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1939
The Last to Leave
Germany & The National Story
The Nazi regime creates the Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration, tightening government control over a process designed to force Jews from Germany while stripping them of their remaining property and dignity.
Germany occupies the remaining Czech lands, extending Nazi rule and its antisemitic policies beyond Germany's borders.
On September 1, Germany invades Poland, beginning World War II. As borders close and wartime restrictions take hold, escape becomes even more dangerous and uncertain.
The Neuburger Family
Max is released from Dachau and begins a desperate search for Werner, eventually locating him in a Christian orphanage in Cologne.
As the window to escape Germany rapidly closes, a chance encounter with a former Jewish neighbor from Binswangen creates an unexpected opportunity to send Werner to America. Max makes the heartbreaking decision to send his nephew ahead without him.
Max says goodbye to three-year-old Werner and entrusts him to his former neighbor. Werner is taken to Antwerp, where he boards the SS Veendam for America, arriving safely in New York and reuniting with his aunts and uncles. Weeks later, Max escapes Germany after Catholic nuns shelter him from the Gestapo.
A Moment in Time
By 1939, the Nazi government was simultaneously forcing Jews to leave Germany and making escape increasingly difficult. Emigration required money, sponsors, visas, official approvals, and the willingness of another country to provide refuge. As war began and borders tightened, survival often depended not only on documents, but on chance encounters, personal sacrifice, and the courage of people willing to help.
German forces invade Poland in September 1939, beginning World War II. The invasion transformed Europe's political crisis into open war just as thousands of Jewish families were desperately seeking a way out.
Werner Neuburger shortly after arriving in the United States. At just three years old, he had escaped Nazi Germany—the only surviving member of his immediate family.
Epilogue
By the end of 1939, several members of the Neuburger family had escaped Germany. Sadly, other members of the extended Neuburger and Heidelberger families remained behind and were later murdered during the Holocaust. Their deaths brought the family's centuries-long presence in Germany to a tragic end.
Werner's survival ensured that one branch of the family would endure. His rescue was made possible by the courage, sacrifice, and compassion of ordinary people who chose to help when it mattered most.
Werner grew up in the United States and later changed his name to Gene, wanting a name that sounded less German. He eventually married, raised a family, and lived until 2010. The survival of one three-year-old boy made it possible for future generations—including the author—to preserve the story of those who could no longer tell it themselves.
Werner "Gene" Neuburger later in life—the three-year-old refugee who survived and built a new life in America.
HISTORY RECORDED HOW IT ENDED. THIS IS HOW IT BEGAN.
