Background to Novel I Chose to Flee

I Chose to Flee is based on research and loosely on my family history as told by my grandfather and Uncle Mike and Aunt Bess Tucker.

As we have moved further from the period of immigration, much oral history has been lost. It is almost impossible to document the family history of Eastern European Jews much before the beginning of the 19th century. 

Through DNA research, I have traced my paternal genetic roots to the Alsace area between France and Germany. Jews from this area migrated to the east, many winding up in what became the Pale of Settlement. As with my fictional characters, Meyer and Ephraim Stein, my paternal grandfather had blue eyes and light hair. In addition, my grandfather did not make the voyage from Liverpool to Uruguay as he was supposed to with his brother. This event set up the event in the novel where Meyer's brother purposefully avoids the ship that was to take him to Canada.

My grandfather, Yena or Jon, and his brother were married to sisters, another element in the story. Jon settled first in Hirsch as did the protagonist and after three years moved to Estevan where he became a butcher as did Meyer. My grandfather served as a translator, an important ingredient in Meyer's character. For a very brief period my grandfather bootlegged whiskey into North Dakota where he spent a night in jail. Meyer did not cross the border with whiskey, so he was never arrested. He did make a small fortune-my grandfather was always poor.

Jon made no trips to Europe to rescue fellow Jews. Others did, and I built on those experiences. Jon never forgave his brother for leaving him behind and never reconciled.

Future blogs will expand on the journey, providing photos of places mentioned. While the story has a factual base, the characters and scenes are products of my imagination.