Episode 177 – Audrey Birnbaum – American Wolf

Overview Growing up in New York in the late 1960's, Audrey Birnbaum assumed that watching Holocaust documentaries was a perfectly normal family activity. On her first day of elementary school, Audrey sat in the cafeteria, unwrapped her liverwurst sandwich, and excitedly told her new classmates about her public television proclivities. Her Brady Bunch-watching peers had never heard of PBS, but they had heard of PB&J (and they weren't too keen on liverwurst either). They made it abundantly clear: Audrey's childhood was, in fact, not normal at all. We will never know whether it was schoolyard bullying or watching tragic Shoah documentaries that was responsible for Audrey's acute sensitivity to others; but that empathy may have helped pave the way for her choice of medicine as a career. Audrey chose to specialize in Pediatric Gastroenterology - for who needed more help than children; and where could anyone feel more suffering than in one's gut? Day in and day out, she watched intricate family dynamics play out in the context of fragile health. Audrey listened to each patient's story until she could retell it with clarity and give it meaning. Through witnessing and recording these tender dramas, the seeds of writing had been planted. Book In the summer of 1941, eleven-year-old Wolf is coming of age amidst the rubble and antisemitism of war-torn Nazi Berlin. Destitute and facing imminent deportation, he must leave behind his ill sister and travel with his family across a continent entrenched in war. With nothing in hand but expired visas to the US, Wolf and his family must figure out how to sneak aboard the Spanish freighter the Navemar, a ship that will gain its reputation as the "Hell Ship of Death." But this is only the beginning of Wolf's saga. "American Wolf: From Nazi Refugee to American Spy is a heart stopping true story full of last-minute rescues, near-death encounters, and survival against untold odds. It is also a story about coming of age, family dysfunction and national identity, and is a resounding testament to the triumph of the human spirit. Using the extensive, detailed notes compiled by her father, author Audrey Birnbaum retells in memoir style a poignant and vivid account of Wolf's childhood in Berlin, his riveting escape from Nazi Germany, and the continued challenges he faced even as he reached freedom. Favorites https://thevillagebookstore.net/ YouTube https://youtu.be/if0lOOeo1O0 Transcript [00:00:00] Stephen: today on Discovered Wordsmith, I have Audrey. Audrey, how are you doing this morning? I'm great, [00:00:06] Audrey: Steven. Thank you so much for having me. [00:00:08] Stephen: It is great to have you on and I'm excited to hear about this book but before we talk about your writing and your book, let's find out a little bit about you. [00:00:15] So tell us some of the things you like to do and where you live outside of writing. [00:00:20] Audrey: Stephen, I live in Westchester, New York, and I have not always been a writer. This is pretty new to me. I actually. I want to say I was a doctor, but I think I'm allowed to say I still am a doctor, but I don't [00:00:34] Stephen: think you ever stopped being a doctor. [00:00:37] It's one of those [00:00:37] Audrey: professionals that I want to hold on to that title a little bit, though. I don't walk around like I didn't put MD on my book because I thought that was, I don't know. Ex I do. I'm a pediatric gastroenterologist. [00:00:52] Stephen: Wow. That's a mouthful. That's a lot. [00:00:53] Audrey: It's a mouthful. It's people will have trouble saying it. [00:00:57] I usually say kids from here to here . But [00:01:00] people are, they're good with that. Yeah. I [00:01:02] Stephen: study kid farts, [00:01:04] Audrey: yeah, [00:01:05] Stephen: probably what the answer the kids would like, . . I'm sorry. Go on. Tell us more about you.