RICHARD ROAD:
Journey from Hate
will be available
in February, 2012


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MAN
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Lud Gutmann MD
© copyright 2009, 2010,
2011
THREE YEARS of writing, researching, remembering, and finally
a visit to Frankfurt, Germany, have gone into my soon to be
published book, Richard Road: Journey from Hate.

It is a memoir about my family—the story of the four of us fleeing
the Nazi threat, about coming to America, about learning to be an
American boy, about the conflicts of competing cultures.

It is about my mother's promise to God to become an Orthodox
Jew in return for His help in our escape. My mother's powerful
anger at the disruption of our lives and the painful loss of
relatives and friends who remained in Germany pervaded our
upbringing.

My father, Salomon (Sally), was a gregarious and successful
salesman and business executive. Beginning in 1933, he listened
with mounting anxiety to warnings from friends (a surprising one
being his SS trooper chauffeur), and decided we had no choice
but to leave. This, despite my father having fought with the
German Army in World War I and his and my mother’s belief that
they were fully assimilated into German society.

We left at a time when we could still take many of our
possessions and a little of our money with us. My mother, Rosi,
had written to an aunt for help. It came in the form of an affidavit
of support. In 1937, my parents and I arrived in New York harbor
with my newborn brother, Frank, in a laundry-basket bed.

In New York City, without English, there were no job prospects
for my father in the business world. With the last of their money,
my parents did the only thing they could do, they bought a
chicken farm in New Jersey and settled down to a future of
strenuous work. So did other former German businessmen,
lawyers, judges, teachers.

An owner of a chicken farm in the 1930s was the major worker—
they were  small family businesses. Mass-production in farming
hadn't arrived. Every day was a work day, with chickens and
eggs to look after, farm buildings to be kept in shape, and a lot of
heavy lifting. "Your father is healthier here than he was in
Germany," my mother was right.

My mother's dominant personality affected both Frank and me as
we grew up. So did her relentless emphasis on literature, music,
and education. Her strong opinions on health, prejudice, and duty
had both positive and negative sides. We fought and argued but
stayed devoted.

My father's interest in people, his outgoing ways, his sense of
humor, his business acumen, his steady work ethic, and his
determination to avoid confrontation were positive influences on
me and tempered my mother’s more confrontational style.
Education and portable careers had become the key to survival in
a hostile world. They viewed my attending Princeton University
as the culmination of their efforts and the pinnacle of their
success.
Richard Road: Journey from Hate