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Passage: The Making of an American Family
Every family has its own story to tell. Be it tragic, heartbreaking, or triumphant, each tale forms part of a clan's history and defines its identity. Author John Schissler, Jr. started with an autobiographical essay in his history class in 1964, but didn't really give it much thought. Recently, through his brother's urging, he felt somewhat obliged to reveal their storied past. After a painstaking research, he now comes up with a book that narrates the fascinating history of his family entitled The Making of an American Family.
What started as a school requirement now developed into a detailed memoir of a family's story that impacts the lives of many. Passage chronicles the humble beginnings of John Schissler's family and its struggles to weather the storms of life. Thinking he already had the skeleton of the story, Schissler looked for ways to make the pieces of the tale fall into place. Through the help of his parents, relatives, and friends, he looked for connections, photos, and other evidences to corroborate the existing story he already had.
Author Schissler traces his family's roots and finds out that their relatives came from Donaueschingen. Germany, where there are two streams that come together to form the source of the Donau (Danube) river. He believes it is only fitting that his family, who were Donauschwaben, eventually ended up in Wisconsin, which in Native American language means "gathering" or "meeting of the waters."
Passage is not merely a story of a clan who survived the horrors of the world war against the innocent; it also serves as a memorial to all the forgotten souls and unsung heroes murdered by Stalin, victims of the "final solution", and other nameless ones who were dumped indiscriminately into mass graves.
Accompany John Schissler, Jr. as he revisits family's and his own unforgettable voyage to survival in this remarkable, imagery-filled memoir. Follow their exploits as they sought refuge in a foreign soil that embraced them as if they were its own. Join them as they celebrate diversity in their newfound land, their new home called Amerca. Witness the bonds they formed, the friendships and families they built, the failures that brought forth success, and life's challenges that made them what they are today.
According to author Schissler, "War crimes don't necessarily end with the war. This is a true story about an ordinary, World War II European family, who was forced to embark on an extraordinary odyssey fraught with danger, disease, and death to reach the shores of the 'Promised Land'. Shot at by British planes, imprisoned by the Russians, and forced to work in the peat bogs of East Germany, we finally escaped to West Germany where we found temporary asylem until we completed our pilgrimage to Ellis Island. The saga continues with my family's physical, emotional, and social struggles to get a piece of that American Dream and our eventual assimilatinon into that cultural diversity of that melting pot which is America."
What started as a school requirement now developed into a detailed memoir of a family's story that impacts the lives of many. Passage chronicles the humble beginnings of John Schissler's family and its struggles to weather the storms of life. Thinking he already had the skeleton of the story, Schissler looked for ways to make the pieces of the tale fall into place. Through the help of his parents, relatives, and friends, he looked for connections, photos, and other evidences to corroborate the existing story he already had.
Author Schissler traces his family's roots and finds out that their relatives came from Donaueschingen. Germany, where there are two streams that come together to form the source of the Donau (Danube) river. He believes it is only fitting that his family, who were Donauschwaben, eventually ended up in Wisconsin, which in Native American language means "gathering" or "meeting of the waters."
Passage is not merely a story of a clan who survived the horrors of the world war against the innocent; it also serves as a memorial to all the forgotten souls and unsung heroes murdered by Stalin, victims of the "final solution", and other nameless ones who were dumped indiscriminately into mass graves.
Accompany John Schissler, Jr. as he revisits family's and his own unforgettable voyage to survival in this remarkable, imagery-filled memoir. Follow their exploits as they sought refuge in a foreign soil that embraced them as if they were its own. Join them as they celebrate diversity in their newfound land, their new home called Amerca. Witness the bonds they formed, the friendships and families they built, the failures that brought forth success, and life's challenges that made them what they are today.
According to author Schissler, "War crimes don't necessarily end with the war. This is a true story about an ordinary, World War II European family, who was forced to embark on an extraordinary odyssey fraught with danger, disease, and death to reach the shores of the 'Promised Land'. Shot at by British planes, imprisoned by the Russians, and forced to work in the peat bogs of East Germany, we finally escaped to West Germany where we found temporary asylem until we completed our pilgrimage to Ellis Island. The saga continues with my family's physical, emotional, and social struggles to get a piece of that American Dream and our eventual assimilatinon into that cultural diversity of that melting pot which is America."
