Prelude

I was 74 years old on my last birthday. However, considering I was born in the year 1945, and it is 2020 now, according to the years, I am already 75 years old. I was born the year WWII ended – the year the Nazi concentration camp and extermination center, Auschwitz, was liberated. Over 1.1 million men, women and children, lost their lives there. It feels like I stemmed from the Holocaust.

I thought about writing this book for quite a number of years but was reluctant or, a better description would be, too scared and too lazy to undertake such a demanding project. However, that was the case until February 1, 2018, when I decided to actually start writing the book.

I relied mostly on my agenda books from 1966, when I was 21, to the present time. Not everything was entered into these books, as they served basically for my appointments and travel itineraries. The rest is based on my memory, knowledge, and feelings.

This book is dedicated with love and longing to my dear family members who are no longer with us: Our son, Shai Bar-Niv,

my parents, Aharon and Genia Bar-Niv,

my grandfather, Bernard (Dov) Rechnitz,

my uncle, Moses (Moishe, Mike) Rechnitz,

and my cousins, Gideon Rechnitz (Right) and Roni Rechnitz (Left).

I also dedicate the book to my grandparents whom I never knew: my mother’s mother, Rachel (Ruchla) Lejzerowicz Rechnitz,

and my father’s parents, Gitle Shkolnik and Moshe Branover.