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Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father
Diana Wichtel was born in Vancouver. Her mother was a New Zealander, her father a Polish Jew who had jumped off a train to the Treblinka death camp and hidden from the Nazis until the end of the war. When Diana was 13 she moved to New Zealand with her mother, sister and brother. Her father was to follow.
Diana never saw him again.
Many years later she sets out to discover what happened to him. The search becomes an obsession as she painstakingly uncovers information about his large Warsaw family and their fate at the hands of the Nazis, scours archives across the world for clues to her father’s disappearance, and visits the places he lived.
This unforgettable narrative is also a deep reflection on the meaning of family, the trauma of loss, and the insistence of memory. It asks the question: Is it better to know, or more bearable not to?
Diana never saw him again.
Many years later she sets out to discover what happened to him. The search becomes an obsession as she painstakingly uncovers information about his large Warsaw family and their fate at the hands of the Nazis, scours archives across the world for clues to her father’s disappearance, and visits the places he lived.
This unforgettable narrative is also a deep reflection on the meaning of family, the trauma of loss, and the insistence of memory. It asks the question: Is it better to know, or more bearable not to?
278 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2017
15 people are currently reading
243 people want to read
About the author
Diana Wichtel
4 books9 followersDiana Wichtel is an award-winning journalist, and a feature writer and television critic at leading current affairs magazine, the New Zealand Listener. After gaining a Master of Arts at the University of Auckland, she tutored English before launching into a career in journalism. She lives in Auckland and was awarded a 2016 Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship.
Biography source:Ms Wichtel's publisher, Awa Press.
Biography source:Ms Wichtel's publisher, Awa Press.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
June 24, 2018
I'd like to say I loved reading this book; but I can't. What I can say is that I'm so glad I read it. It took me a while, though, because I was constantly torn between not wanting to put it down and not wanting to carry on. It is deeply personal, unbelievably sad and moving. Now, the tragedy of Benjamin Hersz Wichtel will never be forgotten thanks to his daughter Diana. Thank you, Diana Wichtel, for a remarkable book which must have been heartbreaking to write.
December 24, 2017
A heart breaking true story that is ultimately about survival, but at a cost that is transmitted through generations. This is a beautiful and incredibly moving tribute to the author's brave dad who she lost for so long and the unbelievable horrors he (and of course so many many others) suffered at the hands of the nazis.
February 2, 2018
Driving to Treblinka: A long search for a Lost Father
by Diana Wichtel
Diana Wichtel was born in Vancouver. Her mother was a New Zealander, her father a Polish Jew who had jumped off a train to the Treblinka death camp and hidden from the Nazis until the end of the war. When Diana was 13 she moved to New Zealand with her mother, sister and brother. Her father was to follow.
Diana never saw him again.
Many years later she sets out to discover what happened to him. The search becomes an obsession as she painstakingly uncovers information about his large Warsaw family and their fate at the hands of the Nazis, scours archives across the world for clues to her father’s disappearance, and visits the places he lived.
This unforgettable narrative is also a deep reflection on the meaning of family, the trauma of loss, and the insistence of memory. It asks the question: Is it better to know, or more bearable not to?
Review
All families have roots, but sometimes the past is so traumatic that it tears relationships apart due to past events and their impact on how we function on a daily basis. Benjamin Hersz Wichtel was such a man, who despite having a loving family, he was unable to come to terms with his own survival. when other members of his family had perished at the hands of the Nazi's in their race to exterminate Jews during WWII.
Benjamin's story is about sacrifice, pain and guilt. He experienced things no human being should ever have to experience and was forever changed by it. He was prone to mood swings and instantaneous changes in temperament.
Ben obviously struggled with the knowledge of what happened to his family and this effected his mental health dramatically and subsequently altered how he lived after the war.
Ben's story reminds readers of the atrocities that ordinary people lived through, the effect on those who survived, and the reverberations felt through following generations. I think this is possibly the best book I've read about the holocaust, simply because it had a New Zealand connection.
