John G. Stoessinger (M / Austria, 1927-2017), Holocaust survivor

John G. Stoessinger (M / Austria, 1927-2017), Holocaust survivor.

• KEYWORDS : <Refugees> <China> -- <United States>
• MEMOIRS : Night Journey (1978)

Biography

NOTES :

Book: Night Journey (1978)

• Night Journey: A Story of Survival and Deliverance (1978). New ed. "From Holocaust to Harvard"

Night Journey - "The story begins with Hitler arriving in Vienna where young Stoessinger hears his governess making love to an SS officer and telling him, ""I want a son for the FÜhrer."" The family flees to Prague and then Shanghai, and Stoessinger finally comes to the U.S. to attend Grinnell College. He is tossed out two weeks before graduation--his diploma comes by mail--for getting his girlfriend pregnant. They marry, but he leaves her to attend Harvard Graduate School. A series of academic posts and honors, a second wife, and a UN assignment later, he meets an attractive con artist who becomes his mistress, gets him to write her letters of introduction to foreign banks and governments, and lends him $80,000. Both are indicted--she for fraud, he for falling to report a crime--and in a headline-grabbing trial, an assistant prosecutor tells him, ""I know you are not a criminal but you sure were dumb."" In cathartic fashion, Stoessinger willingly acknowledges his naivetÉ and discusses his thoughts of suicide, and his final resolve ""to play out his hand.""--Publisher description.

From Holocaust to Harvard - "A true and touching human tale of survival and achievement ... When John Stoessinger was ten years old, Adolf Hitler annexed his homeland of Austria, ripping the boy from his home and his friends in Vienna. His grandparents encouraged his mother and stepfather to take young John somewhere safe. “You must have a future,” his grandfather told him before he and his parents boarded the train and waved goodbye ... As they trekked across the country, from Vienna to Prague and then finally settling in Shanghai, there was never a single moment Stoessinger was not afraid—he lived in constant fear that he and his family would be found and killed. However, even in Hitler-ruled Nazi Germany, there were plenty of people who refused to cower to absolute evil and who did everything they could to usher families like Stoessinger’s to freedom ... In From Holocaust to Harvard, Stoessinger recalls heartbreaking moments from his childhood and of living a life of secrets in Shanghai. He then presents the second part of his story—the part where he attempts to untangle himself from his previous life and devastating memories and is able to relocate to America, earn a graduate-level degree from a prestigious university, and later become a member of the Council on Foreign Relations despite making a decision that nearly lands him in prison and threatens his hard-earned freedom ... Throughout his story, Stoessinger expresses his gratitude to those who helped him through the toughest parts of this life and put him on a path that led him to a Harvard education, a successful career, and inner peace.