294 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 9, 2011
The story, like so many of those who endured horrible situations during World War II and ended up in America, is an effort at recording a family history.
I know any family would love an appreciate the effort that was made to record the Schissler family history, but the writing style is not evocative or enjoyable to read for me.
One of my book clubs is hosting the author, which I will attend, and is the reason I will finish the book, otherwise, I would not.
I know any family would love an appreciate the effort that was made to record the Schissler family history, but the writing style is not evocative or enjoyable to read for me.
One of my book clubs is hosting the author, which I will attend, and is the reason I will finish the book, otherwise, I would not.
March 18, 2013
Reviewed by Douglas Brough June 2012
“The real embodiment of an American Dream”
How many readers really understand what constitutes the population geography of the United States of America? There is a clue in the answer, that being the word ‘united,’ united in terms of a number of ethnic groups united into one nation. John Schissler Jr’s story, Passage; The Making of an American Family tells the story of a member of one of those ethnic groups united into one nation.
Born in the former Yugoslavia in 1943, John Schissler Jr was as innocent as innocent comes but became a casualty of a war caused by others nevertheless. Taking great care to ensure historical accuracy by using friends and family accounts, visits to Germany and his former homeland of Yugoslavia and actual documents preserved by his parents that would offer testimony to the facts of the story, he uses a very clever river metaphor as an undercurrent to his story, which I can do nothing but quote,
“I found out that our relatives came from Donaueschingen, Germany, where there are two small streams that came together to form the source of the Donau (Danube) River. Therefore, it was only fitting that my family ended up in Wisconsin, which in the Native American language means “gathering” or “meeting of the waters”. In similar fashion, this book came together by pointing out those similarities, these connections that came full circle via my river metaphor.”
This investigative undercurrent continues throughout his book as he tells of the life and death conditions that he and his family had to endure in order to flee the warzone of death, disease and destruction. Schissler Jr uses the words of Irmgard Hunt who wrote the autobiographical “On Hitler’s Mountain”, to explain this period of his young life.
“Was I just born into it? Was this the way the world really was and therefore acceptable to me at that time in my childhood?
Unknown to the Schissler family at the time and believing they were taking a linear approach to their escape; they were to become pawns following the cyclical nature of life. This stream of consciousness revolved into the meaning of this book offering a damming condemnation on terrorism and crimes against the civilian.
Schissler Jr tells of his journey from birth in Croatia during World War II to retirement in the War on Terror: But he also tells of the perils his family faced in their bid for freedom. He tells how his sister received a bittersweet welcome to life. Her baptismal certificate states that she was;
“born on a freight car of a train en route from Novigrad, Yugoslavia to Perg, Austria”
The Danube, their river of destiny, continued to stream throughout their lives through their imprisonment in the Kaisers Stone Quarry, of marching across rough terrain for many miles and the death of his little sister Erika who was so young but who had been through so much. With his young sister in mind, he demonstrates how encompassing the concept if collective guilt is as he tells of the Russian nurse who;
“came along every night to drop some lifesaving cod liver oil into her small open mouth”
Erika had been at deaths door but this small act of mercy saved his sisters life. Having endured capture once again, bribery and Russian soldiers helping the family escape to the American zone they found themselves on the SS Washington, which left Bremerhaven for Le Harve in France on February 12th. Via Southampton, England and Cobh, Ireland, they arrived in New York City on February 19th 1950.
Whilst in the new land of America Schissler Jr speaks of those who had a general distrust of foreigners and who had made Schissler Jr and his family ashamed to be German. However, after a few years they moved to Milwaukee, frequently referred to as ‘the Munich of the west’. Despite Erika losing her job for being German, they no longer felt like victims living in the past as they began to fully integrate with American society and culture. The book demonstrates how ethnic integration must be a two-fold result of the ethnic individual willingly entering the community and the community itself willingly accepting the ethnic individual.
The older he became the more he felt he had to go back to the beginning: It was at the Bremerhaven Emigration Centre museum where he found his defining moment of release and liberation, having travelled full circle from Croatia to Milwaukee;
Standing by a full scale model of part of a ship, within life-sized mannequins, the noise and the portholes, the suitcases and the dilapidated chests saw him weep for the child that was him over 50 years ago.
John Schissler taught English and other languages for over thirty years and participated in the sporting activities of the school to his fullest extent. Between 1943, a decade in years, they travelled over two thousand kilometres in Europe in the harshest of conditions, encountered over three dozen cities and more than half a dozen countries before travelling three thousand ocean miles to become a highly respected English language teacher in a country that once was the enemy.
This book is designed in such a way that it is a journey on the River Danube, with numerous passages and logs that retain reality; it is a waterborne journey of self-discovery and realisation. It took the author over fifty years to understand who he was.
At Ellis Island, a $100 donation secured their name for posterity: His family’s name engraved on the Wall of Honour is now a permanent record of his journey. Passage is a primary source for the historian and an important source for the social scientist or anyone who wants to know how it is possible to live together. This was ethnic integration at its best: Passage, The Making of an American Family by John Schissler Jr celebrates an ethnic diversity that is America.
The rivers of Germany and America had met: He had become an American, a German-American.
“It’s not that he loves Germany less, but that he loves America more”
Copyright 2012 Douglas Brough. No reproduction permitted without permission.
“The real embodiment of an American Dream”
How many readers really understand what constitutes the population geography of the United States of America? There is a clue in the answer, that being the word ‘united,’ united in terms of a number of ethnic groups united into one nation. John Schissler Jr’s story, Passage; The Making of an American Family tells the story of a member of one of those ethnic groups united into one nation.
Born in the former Yugoslavia in 1943, John Schissler Jr was as innocent as innocent comes but became a casualty of a war caused by others nevertheless. Taking great care to ensure historical accuracy by using friends and family accounts, visits to Germany and his former homeland of Yugoslavia and actual documents preserved by his parents that would offer testimony to the facts of the story, he uses a very clever river metaphor as an undercurrent to his story, which I can do nothing but quote,
“I found out that our relatives came from Donaueschingen, Germany, where there are two small streams that came together to form the source of the Donau (Danube) River. Therefore, it was only fitting that my family ended up in Wisconsin, which in the Native American language means “gathering” or “meeting of the waters”. In similar fashion, this book came together by pointing out those similarities, these connections that came full circle via my river metaphor.”
This investigative undercurrent continues throughout his book as he tells of the life and death conditions that he and his family had to endure in order to flee the warzone of death, disease and destruction. Schissler Jr uses the words of Irmgard Hunt who wrote the autobiographical “On Hitler’s Mountain”, to explain this period of his young life.
“Was I just born into it? Was this the way the world really was and therefore acceptable to me at that time in my childhood?
Unknown to the Schissler family at the time and believing they were taking a linear approach to their escape; they were to become pawns following the cyclical nature of life. This stream of consciousness revolved into the meaning of this book offering a damming condemnation on terrorism and crimes against the civilian.
Schissler Jr tells of his journey from birth in Croatia during World War II to retirement in the War on Terror: But he also tells of the perils his family faced in their bid for freedom. He tells how his sister received a bittersweet welcome to life. Her baptismal certificate states that she was;
“born on a freight car of a train en route from Novigrad, Yugoslavia to Perg, Austria”
The Danube, their river of destiny, continued to stream throughout their lives through their imprisonment in the Kaisers Stone Quarry, of marching across rough terrain for many miles and the death of his little sister Erika who was so young but who had been through so much. With his young sister in mind, he demonstrates how encompassing the concept if collective guilt is as he tells of the Russian nurse who;
“came along every night to drop some lifesaving cod liver oil into her small open mouth”
Erika had been at deaths door but this small act of mercy saved his sisters life. Having endured capture once again, bribery and Russian soldiers helping the family escape to the American zone they found themselves on the SS Washington, which left Bremerhaven for Le Harve in France on February 12th. Via Southampton, England and Cobh, Ireland, they arrived in New York City on February 19th 1950.
Whilst in the new land of America Schissler Jr speaks of those who had a general distrust of foreigners and who had made Schissler Jr and his family ashamed to be German. However, after a few years they moved to Milwaukee, frequently referred to as ‘the Munich of the west’. Despite Erika losing her job for being German, they no longer felt like victims living in the past as they began to fully integrate with American society and culture. The book demonstrates how ethnic integration must be a two-fold result of the ethnic individual willingly entering the community and the community itself willingly accepting the ethnic individual.
The older he became the more he felt he had to go back to the beginning: It was at the Bremerhaven Emigration Centre museum where he found his defining moment of release and liberation, having travelled full circle from Croatia to Milwaukee;
Standing by a full scale model of part of a ship, within life-sized mannequins, the noise and the portholes, the suitcases and the dilapidated chests saw him weep for the child that was him over 50 years ago.
John Schissler taught English and other languages for over thirty years and participated in the sporting activities of the school to his fullest extent. Between 1943, a decade in years, they travelled over two thousand kilometres in Europe in the harshest of conditions, encountered over three dozen cities and more than half a dozen countries before travelling three thousand ocean miles to become a highly respected English language teacher in a country that once was the enemy.
This book is designed in such a way that it is a journey on the River Danube, with numerous passages and logs that retain reality; it is a waterborne journey of self-discovery and realisation. It took the author over fifty years to understand who he was.
At Ellis Island, a $100 donation secured their name for posterity: His family’s name engraved on the Wall of Honour is now a permanent record of his journey. Passage is a primary source for the historian and an important source for the social scientist or anyone who wants to know how it is possible to live together. This was ethnic integration at its best: Passage, The Making of an American Family by John Schissler Jr celebrates an ethnic diversity that is America.
The rivers of Germany and America had met: He had become an American, a German-American.
“It’s not that he loves Germany less, but that he loves America more”
Copyright 2012 Douglas Brough. No reproduction permitted without permission.
June 1, 2011
It's a true life story of a man who ended up in Milwau kee after moving from place to place during World War II Europe.
While the actual telling of the story is a little dry at times, the actual events he lived through are amazing. The last part of the book entails his journeys back to those places and seeing how they compare with his memories.
He also interviews his 3 siblings for their impressions. All four of the children were born in a different country and in a different situation so they all see things a little differently.
We are reading this for my church's book discussion group and I guess the author is going to be able to come so it should be interesting to see if he had anything further to add.
While the actual telling of the story is a little dry at times, the actual events he lived through are amazing. The last part of the book entails his journeys back to those places and seeing how they compare with his memories.
He also interviews his 3 siblings for their impressions. All four of the children were born in a different country and in a different situation so they all see things a little differently.
We are reading this for my church's book discussion group and I guess the author is going to be able to come so it should be interesting to see if he had anything further to add.
October 2, 2009
My mother gave me this book to read because her neighbor is the author. What a fantastic story. It really makes you think about all the unknown and forgotten casualties (both dead and alive) of war. There is a lot of history of WWII here that I would never have known about except for this book - but it is told in a fashion that makes you want to read it and not just names and dates. It's truly an amazing story that Mr. Schissler's family undergoes and of the friendships he makes along the way. This book will make you think about who you really are. Very thought provoking, sad, happy and entertaining all in one.
Great book - highly recommended.
Great book - highly recommended.
February 22, 2014
This autobiography of my friend Jeff Schissler's father was a well-researched and written self-published book that traced his family's journey from post-war Germany to Wisconsin. But it also explores other passages, including the author's sister as she comes to realization of her father's dominance in her life. Interviews with other relatives provide perspective on the people and events of a difficult time. Also found out that Jeff's dad briefly worked for the man who owned our house!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews