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'In Search of My Father' is the true life story of a young Jewish boy from Slovakia caught up in the tragedy of the Holocaust. After being liberated in Theresienstadt by the Red Army, six year old Paul Drexler struggles to come to terms with his father's mysterious disappearance. He migrates to Australia with his heartbroken mother and begins a new life, but memories of his father are never far from his mind.
Fifty years later Paul Drexler begins searching for his father, Eugen Drexler. His journey takes him from Australia to Slovakia, Germany and foreign lands that he never thought he would ever visit or return to. His desperate search to unveil the circumstances surrounding his father's brutal killing in the last days of World War 11 finally comes to an end, with evidence uncovered in the most unexpected of places.
Powerful, moving and painfully real, 'In Search of My Father' is a testament to the bond between father and son - a bond that cannot be broken by separation, death or the passing of time.
Chapter Two - UNDER ARREST (part):
The first dramatic change in our lives that I was aware of was in September, 1944, when our business and property were taken over by 'Arizators' - trustees appointed by the government. A fellow by the name of Novak - a well-dressed man from Trnava who wore a similar grey suit to my father - was appointed to take over my father's business. Pan Novak came every day for about a week for long meetings with my father about the change in ownership. Shortly after, Novak, his wife, three children and his mother moved into our house. My parents and I were forced to live in the attached apartment, which was previously occupied by my grandmother Regina. There was no room for my other grandmother, Maria Weiss to live with us in the small apartment, but fortunately my mother was able to arrange for her to stay with a friendly Christian woman in the village...
...Unbeknown to me, the next few months were extremely dangerous for us because the Nazis were conducting a further roundup of Jewish families. My mother believed that they were looking for adult males, so she would send my father out of the village when they were warned the Nazi patrols were expected in our area...
JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY:
...Our boat sailed to the area where the Cap Arcona sank, four kilometres from shore. There, we scattered flowers on the sea in tribute to the dead. Throughout the journey Herr Lange talked about the incident. He explained to the history teachers that the largest ship, Cap Arcon, had explosives in its bows, deliberately put there by the Nazis so that when hit by the British, the whole ship would explode. There was a Scandinavian man in our party who was very emotional and told us his story. In May, 1945, he was nine years old and lived with his family in Neustadt. He recalled how they heard the explosion and saw the smoke rising from the Cap Arcona. He had never seen such a sight and was very scared. For the next day and many weeks thereafter, he and his family, including his four year old sister, went down to the beach and watched the waterlogged bodies wash ashore. He could not forget this sight. It gave him and his sister nightmares for a long time...
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