In Driving to Treblinka, by Diana Wichtel is a magnificent novel that contains a moving and eloquent narrative that gives voice to those who can no longer speak for themselves. This book is amazing and one everyone should read it.
by Diana Wichtel
Diana Wichtel was born in Vancouver. Her mother was a New Zealander, her father a Polish Jew who had jumped off a train to the Treblinka death camp and hidden from the Nazis until the end of the war. When Diana was 13 she moved to New Zealand with her mother, sister and brother. Her father was to follow.
Diana never saw him again.
Many years later she sets out to discover what happened to him. The search becomes an obsession as she painstakingly uncovers information about his large Warsaw family and their fate at the hands of the Nazis, scours archives across the world for clues to her father’s disappearance, and visits the places he lived.
This unforgettable narrative is also a deep reflection on the meaning of family, the trauma of loss, and the insistence of memory. It asks the question: Is it better to know, or more bearable not to?
Review
All families have roots, but sometimes the past is so traumatic that it tears relationships apart due to past events and their impact on how we function on a daily basis. Benjamin Hersz Wichtel was such a man, who despite having a loving family, he was unable to come to terms with his own survival. when other members of his family had perished at the hands of the Nazi's in their race to exterminate Jews during WWII.
Benjamin's story is about sacrifice, pain and guilt. He experienced things no human being should ever have to experience and was forever changed by it. He was prone to mood swings and instantaneous changes in temperament.
Ben obviously struggled with the knowledge of what happened to his family and this effected his mental health dramatically and subsequently altered how he lived after the war.
Ben's story reminds readers of the atrocities that ordinary people lived through, the effect on those who survived, and the reverberations felt through following generations. I think this is possibly the best book I've read about the holocaust, simply because it had a New Zealand connection.
In Driving to Treblinka, by Diana Wichtel is a magnificent novel that contains a moving and eloquent narrative that gives voice to those who can no longer speak for themselves. This book is amazing and one everyone should read it.
March 12, 2018
A gripping work of investigative journalism, all the more compelling as the author combines both objective research with her own, subjective response, as she gradually peels away the layers of the past to to uncover both her father's, and her own, story. Skilfully moving backwards and forwards in time, it reads with all the compelling force of a novel, combined with the immediacy and poignancy of personal history. We live in a frightening era of Holocaust denial and gainsaying, where "alternative facts" are promulgated by the most powerful people on the planet. Many of the generation who lived the reality of the Third Reich and survived Hitler's Final Solution, such as Wichtel's father, have passed on, and are no longer here to bear witness. Wichtel's own journey of discovery reveals the ways in which history is being rewritten and revised in Europe itself. This is a powerful, important, and very readable personal story.
April 3, 2019
I’ve long been a fan of witty, wonderful critic and journo Diana Wichtel so was very pleased to pick up her recent memoir at a local readers and writers festival. (Bringing it to read on holiday in Bali was utterly incongruous though, given it tells of being a second generation Holocaust survivor). Wichtel is the daughter of Ben, and this is their story, together and alone. It’s tragic and deeply disturbing beyond measure. We can never read enough about the depths evil people are capable of, as a warning, and as a tribute to those who suffered.
February 11, 2018
I have read many books relating to the Holocaust. This one helped me understand better the profound effects on descendants of both those who died in it and those who survived. It's heart-wrenchingly sad but important because it brings the life-experience of a Kiwi into the same frame as that world-shattering event. In that sense it reminded me of Sarah Gaitanos's 2011 biography of Clare Galambos Winter, The Violinist.
October 2, 2018
It doesn’t seem right to say I enjoyed this but I found it hard to put down, which is always a good sign. It was heart wrenching but also heart warming. The honesty of the author made it easy to have a strong connection with her and her story. Recommended.
February 26, 2021
Several parts of this book made me cry, though not the Holocaust stories. These still have the power to shock after all these years, books, tv shows and films... Schindler's List, the Pianist, the Diary of Anne Frank, the Tattoist of Auschwitz.... but it is the emotional connection with the people which affects you personally. In the same way Schindler's List shocked me profoundly, but only affected me emotionally right at the very end, with the descendants of those saved by Schindler placing stones on graves. The Holocaust stories in this book are shocking, but it was the deeply personal elements of this book, like Diana’s stepson's name being placed on her father's grave which hit me where it hurts.
