Sandy Einstein remembers Growing up my father rarely talked about his past and I really did not have much interest in asking him about it. He did say he was ransomed out of Germany during the Nazi reign of terror in the 1930‘s by a Hollywood producer and was a tutor to the producer‘s son teaching him Hebrew since in Germany he was a Hebrew teacher and a cantor. My father passed away when I was 20 and my mother passed away when I was 37. She left a handwritten will, some financial documents and around 40 or so letters of my father written in German; all in an apparel box. Late 2010, 28 years after my mother passed away, I decided I would like to know more about my ancestry since it was of no concern to me in my youth. I looked into the apparel box and found my fathers letters; one stood out to me in particular; the letter he wrote to Carl Laemmle, the Hollywood producer. I had it translated and found out that in the letter he agreed to come to America with him. After reading the letter I became intrigued and wanted to learn more about my father‘s past and my heritage. I searched the internet and found out more about Carl Laemmle and discovered an essay written in 1998 by Udo Bayer for the “Film History Journal” titled‚ “Laemmle‘s List”. It discussed among other things Carl Laemmle issuing affidavits to rescue German Jews from the oppression of the Nazi Regime of the 1930‘s. After reading the essay I realized my father was one of the affidavits on “Laemmle‘s List”. This was a major revelation for me. I made contact with Udo Bayer the noted Laemmle historian in Laupheim, Laemmle‘s birthplace, sent him my father‘s 40 or so letters to be translated and that was the beginning of our friendship. After reading Udo‘s essay, I felt that the world should be made aware of Carl Laemmle‘s unknown humanitarian deeds and proceeded to try and create an awareness of this fact in the media. Udo and myself started e-mailing each other giving me background on Laemmle, his issuing of affidavits, the political situation in Germany in the 1930‘s and sending me archival documents from the National Archives in Washington DCand other sources. This information would help me in trying to get articles published; however, even with the valuable information given to me by Udo, it was very difficult to get any of the media interested in wanting to publish an article on Laemmle and his unknown humanitarian deeds. I persevered and did not give up. I was finally able to get local and regional publications to publish articles and my greatest achievement was when I made contact with the esteemed author and lecturer, Neal Gabler. After much effort, Mr. Gabler and myself were able to get the New York Times to publish an article on Laemmle that was syndicated worldwide. In September 2013 I made a trip to Laupheim to meet Udo. He was the ultimate host and tour guide. He took me to the site of the Jewish school where my father taught, the synagogue where he was a cantor, and the Museum of Christian and Jewish History where there is an entire wing dedicated to Laemmle. I had dinner at his home where he prepared the meal and introduced me to his wife Gabi. We then traveled to nearby Bad Buchau, my fathers birthplace. Udo introduced me to the town historian, Charlotte Mayenberger, who took me on a tour of the town, introduced me to the mayor, Peter Diesch, and showed my the site where my family‘s home once stood. She also gave me a copy of my family tree reaching back to my great-great-great-great-great-greatgreat- grandfather in 1665. With regards to me researching my roots, I have come full circle. My journey began discovering Udo Bayer‘s essay “Laemmle‘s List” and along the way I was able to establish a friendship with Udo and also create an awareness of Carl Laemmle‘s humanitarian efforts rescuing German Jews from Nazi oppression of the 1930‘s. Unfortunately Udo passed away September 25, 2015. The world has lost a generous soul.CA, Walnut Creek, USA, Oktober 2016weiterlesen