Places Behind the Story
Follow the places that shaped my family's journey.
Every place has a story. Together, these places trace my family's journey—from small Bavarian villages to cities of refuge. They witnessed my family's joys and struggles, and, ultimately, their determination to survive.
Explore the places that shaped my family's journey and discover how each became part of the true story behind The Last to Leave.
Follow the Journey
Binswangen today
Marie Neuburger with newborn twins Max and Julius (1902)
1. Binswangen, Bavaria, Germany
Where our family lived for generations.
A close-knit Jewish community with its own synagogue, school, and traditions, Binswangen was home to the Neuburger family for generations. As part of a Jewish community that had existed here since the 1600s, my great-grandparents, Sigmund and Marie Neuburger, raised their children—including my grandfather, Julius—before Nazi persecution destroyed that centuries-old way of life.
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Flehingen today
Rose Heidelberger (later Rose Neuburger)
2. Flehingen (Sickingen), Baden, Germany
Where my grandmother’s story began.
Flehingen was the childhood home of my grandmother, Rose Heidelberger. Here she grew up surrounded by family, faith, and a close-knit Jewish community before marrying my grandfather, Julius Neuburger, and beginning the next chapter of her life in Binswangen. Like countless Jewish communities throughout Germany, Flehingen would ultimately see generations of Jewish life shattered by Nazi persecution.
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Former entrance to Dachau Concentration Camp
Max Neuburger's release record from Dachau (Arolsen Archives)
3. Dachau, Germany
Where persecution was carried out on a national scale.
By November 1938, my grandmother, Rose, died under circumstances that family accounts attribute to her being denied medical care, and my grandfather, Julius, had been murdered. During Kristallnacht, my great-uncle Max was arrested while in Binswangen completing the remaining family's emigration plans and imprisoned at Dachau concentration camp. Kristallnacht marked the Nazi regime’s escalation from persecuting individual Jews to the coordinated, mass imprisonment of thousands across Germany. His incarceration separated him from my then two-year-old father Werner, and delayed the desperate effort to get Werner out of Nazi Germany.
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Cologne today
Max Neuburger with three-year-old Werner
4. Cologne, Germany
Where Werner Was Found.
After his release from Dachau concentration camp, Max Neuburger traveled to Cologne in search of his three-year-old nephew, Werner. Werner had been living under an assumed identity in an orphanage after the deaths of both his parents, concealed there by a trusted family friend who risked her own safety to protect him from Nazi persecution. Finding Werner marked the beginning of his rescue from Nazi Germany and the final stage of the remaining family's journey to freedom following nearly three years of relentless tragedy.
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Antwerp today
SS Veendam, the ship that carried Werner to America
5. Antwerp, Belgium
One final opportunity for escape.
Antwerp became the remaining family's final refuge before leaving Europe. It was from here that three-year-old Werner boarded the SS Veendam for America, beginning the journey that would ultimately save his life and ensure our family's story would continue.
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Lower Manhattan today
Werner Neuburger with two of his grandchildren
6. New York, USA
Where a new life began.
New York became more than a destination—it became the place where our family could begin again. Here, survivors rebuilt their lives, raised new families, and preserved the memories that would one day inspire The Last to Leave. Shown here is my father, Werner, with two of his many grandchildren—living reminders of the future made possible by his survival and the courage of the family and friends who helped save him.
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