Diana Wichtel is the daughter of a holocaust survivor, who only avoided the death camp of Treblinka by jumping from a train. This is her, and his story, told many years after her father's death in Canada in 1970. The really upsetting bits for me are the precursors to each chapter, the descriptions about how and where her father died. I felt, along with Diana, traumatised by what happened to her father. We know, from the start of the book that she lost connection with him from a fairly young age, and the first half of the book explains Diana's life with her father, how they lost connection and her life without him after leaving Canada.
The second half of the book is Diana's attempt to piece together the parts of her father's life she wishes she had been able to ask him about. I felt her frustration through the pages at the missed opportunities and connections of Benjamin's Wichtel's life and her curtailed relationship with him. This book is her attempt to rectify the past, dig for answers that she will unfortunately never have.
The end of the book is desperately sad while also being uplifting. She has done a wonderful job sharing her own depth of feeling to make me react in the way I did.
I can't say I enjoyed this book - it's just too sad. But it's such a thorough examination of a life and relationships gained and lost that you cannot help but admire it.
Diana Wichtel is the daughter of a holocaust survivor, who only avoided the death camp of Treblinka by jumping from a train. This is her, and his story, told many years after her father's death in Canada in 1970. The really upsetting bits for me are the precursors to each chapter, the descriptions about how and where her father died. I felt, along with Diana, traumatised by what happened to her father. We know, from the start of the book that she lost connection with him from a fairly young age, and the first half of the book explains Diana's life with her father, how they lost connection and her life without him after leaving Canada.
The second half of the book is Diana's attempt to piece together the parts of her father's life she wishes she had been able to ask him about. I felt her frustration through the pages at the missed opportunities and connections of Benjamin's Wichtel's life and her curtailed relationship with him. This book is her attempt to rectify the past, dig for answers that she will unfortunately never have.
The end of the book is desperately sad while also being uplifting. She has done a wonderful job sharing her own depth of feeling to make me react in the way I did.
I can't say I enjoyed this book - it's just too sad. But it's such a thorough examination of a life and relationships gained and lost that you cannot help but admire it.
January 22, 2018
You watch the documentaries, you read the history books, but it's always the personal accounts that get you. In this case the author's father was a Holocaust survivor. He escaped out of the window of a cattle truck en route to Treblinka, where the rest of the family died, and went from the horrors of WWII Poland to running a textiles store in Vancouver, attempting to live a normal family life. How ever could you?
His wife, a New Zealander, eventually returned to her homeland taking her children with her, and her husband was expected to follow but never did. He eventually died in a mental institution. This book is his daughter's attempt to find out what happened to him and why; to piece together the puzzle with the help of the few far-flung extended family members who also survived, and their descendants. It's a difficult read at times, but an important story, and timely.
His wife, a New Zealander, eventually returned to her homeland taking her children with her, and her husband was expected to follow but never did. He eventually died in a mental institution. This book is his daughter's attempt to find out what happened to him and why; to piece together the puzzle with the help of the few far-flung extended family members who also survived, and their descendants. It's a difficult read at times, but an important story, and timely.
February 16, 2018
Very sad tale of the search for her Jewish father who died without his family, in a psychiatric hospital in Canada in 1970. He was only 60. By retracing his life back to the Warsaw ghetto she writes about coming to understand what he went through to escape the transportation to the Treblinka death camp. The photographs of the family in the book and details like the railway carriage with the slit window which he escaped add to the understanding of how difficult it was for him to get away and to hide to survive. No wonder he was so delighted to get to Canada.
Although she never resolves the guilt she feels that they abandoned him to come to New Zealand, by making him a new gravestone she manages to surround him with the family he needed.
Although she never resolves the guilt she feels that they abandoned him to come to New Zealand, by making him a new gravestone she manages to surround him with the family he needed.
April 10, 2018
When her daughter says 'How can you Not, not know where your father is?' author Diana Wichtel knew it was time to act. Her father, a Holocaust Survivor, had intended joining the family when they left Canada for New Zealand in the 1970s. He never came. Nearly 50 years later, after a painstaking search, Wichtel uncovers her father's story - his large family in Warsaw and their fate at the hands of the Nazis, his escape from the train to Treblinka, his life after the War, and what happened that stopped him from joining his wife and children in New Zealand. A very powerful meditation on family and loss.
