Signals A Young Refugee's Flight from Germany in the Thirties

by Frederick G. Cohn

This is an autobiographical narrative dealing with the experience of a teenaged Jewish refugee from Nazi oppression, from the moment he and his family had to leave Germany at the beginning of 1937. The family emigrated to Czechoslovakia and when this country was occupied by the Germans the family managed to get to Poland. While his parents arrived in London shortly before the outbreak of war, Martin and his older brother, Paul, were caught up in the war in Poland. They attempted to make their way to England via Russian occupied Poland and Lithuania. Eventually they succeeded. The book describes the journey of the brothers, but it is not an 'adventure yarn' or a 'hard-luck story'. It is an exploration into the thoughts and feelings of Martin Rosen, the younger of the two brothers, his relationships with people he had known at that time, with his brother and parents, and the very close childhood friends that he had left behind in Germany. Through reminiscences of his childhood told in flashbacks the reader learns something about his background, about his ambitions to become a writer and about his beliefs. The events described are often bizarre; the chances of survival were very slim. After the reunion with his parents, Martin understood that there was still a long way to go to reach maturity.

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