Alex's Wake: A Voyage of Betrayal and a Journey of Remembrance

Join Patricia when she interviews Martin Goldsmith, host and classical music programmer for SiriusXM Radio's Symphony Hall and former hose of NPR's Performance Today from 1989 to 1999. He is the author of The Inextinguishable Symphony and Alex's Wake: A Voyage of Betrayal and a Journey of Remembrance. In Alex's Wake, Goldsmith details his six-week quest to retrace the journey his grandfather and his uncle made from the St. Louis to Auschwitz. On May 13, 1939 the MS St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany, loaded with Jewish refugees eager to escape Nazi Germany. However, denied entry to the United States, the ship's passengers were returned to Europe, where many were captured and sent to concentration camps. Alexander Goldschmidt and his son, Helmut, spent the next three years in six different camps before they were murdered in Auschwitz. As we approach the 75th anniversary of the St. Louis' disastrous voyage (May 13) as well as Holocaust Remembrance Day (sunset on April 27th to sunset on April 28th), Alex's Wakesheds light on part of the Holocaust that is missing from many textbooks. In his memoir, Martin Goldsmith gives voice to two stories: the story of his ancestors, which echoes those of thousands of Holocaust victims, and his own story, the story of a grandson left behind to cope with and ultimately embrace his family legacy.