July 7, 2018
A gripping recounting of Diana Wichtel's research into the background and later life of her Jewish father, who somehow survived the Holocaust within Poland under the the most dire circumstances - most of the rest of his family were killed. Heartbreaking not only for the awful history of Nazi thuggery and psychopathology, the wasted potential of extinguished lives, and ongoing cycles of inter-generational trauma. The author's self-recriminations about not caring enough, early enough, about what happened to her father, are really painful to read.
April 30, 2018
This is such a tragic and moving account of one man's life, researched and written by his daughter.
January 30, 2019
Cried at the end, on an Air Nz flight. Supportive woman sitting next to me, resulted in a great conversation. Definitely recommend, such a special book.
September 17, 2019
Diana Wichtel is a NZ journalist who has written this account of her search to understand her father's story. Ben Wichtel was born in Poland in 1920. During WW2m he and his family were imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto and later sent to the Treblinka Death Camp. Ben escaped from the train that was transporting them to their death and managed somehow to survive the remaining 3.5 years of the War living in hiding in the woods.
After the War, Wichtel moved to Canada, met a New Zealand girl, married and started a family. It would be nice to say he then lived "happily ever after", but the reality was that he was damaged from the trauma he'd endured. When Diana was a teenager her mother took the children and moved back to New Zealand. Her father promised to join them, but she never saw him again. Years later, after his death, she began to investigate what he had gone through and what had happened to the rest of his family. This is the story of that investigation.
Much like The Cut Out Girl, this is a reminder that surviving the Holocaust didn't mean emerging unscathed and that the emotional wounds had the power to influence generations who were never directly exposed to the horrors of the War. It's a moving and very personal story, beautifully told.
After the War, Wichtel moved to Canada, met a New Zealand girl, married and started a family. It would be nice to say he then lived "happily ever after", but the reality was that he was damaged from the trauma he'd endured. When Diana was a teenager her mother took the children and moved back to New Zealand. Her father promised to join them, but she never saw him again. Years later, after his death, she began to investigate what he had gone through and what had happened to the rest of his family. This is the story of that investigation.
Much like The Cut Out Girl, this is a reminder that surviving the Holocaust didn't mean emerging unscathed and that the emotional wounds had the power to influence generations who were never directly exposed to the horrors of the War. It's a moving and very personal story, beautifully told.
December 22, 2019
After reading this I can understand why people get engrossed in researching family history. Being able to connect to your history is a gift.
March 30, 2019
Highly recommended. Fascinating and heart rending story about the realities of surviving the Holocaust and the impact on subsequent relationships and generations.
March 12, 2019
I’ve read many books over the years about the war/holocaust, but this was the first I’ve read that showed just how the effects on a person who survived can have a follow on effect to the generations that come after.
This book showed a deep reflection on the true meaning of family, loss and the importance of keeping memories alive.
A lovely, although very moving tribute from a daughter to her father who suffered so much in his life as a result of the holocaust.
This book showed a deep reflection on the true meaning of family, loss and the importance of keeping memories alive.
A lovely, although very moving tribute from a daughter to her father who suffered so much in his life as a result of the holocaust.
April 3, 2018
I am not generally a fan of memoirs.... and therefore was surprised at how easily this book drew me in and how much I enjoyed reading it. Diana has an easy, simple and authentic style of writing, that made me feel like I was taking this heart-wrenching journey right beside her. One of the key things that stood out for me in this book was the effects that the Holocaust has on the descendants of those that suffered through it, how each generation has dealt with it and how the stories are continued to be passed on to the next generation. Diana kept true to the core of this story, which was searching for her long last father, rather than getting caught up in the gruesome details of the Holocaust. Only whispers are included, enough for the reader to imagine, but without detracting from the intent of the book. The book moves between times effortlessly and I found myself being able to keep track of all the family members easily, without having to refer to the family tree. A brave and emotional book that has moved me to tears on a number of occasions. Thank you Diana for sharing this very personal story with me.
