How hurt I was when I was forbidden to enter the study in our house, where you sat grim faced, clutching a telephone with reams of papers, pens, and inkwells surrounding you. Through the mists of cigarette smoke that encircled your being I saw you, haggard and tired, yet with a determination to fulfill some dreadful task. Little did I know that you, at risk of your own life, gave orders in the name of your half-brother, a high ranking Herman official, to release prisoners, to issue exit papers to thousands of Jewish and other ethnic peoples, thus saving their lives. How you forged your half-brother’s name on the documents, how you changed your voice and bearing to sound like he. Neither did I know that, after saving the life of the composer of the “Merry Widow” Franz Lehar and his family, he composed an important musical piece in your
How hurt I was when I was forbidden to enter the study in our house, where you sat grim faced, clutching a telephone with reams of papers, pens, and inkwells surrounding you. Through the mists of cigarette smoke that encircled your being I saw you, haggard and tired, yet with a determination to fulfill some dreadful task. Little did I know that you, at risk of your own life, gave orders in the name of your half-brother, a high ranking Herman official, to release prisoners, to issue exit papers to thousands of Jewish and other ethnic peoples, thus saving their lives. How you forged your half-brother’s name on the documents, how you changed your voice and bearing to sound like he. Neither did I know that, after saving the life of the composer of the “Merry Widow” Franz Lehar and his family, he composed an important musical piece in your