Uncle Schackerl and Cousin Poldi [Colour]: A bitter-sweet family journey from Bolechow, Vienna and beyond

When the author published "Child of the Diaspora" in 2015, he thought his mother's line was lost. His mother had escaped from the Nazis occupying Vienna in 1938, leaving her mother and brother to their ultimate fate in 1942. He was unaware at the time that, somehow, a number of her close relatives had found refuge in far-flung parts of the world. Most, it turns out, had little if any idea who my late mother was, which is not surprising, given the Holocaust survivors/escapees' instinctive aim of seeking a safe haven no matter where. A chance email from [cousin] Jonathan in New York in response to a speculative inquiry re: possible links to his great-grandmother - Rifke from Bolechow - re-kindled his desire to renew his search for surviving maternal descendants. The journey has been an amazing but at times shocking voyage of discovery, but has nevertheless enabled him to link up with relatives whom he never knew existed. [Post-script: Schackerl was mum's Uncle Jacob/Jacques, and Poldi was Theopold Ernst, his son]