From the Pages
Selected passages from “Faith, Hope and Resilience” — glimpses into a story of survival, faith, and the enduring human spirit.
Chapter One
I do not remember anything about my babyhood except being roughly stuffed into the trunk of a car one night when I was about three years old. I remember a woman gently holding me and trying to quiet me as I was screaming my lungs out. That is the only fleeting memory that I have of my mother as I never saw her again.
My thoughts were always full of death. Some nights, my sleep would be interrupted by banging on doors nearby and the crash of the doors splintering. I would hear the sharp guttural shouts of the Germans, the loud report of the gunfire, and the crying out of the people involved.
In the morning there would be bodies lying on the street or large pools of blood. I waited each night for our door to come crashing in. I prayed to G-d every night not to let me die. I had nightly nightmares about being killed.
In 1945, bombing raids around the village increased. The sirens would sound and we would rush to the church and take shelter in the dark, unlit bomb cellars, I could feel the ground shake as the bombs fell nearby. I prayed that the church would not be hit.
Chapter One
As I lay sleeping on my cot, I heard rumbling in the street below. I saw an extensive line of vehicles with big white stars on the hoods. The Americans had arrived.
1945 to 1946 was a relatively calm period in my life. We still did not have enough to eat, but my fear of death abated. I no longer prayed each night for G-d to keep me alive, but I still prayed to give thanks for keeping me alive. I still had nightmares about dying, but I started to have dreams not related to death.
Then, in August of 1946, some strangers came to the apartment and spoke with my foster parents. They came to me, and they said that I had to go with them. They explained that they were taking me to my real family.
Chapter Two
They forcefully picked me up and we were taken to Paris and deposited in an orphanage. I did not understand any of this. My comfortable world had been torn apart. I was unhappy, sitting on my cot, crying, not knowing what my future would be.
We finally arrived in Marseille at a large encampment by the docks. As a nine-year old, my dread of the future quickly turned to wonder. There was a ship at the dock that towered over us. This ship, Athos II was to take me to America,
On September 7, 1946, the ship finally sailed into New York. I will never forget the wondrous sight of the Statue of Liberty hovering above us as we sailed past it. For me, the nightmare was over. I was one of the lucky ones and I have not forgotten it.
Chapter Seven
I suffered the usual bullying by kids who did not like my heavy accent. I ignored them except when they called me a Nazi in their ignorance. My fury was unchecked in those cases, and I would fight with a vengeance. I spent many hours in the principal’s office. I became known as a troublemaker.
School was not difficult for me. I graduated from High School three months before my 17th birthday. I received my Bachelor in Civil Engineering two months after my 21st birthday.
I was on top of the world – A citizen of the greatest free democracy in the world and I was a respected Civil Engineer!! I dreamed of the wonderful things that I could accomplish. I stood tall!! I knew of some of the great works of Civil Engineers, such as the Panama Canal, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Suez Canal, and I wanted to accomplish lasting works also.
Chapter Twenty
My company won a project in Nepal to design and construct a large hydroelectric dam in Nepal. I was asked to assist the team in setting up the project.
I found two synagogues in Kathmandu. Some of their members had come from the former Ottoman Empire. The stories that they told about the ordeals their ancestors went through would have been enough to stop any people. But they had persevered and succeeded in reaching this place.
During my time there, I participated in services with them. I furnished them with as much financial assistance as I could.
As I wandered about Singapore, I found two synagogues there and a Jewish Museum relating the history of the Jews in Singapore. Some were descendants of Jews from the Ottoman empire who had escaped Baghdad when the governor there had started to persecute the Jews.
The synagogues, built in 1878 and 1904, were well established, they too recounted to me the severe hardships their ancestors had endured to reach this destination.
We found two synagogues in Hong Kong, one built in 1902 and a second built in 1995. Their ancestors were also refugees from the Ottoman empire.
These excerpts offer only a glimpse into Michael Spiegel’s remarkable story. Experience the complete memoir and discover a testament to the power of faith, hope, and human resilience.