Czech Republic series: First Day in Cesky-Tesin

Tuesday September 15. Prague --> Cesky-Tesin.

"I am tired, forgive me, of hearing about Holocaust Stories." As we travelled to Csesky Tesin, at a McDonalds, the topic again was that of Jews, Jewish history, Nazi Holocaust, and etc. “Did you happen to see, Walter, the video about the woman who saved so many Jews during the Holocaust?”

“Forgive me for appearing insensitive,” Walter began, “but I have seen enough of such things. I do not doubt their veracity, but they do not affect me. When I get emotional, it's when I talk about my father.”

Later that afternoon, we heard about his father. Now, in Cesky-Tesin, we spent a long late-afternoon walking about this small town, stopping every once in a while, to hear a “Walter-Story” about what happened in that place, in this house. We found out what was still there, and what was missing. We heard about how everything changed for his family once Goebbels had a gathering in the town square … people who were used to being friendly to “Dr. Ziffer” and his family could no longer look them square in the eyes.

The house in which Walter came to live when he was two days old is “the last house before you get to Poland,” beside the river bridge, across which one can walk undeterred to Poland.

One Chain of Unbelievable Stories
The evening meal at the restaurant turned into a marathon story-fest by Walter of his experiences in some of the seven camps. The theme was luck, prosaic as it might sound. Through a remarkable sequence of luck, Walter is here. Any of a numerous string of incidents could have been the interrupting factor that led to his being elsewhere than right here in this hotel with us.

In one story, he was on a train, and a guard came in asking if anyone knew how to play chess. Walter raised his hand, alone in all the car who did. He was led to the General’s car, and told to play him in chess. During the match, his car was evacuated, the occupants going to who knows where, and probably their death. By him staying with the general, playing chess, he survived.

He wrote down this story once, and sent it in to Reader’s Digest. They wrote back, saying that they get lots of stories like this, but have a policy whereby they don’t print such unbelievable stories.