Escape Home: Rebuilding a Life After the Anschluss

by Charles Paterson, Carrie Paterson (Editor), Hensley Peterson (Editor)

Escape Rebuilding a Life after the Anschluss tells the story of a secular Jewish family uprooted by the Nazi occupation of Austria and Czechoslovakia who flee Europe to reunite in post-war America and rebuild their lives. Based primarily on the memoir of architectural designer and Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice Charles Paterson (born Karl Schanzer), who was nine years old when the Nazi invasion reached Vienna, as well as newly uncovered documents and accounts of events found in letters between family members, the book is a riveting tale of discovery and coming to terms with a past that casts a long shadow.

570 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2013

Reviews

[Evelyn Petschek]

The author’s father was one of my beloved teachers in high school, so reading the complete story of his life was fascinating. And all these years later, I admire him all the more. The courage it must have taken as a recently widowed father to send his two young children off to Australia to escape the Nazis, not knowing if he would ever see them again, is remarkable. Not the best writing throughout, but definitely 5 stars for the content.