An Uncommon Journey: From Vienna to Shanghai to America--A Brother and Sister Escape to Freedom During World War II - Hardcover

Deborah Strobin; Ilie Wacs

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1569804524 ISBN 13: 9781569804520

Publisher: Barricade Books, 2011

Synopsis

On a visit to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, Deborah Strobin and her brother Ilie Wacs came face to face with their painful past as refugees in Shanghai's Jewish ghetto. There, hanging on the Museum's wall, they were shocked to discover photos of Deborah as a five-year-old posing for Japanese war propaganda.
 
During a brief period, 1938-1945, China was a haven to 18,000 Jewish refugees primarily from Nazi Germany and Nazi Austria.
 
While the rest of the civilized world deplored the persecution of the Jews, it kept its doors locked.
 
Shanghai was the only place on earth that accepted Jewish refugees without any restrictions. All that was needed was passage on a ship to China.
 
Shanghai, incredibly, was then occupied by the Japanese. Despite hardships and deprivations they imposed both on the Chinese and the Jews who fled Nazi persecution, they did not accede to the German demands to "solve the Jewish problem." Indeed, they were the only transplanted Jewish community to survive intact.
 
Unraveling a family's 12-year odyssey across continents and the chaos of war is the subject of a unique memoir by a sister and brother ten years apart entitled An Uncommon Journey--From Vienna to Shanghai to America A Brother and Sister Escape to Freedom During World War II . The book is written by Deborah Strobin, a San Francisco philanthropist and her older and only sibling, Ilie Wacs, a celebrated New York clothing designer and artist.
 
In the years since Deborah and Ilie discovered her image in the half-century-old photographs in the Holocaust Museum, the two have uncovered their memories in An Uncommon Journey--recollections of pre-war Vienna, how they lived, how they escaped to Italy and then how they boarded a ship with thousands of others bound for an unknown destination: China. The book pieces together their memories of living in the Shanghai ghetto, a story many WW II observers know little about.
 
Written from two perspectives, Ilie's story is that of a teenage boy, eager for adventure, ready to explore new worlds, conflicted between a sense of responsibility to his family and a determination to follow his own dreams. Deborah's story is one of a young girl raised by a beauty queen mother and independent-minded father whose determination to keep her innocent and protected collided every day with the harsh realities of being a poor Jewish refugee in the Shanghai ghetto.

About this title

About the Author

Deborah Strobin and Ilie Wacs, Vienna-born siblings, escaped Nazi Austria along with their parents on the last boat to Shanghai during WWII.

Today Deborah is a well-known Nob Hill, San Francisco philanthropist credited with organizing large and high profile fundraising events over the past two decades, including the first ever HIV/AIDS benefit at Davies Symphony Hall in the 1980s, the city's first Yves St. Laurent couture fashion show to benefit the San Francisco Symphony, and the largest fundraiser in US history for stem cell research in 2006. Deborah also served as the Deputy Chief of Protocol for the city of San Francisco and commissioner of the Public Library Commission. Her late husband, Ed Strobin was chief executive officer of Banana Republic and one of the founders of Discovery Channel stores.

Ilie Wacs (pronounced Eely Wax, a Romanian name) is an artist and former fashion designer who studied art in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts after WWII and then worked for designer Alex Maguy. He went to New York at the request of suit and coat maker Philip Magone and in the late sixties designed for coat maker Originala. In the early seventies he started designing suits and coats under his own label. He made his mark designing fitted coats in vibrant colors with clean lines and simple cuts at a time when coats were boxy. His highly successful Ilie Wacs and Wacs Works lines spanned over two decades. After retiring from his career in fashion he has devoted his time to painting with his works often shown in New York galleries. He resides in New York City and Eastern Long Island.

Review

An Uncommon Journey proves that reality is stranger than fiction. Ilie & Dorit escape from Vienna to Shanghai to America during WW II. This difficult past gives them strength for their ultimate journey, the one to find themselves. This book is harrowing drama, part love story, part adventure. It is a compelling read.

- Marvin Hamlisch, Composer

A brother and sister tale of family survival in Shanghai's Jewish community and their remarkable lives in America. This book reminds us of our strength and vitality and is cause for celebration.

- Anne Roiphe, Writer/journalist and author of 18 books of fiction and non-fiction

An Uncommon Journey is a riveting account of an Austrian Jewish family's flight to freedom during WWII, a testimonial to the powers of adaptation, ingenuity, and family unity, with a bit of luck thrown in. A fresh, valuable addition to the literature on the period.

- Erica Abeel, Entertainment journalist and author of the novel Conscience Point

It is rare to find a memoir written with an immediacy of emotion and observation that recaptures the moment of everything that happened at the time it happened. I consider it one of the great accounts of family and survival.

- Peter Sichel, Wine grower for 50 yrs, is writing his memoirs of 16 yrs in the OSS and CIA after escaping from the Nazis

An Uncommon Journey is about one family, father, mother, son and daughter who were lucky to have been able to find a place on a ship that brought them to Shanghai on their journey to America. It is about survival against all odds. I could not put it down.

- Ernest Michel, Survivor of WWII and author of Promises to Keep and Promises Kept

Edition details

• Publisher: Barricade Books
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1569804524
• ISBN 13: 9781569804520
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288