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They escaped the Nazi genocide, but these ‘Wanderers’ still went through hell
The Wanderers
By Daniela Gerson
Grand Central, 336 pages, $30
Daniela Gerson is a journalist with years of experience reporting about immigration, in a time when immigrants are commonly derided as interlopers who will do anything to weasel into America, including by telling untruths. She is also the daughter of a father whose immigrant parents — Gerson’s paternal grandmother and grandfather — lied through their teeth to get here.
The long story leading to why they did this grounds Gerson’s fascinating memoir, which explores a chapter of the Holocaust that is largely unknown in America, even to Jews: about Polish Jews who went not to Auschwitz or to attics, but instead to the Soviet Union. The story defines her family and that of Talia Inlender, a Los Angeles immigration attorney whom Gerson met at a party several years ago. Chatting there, they realized that Inlender’s Jewish paternal grandfather was from the same Polish city as Gerson’s Jewish grandparents. The coincidence drew the two women together, and they ended up marrying, having kids, and digging further into their shared ancestral history. Their excavation has culminated in The Wanderers.
On the eve of World War II, about 3.3 million Jews lived in Poland — more than in any other country in Europe. By 1945, more than 90% of them were dead. About three quarters of the few who survived did so only because they’d spent the war in the Soviet Union. They escaped Nazi genocide but still lived through hell.
For years, Gerson knew this basic history. She knew that in 1939 Poland had been carved in two, west and east, by Germany and the Soviet Union when the two countries signed a non-aggression pact. In the immediate aftermath of the partition, hundreds of thousands of Poles felt more frightened of Hitler than Stalin, and they fled into Soviet territory. But their flight was chaotic. Many lived on the streets or in rooms with no heat, and with little to eat. In Lviv, now in Ukraine but then in the USSR, Gerson’s grandparents experienced their first devastation: Their eight-month-old son fell ill with pneumonia and died.
Inlender’s grandfather’s wife and young son, meanwhile, had opted to remain in Poland. Soon after making that decision, they were shot to death during a Nazi roundup of Jews.
As conditions on the Russian side worsened, almost everyone who’d fled Poland, including Jews, told the Soviets they wanted to go back to the German-run area. The Soviets responded by labeling such people untrustworthy, bourgeois, and traitorous. So, beginning in summer 1940, thousands of Poles, including eight Gersons and several Inlenders, were packed into boxcars and shipped thousands of miles east, to gulags and forced labor camps. There they were consigned to backbreaking work in mines and forests, fed very little, and crowded into vermin infested shacks with little heat in winter. Starving and exhausted, the prisoners were told by their overseers to get used to it, because they were never going home again. At least a quarter of them perished.
Then, after Germany invaded the Soviet Union in summer 1941, the enslaved Poles were freed from the gulags. Waves of them headed south to the USSR’s five Central Asian republics: Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Many wanted to enter Iran and proceed to Palestine. The Gersons tried this but the borders were closed. They backtracked to Uzbekistan. Inlender’s grandfather landed in Kazakhstan.
Again there was hunger and homelessness. Typhoid fever and other deadly epidemics raged. Polish Christians and Jews alike — as well as citizens of the Soviet Union whose homelands were overrun by Nazis — wandered the streets. Everyone suffered.
Some lied to stay alive. Mikhal Dekel, who wrote a book about her Polish-Jewish father’s survival under similar circumstances, noted that, in Central Asia, child refugees, including Jewish children, roamed alone and starving. The parents of others turned them over to Christian orphanages. Historian Gennady Estraikh has written about Jewish children running away from adult relatives, knocking on the doors of those orphanages, and falsely claiming they had no family. Their lies saved their lives.
Gerson doesn’t discuss this specifically, but I imagine the two of us have some common experiences with lying. Like her, I am a longtime journalist focusing on immigration, mainly into the U.S. from Latin America. During the first Trump administration, I met parents who’d fled violence in their home countries, then walked or rode in boxcars to the southern U.S. border, only to be turned back by American immigration authorities and sent to languish in filthy, dangerous encampments on the Mexican side of the line. I saw teenagers in those camps steal away from their mothers and fathers and cross into Texas by claiming they were orphans — they did this because the U.S. was still accepting what immigration law calls “unaccompanied minors.” I saw parents weeping as they kissed their seven year olds goodbye and directed them over the international bridge, with instructions to falsely say they had no mother and father.