January 15, 2019
Diana Wichtel was born in Vancouver. Her mother was a New Zealander, her father a Polish Jew who had jumped off a train to the Treblinka death camp and hidden from the Nazis until the end of the war. When Diana was 13 she moved to New Zealand with her mother, sister and brother. Her father was to follow.
Diana never saw him again.
Many years later she sets out to discover what happened to him. The search becomes an obsession as she painstakingly uncovers information about his large Warsaw family and their fate at the hands of the Nazis, scours archives across the world for clues to her father’s disappearance, and visits the places he lived.
Saw Diana last year at the Book Festival here in Christchurch
This unforgettable narrative is also a deep reflection on the meaning of family, the trauma of loss, and the insistence of memory. It asks the question: Is it better to know, or more bearable not to?
Diana never saw him again.
Many years later she sets out to discover what happened to him. The search becomes an obsession as she painstakingly uncovers information about his large Warsaw family and their fate at the hands of the Nazis, scours archives across the world for clues to her father’s disappearance, and visits the places he lived.
Saw Diana last year at the Book Festival here in Christchurch
This unforgettable narrative is also a deep reflection on the meaning of family, the trauma of loss, and the insistence of memory. It asks the question: Is it better to know, or more bearable not to?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 3, 2018
Blown away by this memoir of journalist Diana Wichtel's search for her father, a Holocaust survivor. Her search for information on her father and his family, and the effect of his story on herself, and her loved ones is incredibly moving, and I wept and laughed as I spent Easter avidly reading it at every opportunity.
Any memoir about the Holocaust is understandably grim, depressing, and horrifying, but Wichtel writes with a matter of fact, honest and sometimes humorous style, as she painstakingly discovers more and more about her father. She reveals to the reader deeply personal feelings, her pain and despite everything, her hope for the future.
My read of 2018 so far.
Any memoir about the Holocaust is understandably grim, depressing, and horrifying, but Wichtel writes with a matter of fact, honest and sometimes humorous style, as she painstakingly discovers more and more about her father. She reveals to the reader deeply personal feelings, her pain and despite everything, her hope for the future.
My read of 2018 so far.
April 8, 2018
Diana Wichtel's account of her search for her lost father is powerful and moving. It is through accounts such as these that one understands the long reach of tragedy down the generations. Having heard Diana speak at a recent Readers and Writers Festival, and being a fan of her column in The NZ Listener, I felt quite personally affected by her story.
However, unlike her scintillating columns, the longer book form does not showcase her writing at its best; but it didn't really matter because I was fully caught up in this sad story of a family coming to terms with their father's life.
However, unlike her scintillating columns, the longer book form does not showcase her writing at its best; but it didn't really matter because I was fully caught up in this sad story of a family coming to terms with their father's life.
October 13, 2021
What an emotional journey Diana Wichtel takes us on. Her need to know the story of her father drives the story. part of the sadness are the gaps she tries to fill, the speculation and regret she feels for things unsaid and undone. it makes me realise how important family history is with all it's twists and turns it does make who you are. As always Holocaust stories raise the unimaginable and make it real. A brave story from a determined daughter, well told.
June 18, 2018
Diana, her mother and sister leave Canada to return to NZ. Diana's father was to follow, but she never saw him again.
A poignant story that is full of tension as the truth about what he and other members of his family endure slowly unfolds.
A poignant story that is full of tension as the truth about what he and other members of his family endure slowly unfolds.
August 8, 2018
A very worthy Ockham Book Award winner. If you know Diana Wichtel's witty writing from The Listener, prepare for a different experience as she flexes a different muscle altogether in recounting the deeply personal unraveling of her father's sad life.
February 14, 2018
Diana Wichtel has been writing hilarious TV reviews for NZ Listener for years; and interview and columns in other magazines. This book is completely different and very moving (I cried frequently).
April 6, 2018
Exquisite and heart rendering memoir. Could not put this down. Read twice . Highly recommended.
May 26, 2018
Honest and heartbreaking
August 8, 2018
Riveting.
Well written, as one would expect of such a writer.
A personal journey in the incredibly public space of the Holocaust.
Well written, as one would expect of such a writer.
A personal journey in the incredibly public space of the Holocaust.
October 12, 2018
A sensitive read of a family's history and secrets.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews