Overview
An intimate memoir recounting a woman's quest to solve the mystery of her Holocaust survivor father's death. As a child growing up in Vancouver in the 1950s and early '60s, Diana Wichtel knew there was something different about her family. Her parents were far from forthcoming about the harrowing details of her Jewish father's journey from Poland to Canada during the Second World War, often leaving young Diana with more questions than answers. She was told that during the War, Benjamin Wichtel and several members of his family were herded onto a train headed for the Treblinka extermination camp. Along the way, Benjamin seized the opportunity to jump off the train, leaving his loved ones behind. Evading the Nazis for the remainder of the War, Benjamin made his way to Canada and new life with a family of his own. But the past haunted him, and the pain of what he had gone through infiltrated his home life. When Diana was thirteen, her mother took her three children back to her native New Zealand, with the plan that Benjamin would follow them. However, the family never saw him again. After decades of unanswered questions, Diana (now a journalist), set out on her own to uncover what happened to her father. The search became an obsession as she uncovered information about his Warsaw family and their fate at the hands of the Nazis, scoured archives for clues to her father's disappearance, and visited the places he lived. This unforgettable memoir is a reflection on the meaning of family, the trauma of loss, and the insistence of memory.
Full Product Details
Author: Diana Wichtel
Publisher: Heritage House
Imprint: Heritage House
Dimensions:
Width: 15.00cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 22.60cm
Weight: 0.431kg
ISBN: 9781772032994
ISBN 10: 1772032999
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 13 August 2019
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Available To Order
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Reviews
This is a story that reminds readers of the atrocities that ordinary people did to each other, the effect on those who survived and the reverberations felt through following generations. -- (07/17/2019) A poignant and gripping story that is full of tension as the truth about what Diana Wichtel's father and others in her family endured slowly unfolds. -- (07/17/2019) Intimate, moving and eloquent. -- (07/17/2019) Driving to Treblinka is both a loving tribute . . . and a redolently powerful meditation on the great weight carried by descendants of survivors. -- (07/17/2019) Driving to Treblinka is much more than a daughter's quest for her missing and misunderstood father. It's a searing exploration of the burden carried by all Holocaust survivors through generations and across continents. In lighting a memorial candle for her father, Diana Wichtel pays tribute to them all. A powerful and confronting read. -- (07/17/2019)
Intimate, moving and eloquent. -- (07/17/2019) A poignant and gripping story that is full of tension as the truth about what Diana Wichtel's father and others in her family endured slowly unfolds. -- (07/17/2019) This is a story that reminds readers of the atrocities that ordinary people did to each other, the effect on those who survived and the reverberations felt through following generations. -- (07/17/2019) Driving to Treblinka is both a loving tribute . . . and a redolently powerful meditation on the great weight carried by descendants of survivors. -- (07/17/2019) Driving to Treblinka is much more than a daughter's quest for her missing and misunderstood father. It's a searing exploration of the burden carried by all Holocaust survivors through generations and across continents. In lighting a memorial candle for her father, Diana Wichtel pays tribute to them all. A powerful and confronting read. -- (07/17/2019)
Author Information
Diana Wichtel is an award-winning journalist and a feature writer and television critic at current affairs magazine the New Zealand Listener. She holds a master of arts degree from the University of Auckland and is the recipient of a 2016 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship. Her memoir, Driving in Treblinka, was a national bestseller in New Zealand and in 2018 won two New Zealand Book Awards: the Royal Society Te Aparangi Award for General Non-fiction and the E.H. McCormick Best First Book Award for General Non-Fiction. She lives in Auckland.
