vast wealth. It’s why the only memoirs I avoid are those of the ruling rich.

But another more important principle trumps my usual one: nobody, nobody, nobody should be disenfranchised of even a penny on account of their ethnicity or race. If anyone at all in Germany gets to have a big fancy house, then Goldsmith’s family should. His resentment is righteous; he has the moral high ground here. I think back to an old bumper sticker I once saw, courtesy of the American Indian Movement during the 1960’s that read, “AMERICA: love it or give it back.” And thus is the untenable yet irreparable theft of the Holocaust’s descendents. We can’t fix it, so here’s your framed letter, your trophy, your plaque, your award. His ambivalence runs deep and is clear and harsh. It should be.

From there, Goldsmith’s family saga telescopes out in a way that is so deft, I don’t even catch the transitions. This is rare. I spent years of my life teaching teenagers how to make transitions in their writing, and usually when it is well done in professional writing, I sit back and admire it, like the French paintings he describes. I love to watch good transitions happen, but the very best are noteworthy in that I am so deeply into the text that they float by unseen. It’s almost magical. And so, as the family’s tale is told, we see the larger picture of France and French fascism.

Many of us today want to believe that all of France and much of Germany was simply too afraid of the fascists to resist, but Goldsmith unflinchingly grabs us by the hair, makes us look. There are cheering throngs that are thrilled when the fascists take power. They aren’t trembling; they are overjoyed. This is how fascism works, in demonizing a sector of the population, others believe themselves lifted up.

In the end, I was glad to have joined Goldsmith on his journey. For anyone with a serious interest in World War II; the Holocaust; the face and effect of fascism; or contemporary European history, this gem is not to be missed.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alex's Wake is a very unique memoir that takes the reader on a emotional journey through Europe. I was expecting the story of the SS St. Louis when I picked up this book. The story of these doomed refugees who paid all they had to emigrate to Cuba, only to be turned away, is only one small part of the drama that unfolds in this book. Martin Goldsmith decided that he must follow the path of his grandfather and uncle, Alex and Helmut, who were two St. Louis passengers, and this book is the result.

Goldsmith admits that, "I wanted to learn the facts of their final years on earth because I wanted to save them." As the author follows his ancestors' trail through various internment camps in France and then Poland, he seems legitimately surprised and disappointed when he does not find Alex and Helmut there. Though he knows it is illogical, he still hopes to arrive in time to force them onto a different fork in the road, one that does not lead to Auschwitz. The reader is disappointed along with him when the ghostly figures of Alex and Helmut dissolve from our minds and we realize that we are standing in the correct place, but seven decades too late. The chapter of the visit to Auschwitz is chilling.

This story is much more about Martin's journey of discovery, mourning, and finally coming to terms with his loss, than it is truly the story of Alex and Helmut. Though Martin follows in their wake, never catching up with them. He tells their story through visiting each place they were forced to live after the St. Louis returned to Europe, and we learn along with him the details of what they endured. We feel along with him, "This is my inheritance: failure, sorrow, and guilt."

Why does the author feel such guilt over the deaths that occurred a decade before he was born? Perhaps it was inherited from his father, who did not do enough to save his father and brother after receiving a final letter from Alex stating, "I have described our situation for you several times. This will be the last time. If you don't move heaven and earth to help us, that's up to you, but it will be on your conscience." Was it ever.

The author seems haunted by the gaps left in his life by these murdered ancestors. He feels the guilt that his father surely lived with, and he takes this trip of remembrance through Europe in an effort to put these feelings to rest. The result is a very unique story about the Holocaust that also examines the feelings of those of us who are descended from those who fought and died in World War II.

Intermixed with this investigation into the past, the author describes in detail the setting and history of each city he visits, making the book at times feel like more of a travel diary. Frequently retelling the history of a town starting with its medieval roots, Goldsmith ensures that the reader is carried along on his voyage into the past.

Alex's Wake is a very unique and personal Holocaust story that will make any reader wish that it were possible to take that journey back through the decades and be brave enough to stand up for those who were persecuted.

I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. The opinions expressed are my own.

