Tini’s People is a true story about real people, her memories of Jews, Poles, Czechs, Germans and Austrians all of whom she thought of as “ her people ” form the backbone of this book. The book provides a historical, cultural and social perspective on the life of a Central European Jewish family from the 1820’s to end of the Holocaust in 1945.
Tini was the youngest daughter of a traditional Jewish family. After her arranged Jewish marriage failed she married Willi, a Roman Catholic, the first mixed marriage in her family as well as the first such in the town where they lived.
In the 1930s growing anti-Semitism emanating from Germany culminated in the occupation of the Czech lands. Under the Nazi Race Laws Tini’s mixed marriage initially provided her with immunity from persecution, however, her name was eventually placed on a deportation list. Willi foolishly talks about his Jewish wife with a total stranger, Bernhard Asmus, only to discover that he was confiding in a high-ranking member of the Gestapo. Asmus unexpectedly promises to help and issues them travel passes to the small country village where he had found them a safe place to stay. Nicknamed “ The Jewish Father “ by the local populous, Bernhard Asmus risked not only his own life but also the lives of his wife and son by helping Protestants, Catholics and Jews alike.
Tini survives the war - a woman left behind to mourn the deaths of those she loved, including her beloved daughter, Hedy. All of them were innocent victims, first incarcerated and then exterminated in Nazi death camps.
While reminiscing about her people only once did Tini say of those Germans who complained of their treatment in the post-war years – “ Perhaps they brought it upon themselves when they chose Adolf Hitler to be their leader! ”
