“The big fight will be on the radio tonight,” my stepfather said. “We can listen. It will not be for long.” I tried to comprehend what was happening. He didn’t speak directly to me very often, and almost never about something we would do together.
The story of how Grandpa became a movie mogul is as unlikely as its ending was abrupt.
When the Nazis entered Vienna, my father was killed, my brother Manfred was sent to England on a Kindertransport, and my mother and I fled to the United States in early 1941.
Baseball is a part of my earliest memories. It was the path for a “refugee” to feel accepted as just another kid. I was an obsessive child—and skilled with numbers—so following baseball felt natural. I devoured team standings and batting averages.
Listen to or read Holocaust survivors’ experiences, told in their own words through oral histories, written testimony, and public programs.