[Susan Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was one of the hardest that I have ever read yet it was also one of the most moving. For many in the world, the Holocaust, while frightful, is a series of events in history. There are the naysayers, the apologists, those who claim ignorance, the ones who wish it would just go away. For Jews, it is a reminder of a history that not just then but through the ages meant no matter how safe and secure the present, hatred, mistrust and death might be just a door knock away. None could ever feel the betrayal and horror of it more than those who survived when so many others perished.
Martin Goldsmith's father was one of the survivors; his grandfather, grandmother, uncle and aunt were not. His father carried to his grave the sorrow, the shame and the guilt that he lived and they did not To compound his guilt were the communication that passed between his father and grandfather as his grandfather and uncle desperately tried to escape the Nazi noose. Might Martin's father done more? Might it have made a difference? Likely not. The democracies of the world, who would fight Hitler soon enough- America, Canada, Britain- none opened their doors beyond a crack. After all, these were just Jews.
Martin and his wife Amy took a six week car ride through Europe, following the path of his grandfather Alex, culminating in a "wake" in Alex's hometown in Germany. It is a painful journey of discovery that allows Martin to honour and "bury" both his grandfather and uncle.
Some of the people with whom he interacts during this journey show true remorse, none greater than the daughter of a man who professed to be Alex's friend but was also a Nazi. It is almost 70 years since the depth of the atrocities pierced the conscience of the world. I wish I could say that man has become more humane and accepting. Since, he has not, nor is he likely ever to become so, it is so important that we never forget. To judge, hate and exterminate people because they are different and because of a luck of the draw is a blot on us all.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Im always surprised/moved by WWII/Holocaust books. Man's inhumanity to man, as they say. This one offered a new look at France during WWII, and I have to say it wasn't flattering - new to me to learn that much of France's actions towards the Jews were home-grown and not imposed by the Germans occupying....And the SS St. Louis? Wow. (having recently read In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin - this account lines up very well with how the US didn't heed their ambassador's warnings about what was happening in Germany)

Had a hard time with the overwhelming guilt that Martin felt. Perhaps because this is not my history, but I really struggled with understanding how he felt guilty for the death of people who died long before he was born. His father? Oh, yes - he should have lots of guilt, and this story doesn't paint him in a very good light, but Martin? Im trying to imagine feeling guilty for my grandparents and I just can't seem to.

Needless to say, a very powerful story of simply bearing witness. Following in the last footsteps of family members as the ultimately (and unknowingly) traveled to their death rather than their freedom. On more than one occasion I felt moved as Martin stood in the place that his uncle and grandfather were held captive/died.

[Steven Howes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin Goldsmith is the host of several classical music programs on NPR and Sirius/XM Radio. His gentle and mellow voice masks the inner turmoil he experienced as a result of his family's tragic past. His paternal grandparents and uncle and aunt all perished at the hands of the Nazis while his own parents made it out of Germany safely to the United States prior to the start of the Holocaust. Even though his family members were murdered 10 years prior to his birth, the author experienced strong feelings of guilt and helplessness as he learned more and more about the events surrounding the deaths of his relatives.

This book traces his grandfather's and uncle's travels as they first tried to emigrate and then bounced around refugee and work camps in France prior to ending up at Auschwitz where they died. It also describes a recent journey by the author and his wife to trace his relatives last days, get a feeling for what they experienced, and pay their final respects to loved ones they never got to meet.

This book is unlike any Holocaust history I have ever read. It will tear your heart out.

[Lynn Eldredge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book in one day. It's powerful.
I know Martin Goldsmith from npr's Performance Today and from XM 76, Symphony Hall. I know him a lot better now, because I listened to this book, narrated by him.

In high school, I learned about the 907 Jews that tried to migrate and were sent back to Europe. Now I know people that were on that ship and what happened to them.

Do not listen to the last hour of this book while you are driving. Warning, your eyes will become very blurry and may cause an accident. Just like Friday mornings listening to StoryCorps.

[Nick Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author sets out to retrace the disjointed tragic journey of his father and uncle, affluent Jewish refugees, in the horrific time that was the prelude to World War II. Traveling from Germany to Cuba, then to France, they embrace a hopeless quest for expatriation, being moved from camp to camp, with each camp worse than the previous one. Finally, they are loaded on train cars bound for Auschwitz where they meet their fate. The author travels to each point of their journey, and in doing so, achieves a sort of remembrance and vindication.

[Betsy Boo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really, really liked this one. Special thanks to Mr. Goldsmith. He took me on a journey...physical, emotional, spiritual. You can't read this without feeling like you're right there with him AND his grandfather. I'm especially grateful because I have been reading Holocaust books for several years now trying to find an answer. Mr. Goldsmith made me understand that there is no answer. At some point you just have to accept that there is evil in this world. All you can do is fight it whenever you see it. And never, NEVER forget.

[Trudy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A grandson's journey to discover the road his grandfather and uncle walked during the years of WWII. Jewish and trying to leave Germany as Hitler became more and more brutal. Passage obtained in the SS St. Louis bound for Cuba, but not allowed to dock. No one would take them in. Forced back to Europe and the Nazi's, they were ultimately bound for concentration camps. This is a very personal account of their fatal journey. Hard to imagine the pain and suffering.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I travel back to Southern France I must re-read this book. Martin Goldsmith describes scenery & places I long to see.
I devoured this novel in 2 days. It is a well written memoir of the journey Martin & his wife took and the people they met along the way.

[Fern Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goldsmith writes on topics close to my heart. In fact, I address some of the same issues in my books. He has a deep need to understand his family's history. His book shows how the legacy of the Holocaust shapes the next generation.

[Sue Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this book a 4.5. It is extremely difficult to read, especially since I lost so many relatives to the same fate and deal with so many feelings. But it is beautifully written and gives a little different perspective to some of the history.

[Diane Charron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the most riveting book I have ever read. An incredible story, beautifully written, and impossible to put down.

[Barbara Roesch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Step by step lesson on the human capacity for forgiveness and salvation through an impossible personal journey into the past lives of loved ones wronged by family and society. There is a way out.

[Matt Hooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fellow bibliophile introduced me to "Alex's Wake" and Martin Goldsmith, and I'm better for it.

As the Nazis came to power in Germany in the mid-to-late 1930s, Goldsmith's grandfather Alex lost his home, his livelihood, and his family. And he had advantages other Jews did not – money, visas to Cuba and the United States, tickets on trains and ships – but fate conspired to keep him in Europe and at the mercy of Hitler's war machine. In the end, all but one son and one daughter were murdered in ghettos and concentration camps.

The son and daughter who managed to escaped to America carried with them an unfathomable burden of guilt, which was passed down a generation to Martin. In "Alex's Wake," Martin confronts his past, retells the family story, and literally retraces their Via Dolorosa from Oldenburg to Auschwitz.

It is a powerful read – for a litany of reasons. Not the least of which, it reminds us as Americans of our own complicated family history.

Among the many comforting, revisionist stories Americans tell themselves to get through history class, there's this: "Americans entered World War II, defeated Hitler and the Nazis, liberated concentration camps, and thereby prevented the full extermination of European Jews. We would have done more, sooner, of course – but who knew the Germans were committing full-scale genocide at these secret camps?"

Well, here's the real deal. First, had the Japanese not attacked Pearl Harbor, America may have never entered the war in full force. By that point in time, Hitler had already invaded the Soviet Union, opening up the second European front that he had originally intended to avoid. Stalingrad would break the Nazis less than a year after Pearl Harbor. After the Blitzkrieg, Germany's fighting machine began to deteriorate. Had the Americans never entered the war, there's a case to be made that Hitler would have petered out on his own in time, especially with the British holding fast. (Granted, American involvement brought the European war to a hastier conclusion.)

Second, America knew about the concentration camps. It was widely reported that Jews were trying to flee Germany because they were at risk of imprisonment and death. You can debate all day whether or not America knew that these camps were murdering more than a million persons a piece? Who knows – if you believe the liberation reports, it seems no one was prepared for what they encountered when they stumbled upon the camps. But we knew that the Jews were in trouble, that they were subject to violence and systemic abuse from their government, and that they were being expelled from the country by force and/or shunted off to work camps.

For reminding us of our historical culpability, for his courage in placing his footprints in damnable soil, for his vulnerability and honesty and anger and sadness and hope, for his outstanding and affecting writing – we owe a debt to Martin Goldsmith. A must-read.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read The Inextinguishable Symphony recently and saw this one and jumped. Again, Goldsmith narrates his biography/memoir. The first book follows Goldsmith's parents growing up in Germany between the World Wars, and then their escape from the Nazis and built a life in the US.

This book burrows deeply into Goldsmith's grandfather's story. Alex Goldschmidt was a successful businessman, had fought for the Kaiser in WWI, but we know those were not enough to protect him and his family. He and his son Helmut think they're escaping to Cuba, but their doomed voyage aboard the Saint Louis became an international incident, with the US and Canada refusing to accept the 900+ refugees, and Cuba firmly closing their doors. The ship returns to Europe, and refugees are distributed to other countries...with hindsight, we the readers know none of these countries will be safe. Alex and Helmut go to France...and then ultimately...Auschwitz and death...

