In Lands Not My Own: A Wartime JourneyReuben Ainsztein fled the pogroms of Wilno, Poland, when he was only sixteen. Matriculating at a university in Brussels, Ainsztein was again confronted with the virulence of anti-Semitism when the Nazis occupied Belgium in 1940. In search of freedom and a role in the defeat of Hitler, Ainsztein applied to and was accepted by Britain’s Royal Air Force. Visa in hand, he embarked on an extraordinary journey across war-ravaged Europe, seeking safe passage to London. Ainsztein chronicles his stunning odyssey with absorbing detail and luminous reflection on the horrors of war and the unspeakable evil that was the Holocaust. Denied egress first at Calais and then at Marseilles, he crossed the Pyrenees into Spain on foot, and was immediately apprehended by Franco’s guards and incarcerated in Miranda de Ebro, a concentration camp, where he was interned for fourteen months. Miraculously, Ainsztein survived and eventually made his way to Britain and then to Scotland, where he trained for the RAF as a turret gunner on a Lancaster bomber. In Lands Not My Ownis one man’s personal testimony to the horrors that gave birth to war and were nurtured by it. Along the way, cast in spare, elegant prose, are the musings of a poet and philosopher on the goodness of man, the nature of evil, and the moral underpinnings of humanity. With great eloquence, Reuben Ainsztein tells a tale of heartbreaking sorrow, unfathomable courage, and the defiant resilience of the human spirit. |
Contents
Map of Europe 1939 vi | 3 |
Belgium in May | 23 |
Boulogne in May | 39 |
Copyright | |
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aboard air attaché aircraft aircrew Allied anti-Semitic antiaircraft appeared Army arrived asked barracks became began Belgian Belgium blankets bomb aimer bomber Boulogne bread British Brussels cabin café camp cellar cigarettes civil guards companions course crew cross dark decided England English escape eyes face feeling felt fire floor flying Franco's French Frenchmen front German Gerona Gestapo gunner guns heard Hitler's hope hundred International Brigade Jewish Jews knew Lancaster land Le Havre learned leave Leon living looked lorry Madrid Miranda de Ebro months Montpellier morning Nazi Nazism never night officers parachute pilot Poland Poles Polish group Polish Red Cross prisoners reached realized refugees refused replied road Saint-Omer sergeant skipper sleep soldiers soon Spain Spanish spent squadron station stopped street thought thousand feet told took train turret Vichy France voice waiting walked Wilno young