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Egon grew up in the peaceful city of Ptuj. Today it is in the new country of Slovenia. There, he spent an idyllic childhood with his parents and brother Kurt, whiling away long days fishing, learning to swim and watching his favourite cousin hypnotize doves on the window ledge. But by the age of 11, Egon had become an unwilling witness to horrific atrocities perpetrated by the Ustashe, a violent right-wind terrorist group otherwise known as the Croatian Nazis. the advancing shadow of German Nazism propelled Egon’s family to flee to Bosnia, then internment in Italy and finally to Switzerland.

This detailed and moving memoir explores the impact of Nazism on Jews of the former Yugoslavia. Egon takes us with him through the political upheavals in post war Europe, the joys and struggles of migration to the young nation of Israel and life in apartheid South Africa. Finally, he and his family settle in Sydney, Australia in the early 1980s.

At the age of 26, Egon, with minimal English, landed his first real job as an assistant weaving manager in east London, South Africa. ten years later he started his own factory.

Egon has a strong sense of fairness and justice. he never forgot those whose kindness saved his life. In 2019 he succeeded in having Yad Vashem honour his adopted sister’s Muslim rescuers as ‘Righteous amongst the nations’.

Paperback, 257 pages.

9780648245995

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