Goldsmith, after writing the first book, feels impelled to tell Alex's story more fully, and to take a pilgrimage to the places in Europe that Alex and Helmut lived, stayed, were imprisoned, and died. He keeps telling us he wants to save Alex, knowing he can't.

So, this is two narratives...Alex's story, and Goldsmith's story. Same places, separated by 70 years. The ELA teacher in my appreciated how often Goldsmith relies on literature to comfort and inform his tragic journey. He searches for answers. He needs to stand where Alex and Helmut stood. And he needs to BE where they both were killed.

Tip...don't finish this audible book while you're shopping in a big-box store. I had to find an empty aisle to wander while I caught my breath and wiped my eyes.

Important...Standing witness, looking history in the face, is something we all must do.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Martin Goldsmith’s grandfather and uncle were aboard the ill-fated ship the St Louis, which embarked from Hamburg Germany heading to Havana Cuba in 1939. It carried 937 passengers, most of them Jewish refugees who believed they had the proper permits and documentation for Cuba to grant them asylum.

Unfortunately, due to the Cuban political situation, almost all were denied admittance to Cuba and the ship was sent back to Europe. Many countries including the US and Canada, denied asylum to the refugees. Eventually, they were divided among four countries with about 25% each going to the UK, Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

Goldsmiths’s relatives were among those released to France. At first the pair were in resettlement camps, but once the territory was under Nazi control, they moved to prisons camps and eventually were shipped to Birkenau where they were murdered in the Nazi gas chambers.

In this account, Goldsmith follows their journey to Cuba and then step by step across Europe, visiting the sites, finding evidence of their lives in the camps and their eventual deaths.

It’s a disturbing and humbling story, made very immediate by recent refugee criseses where refugees are also often denied asylum in the US and elsewhere.

[Bob Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Family Found

I’m a retired newspaper editor and for 40 years have been working on my own family history. In doing that personal reporting, I’ve run into our family’s share of sorrow, including some my Dad faced as a WWII airman in the South Pacific.

So I feel a kindred spirit with Martin Goldsmith. I fully understand his drive to follow his family trail to learn as much of the truth as possible.

But gosh, the depth of this man’s grief can only be fully understood by others who were directly touched by Hitler’s inhumanity in the form of the holocaust. I found tears streaming down my face several times, and for good or bad I don’t cry easily. His pain - and thankfully, some degree of salvation and peace - were palpable within these pages.

This history is made all the more important because it is so personal.

[Peg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very moving account of the author's grandfather and great-uncle who were Holocaust victims. Goldsmith and his wife follow their trail, from the doomed St. Louis, back to France, and then Germany. Goldsmith is consumed with his own guilt, as well as his father¡s, for not having saved them, and after numerous passages of this guilt, I was losing patience! He also spent quite a bit of verbiage on every croissant they ate on the trip, as well as the history of the towns and buildings they were visiting. In other words, a good editor would have helped to focus this book. Also, there was almost no mention of his grandmother and great aunt who'd been left behind in Germany and who also perished. Another book on the horizon??

[Una Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. Its well written and not at all downbeat even though the story at its heart definitely is. It was hard to read especially as you know of its tragic ending but despite that, it still resonates with the joy of living, hope, a rich family history and deep family love. Its sad that the hopes weren't met with success and salvation but the journey the author takes does, in part, lessen the grave errors by states and humankind that led to this tragedy. I would definitely recommend.

[Angi Webber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very emotional read!!

I have read many books about the Holocaust and have to say that this one touched me and broke my heart countless times. I, like the author, was frequently in tears and lost in the sadness of the many places where he stood knowing his grandfather and uncle were there. It is an amazing story and should be read as a reminder of what happened to one family in particular but also to thousands of other families.

[Karen Ann Schmid · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Memoir of Remembrance and Healing

This work by Martin Goldsmith takes the reader on the personal journey of the Goldsmith ancestors. Along the path of his grandparents, aunt, and uncle, Martin rediscovers the personal tragedy and loss of his family in the Holocaust. Unexpected connections and forgiveness are also found in author’s search to rescue his family and soothe his very troubled soul.