Child Holocaust survivor, immigrant, farm boy, St. Louis Cardinals fan, Ph.D., scientist, international consultant—G. Eugene Gottlieb was only five years old when he witnessed the horrors of Kristallnacht in a small German town, Venningen. He saw his father arrested and experienced the family’s exile from their home where his ancestors had lived for generations, since the 1700s.
He and his parents were then forced to leave Germany, immigrating to the U.S. in February 1939 and eventually settling in Woodbine, New Jersey, a community that had welcomed immigrants since the late 1800s. After WWII the Gottliebs had to cope with revelations about the loss of their many family members in death camps.
Despite the trauma he and his family had endured in Germany and after,
they lived in the present, putting their past behind them and prospering in their new homeland. Readers will not only enjoy Dr. Gottlieb’s memoir, especially his boyhood adventures in Woodbine, but also will be inspired by his journey from Germany to Woodbine to Princeton.
Preface: How My Holocasut Survivor Grandfather Influenced Me
Part One: Germany, 1932-1939
Chapter 1: Germany 1932-1938................................................ 1
Chapter 2: Nazi Laws.................................................................. 4
Chapter 3: Help with Visas......................................................... 8
Chapter 4: In a Wine Barrel........................................................13
Chapter 5: Migration to Holland ..............................................20
Chapter 6: .Emigration from Germany.....................................33
Chapter 7: .The Aftermath of the Holocaust.......................... 38
Chapter 8: .Why Didn’t More German Jews Escape?............. 41
Part Two: The United States, 1939
Chapter 9: From Cities to Farm................................................46
Part Three: .Woodbine, 1939-1952
Chapter 10: Woodbine and Baron DeHirsch..........................51
Chapter 11: Woodbine Farms....................................................53
Chapter 12: Growing Up in Woodbine....................................64
Chapter 13: Sam Azeez...............................................................68
Chapter 14: Conversations with My Father.............................72
Chapter 15: Support Groups......................................................80
Part Four: Education, 1950-1971
Chapter 16: Schools.....................................................................106
Chapter 17: Higher Education...................................................121
Part Five: Work and Travel Make Life Sweet, 1960-Present
Chapter 18: .Work Sweetens Life................................................141
Chapter 19: Trip to Europe, Return to Venningen, 1971..............156
Chapter 20: Visit to Israel, 1972................................................173
Chapter 21: New Work Makes Life Even Sweeter.................182
Chapter 22: .Becoming a Consultant......................................... 200
Part Six: Epilogue
Chapter 23: Family.......................................................................210
Chapter 24: The Land of Opportunity................................... 223
Chapter 25: Reflection.................................................................225
Fate of the Gottlieb Family in Europe....................................231
Fate of the Teutsch Family in Europe.....................................232
Timeline........................................................................................233
Acknowledgments....................................................................... 235
Works Cited...................................................................................236
Endnotes.......................................................................................238
Maps...............................................................................................253
Documents....................................................................................259
Photographs..................................................................................271