The Last Train: Exodus to Tashkent; A Story of Love by Coincidence
New York: Exposition Press, 1966. First Edition [stated]. Hardcover. 119, [1] pages. Format is approximately 5.75 inches by 8.5 inches. Inscribed and dated by the author on fep. DJ has some wear and soiling. Paperclip mark and pencil erasure on fep. Herman was called for duty as a medic in the Polish Army in August 1939. Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. The Polish army was defeated within weeks of the Blitzkrieg. The Soviet Union occupied eastern Poland according to the German-Soviet Pact on September 17, 1939. Herman, along with the retreating Polish Army, was captured by the Soviet forces after crossing the Bug River. While officers and those of higher rank were sent to Katyn and later executed, lower ranking soldiers were sent to Siberia, a harsh area of the Soviet Union where gulags (Soviet work camps) were located. After the war Herman married Susan Strauss, a fellow survivor. The two immigrated to the United States in 1947. Herman an author of more than twenty novels and books of poetry, was a journalist for over 60 years. This is the odyssey of Morritz Weingarten not Mischa Wengrov--former citizen of Germany, now a wanderer without a home. Leaving his possessions behind, he flees to Poland and from there to Russia, where after five months' solitary imprisonment, he is issued a temporary living permit, set free and given a job. Later, to flee the approaching Germans, Wengrov is shipped with other refugees by train to Tashkent. On the train, traditional modesty is forsaken, and the lives and love-making of the passengers become public, no longer sacred. Mischa's story is that of every man who has been displaced by war--wandering everywhere, wanted nowhere. More than that it is the story of a man grateful to the people who gave him succor. The Last Train echoes a call of brotherhood and unity of spirit. It offers the hope that, ultimately, "peace will come, bread will come." Condition: Good / Good.
Keywords: Novels, Jews, Holocaust, Displace Persons, Refugees, Morritz Weingarten, Mischa Wengrov, Imprisonment, Solitary Confinement, Tashkent, Human Rights, Survival
[Book #76768]
Price: $75.00