Educational Media Reviews Online

What first appears to be a son’s labor of love in telling the story of his father’s life quickly turns into a fascinating story of escape from the Nazis. Max Birnbach lived with his Jewish family in Vienna in the years leading up to World War II. Following the Nazi occupation of Vienna, and some time spent in a Nazi-run camp, Max escaped with his brother by dressing in Nazi uniforms and taking a train to the Swiss border. While the brothers waited out the war in Switzerland, their parents were left behind in Vienna. Max’s brother made a heartbreaking choice to send for his girlfriend rather than his parents, thinking that he would be able to get his parents out of Vienna a few days later. The father was sent to a Polish work camp before that could happen. For the next few years their father was transferred from camp to camp, while their mother remained alone in Vienna, only to be sent to a work camp herself some time later. The uncertainty of this time is related through a series of letters and postcards, finally ending with mail that was returned to the brothers after their parents were lost in the concentration camps. After the war, Max attended culinary school in Switzerland. A chance meeting with Arde Bulova, who together with his wife helped hundreds of refugees emigrate, resulted in the opportunity to go to the United States, where he became a successful restaurateur in Portland, Oregon.

The video includes footage of the Nazi occupation of Vienna, along with photographs of the Birnbach family and some of their Swiss friends during the war. The technical quality of the video is very good, although Max’s accented English is occasionally difficult to understand. This film is highly recommended for public and academic libraries.