After their honeymoon, my parents returned to Warsaw where my father spent the next several months arguing with his new in-laws regarding his concerns about the coming war and fate of European Jews in the face of Hitler’s plans. My mother’s parents hated to see their youngest leave, but eventually acquiesced and the newlyweds departed from Warsaw for Cuba in late 1938. This photo shows none of the tension that they must have felt during that period.

Many years later, my mother wrote poignantly of leaving Europe:

“We had continuous discussions with my parents and my family. They wanted, of course, for us to stay in Poland. My father offered all the help he could give us in earning a living, if only Maurice listened to ‘reason’ and his suggestions. But all the discussions did not change the reality of the situation. . . . My father, like so many other people, was deluding himself, reassuring everybody by saying that ‘things will quiet down and life will return to normal.’”
When they finally announced their decision to emigrate, my parents were still faced with the question of “Where to?” Their choices – Palestine, South America, and the U.S. – all had strict quotas and required long waits for visas. Eventually, they met a woman who had married a Cuban and emigrated to Cuba several years earlier. She painted a “picture of life in Havana in rosy colors.” No visa was required, only a $500 per person deposit.

“We tried to think of our decision as an adventure, but deep inside we were scared, really scared, and had many doubts and misgivings. But we never admitted this to my family.” She and my father left by train for Gdynia.

“I will never forget the sight of all our family and friends gathered at the railroad station shouting goodbyes and good wishes. I was saying goodbye to everyone with a smile and my eyes were dry. Then I noticed that my mother was standing at the back of the crowd as if she were waiting for something. Suddenly, I remember what she had once told me: according to Jewish tradition, before going away, you reserve your last kiss and embrace for your mother. I ran to her and threw my arms around her and both of us burst out crying.

“And that was the last time I saw my family.”