Schwarz’s book tells the story of his father, who at just 13, escaped to France during World War II, and then landed in Palestine before reuniting with his parents in England seven years later.
As a child, Ron Schwarz remembers being captivated by his father Charles’ stories of escaping Nazi Germany. Charles was an only child living with his parents in southern Germany in 1939.
“My father was always willing to talk about it, and I couldn't hear it often enough,” he said.
In 1939, he said his grandparents saw the writing on the wall and had the resources to send their only son to France.
“Through the 1930s and into the early 1940s it got progressively harder and more difficult to get out. They knew to get out,” Schwarz said. “The Nazis passed all these decrees restricting Jewish life in Germany. The level of seriousness kept increasing. As a little kid, even before Hitler came to power, [he was] being called a Jew pig at school. So, it starts with name calling. Then the Germans issued the Nuremberg laws, so now you have legislation restricting Jewish life.”
Charles Schwartz spent 3.5 years in France until it wasn’t safe anymore. He then fled to Switzerland where he spent the rest of the war as a refugee. Once the war ended in 1945, he went to Palestine, before it became Israel. At the age of 20, he was reunited with his parents in England who were able to get out of Germany before the war ended.
As a second-generation Holocaust survivor, Schwarz has been giving presentations at Holocaust museums as the original survivors get older and pass away. He’ll give a presentation Thursday at the Kimball Junction Library at 6 p.m.
Following the presentation, he’ll take questions and will sign copies of his book, “The Quiet Strength of Resilience.”