And I met adults with carefully planned confabulations. Once I talked with a man who was sifting through Google to study, he told me, how gay men act. He confessed that he wasn’t gay but was learning to walk, dress and behave as though he was, because the U.S. was letting people in who might be attacked in Mexico by homophobes. A woman told me she tried to buy urine from someone who was pregnant, because with a doctor’s certification of pregnancy, she might be let in, too.
What were these people really escaping from? Homicidal gangs? Murderous cartels? Hunger? Hopelessness? Whatever it was, they knew better than to tell truths that mean nothing in U.S. immigration law.
After World War II, most Polish Jewish survivors ended up in displaced persons camps in Europe. The Gersons wanted to get into one that was being run by the United States. But it did not allow new admissions, and the family had not left the Soviet Union until 1946. By then they had a baby boy, born in Uzbekistan. He would grow up to be Daniela’s father. The family wanted to go to America, but McCarthyist immigration restrictions defined Polish Jews, according to one Congress member, as “a gang of well-trained Communists” who would spread through America and plot to overthrow the government.
The Gersons finally made it into America via subterfuge. A couple who were named Blumstein, also with a baby boy, had received permission to enter the displaced persons camp but then abandoned the permission document. The Gersons got a hold of it and started masquerading as the Blumsteins. A few years later, when restrictions against Polish-Jewish immigration loosened, they sailed into New York Harbor under that surname. They spent the next decade in terror of being discovered. An expensive lawyer finally straightened everything out, and by the 1960s they were again the Gersons.
Daniela’s father, Allan Gerson, later became a Nazi-hunter prosecutor for the Department of Justice. His job was deporting Eastern Europeans who had assisted with Nazi atrocities. His method was ironic: He had merely to show that they lied when they applied to live in America — just as his parents had lied. Worried that low-level collaborators would be deported back to Communist countries, judged as criminals without due process, and put before firing squads, he quit the job.
According to his daughter’s memoir, Allan Gerson’s politics were neo-conservative. Nevertheless, he was outspokenly sympathetic toward today’s undocumented young people, the so-called “Dreamers” who came to the United States as children with their undocumented parents. “I was an illegal immigrant,” he wrote in 2017 in the Washington Post. He lamented that Dreamers “stand to be deprived of life as they know it, shipped off to some land they hardly recognize.”
He went to one of those lands in his later years. Did he connect with it spiritually? As a hobbyist art photographer before his death in 2019, he ranged up and down the U.S.-Mexico border, taking photo after photo after photo, almost obsessively, of border walls —those cruel, hard structures meant to exclude our new wandering generations. He shot the walls from the Mexico side, in extreme close up, rendering them almost abstract. But he often included their graffiti. It was giant and brilliantly colored. Likewise, those features in his daughter’s memoir illuminate a history that still shades our place and time.
The post They escaped the Nazi genocide, but these ‘Wanderers’ still went through hell appeared first on The Forward.
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New York Teacher Seeking to Unseat Ritchie Torres Calls for Socialism, Removal of All Pro-Israel Politicians
Andre Easton speaks to supporters in New York City. Photo: Screenshot
The race to unseat incumbent US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) is drawing attention not only for its electoral implications but also for the broader ideological project outlined by some of his opponents.
Andre Easton, a far-left, anti-Israel high school teacher and member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, is running as an independent in New York’s 15th Congressional District on a platform that goes beyond defeating the incumbent. In new remarks, Easton suggested that unseating Torres would not, on its own, achieve the political transformation he seeks.
“We understand that this has to be built in the election system, in the election cycle, and outside of the election cycle,” Easton said, describing a strategy that blends electoral participation with grassroots organizing aimed at shifting political and economic power toward the working class. Easton then asserted that the implementation of socialism in the US was necessary to empower the economic downtrodden.
Easton made the comments on Monday night during an event hosted at The People’s Forum in New York City. The event, titled “Palestine: A Test of Democracy,” featured a panel of individuals all donning keffiyehs — a traditional Arab headdress that has been repurposed following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to signify support for the anti-Israel political cause.
Easton also argued that removing elected officials who support Israel would only address “a symptom,” framing his campaign as part of a broader effort to build a socialist system in the United States. He stated that having a few politicians removed for their “complicity in funding and supporting a genocide is a step in the right direction,” appearing to lend support to the false claim that Israel pursued genocide against the Palestinians during its campaign against the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza.
Torres, one of the most outspoken pro-Israel Democrats in Congress, has consistently backed the US-Israel alliance and condemned rising antisemitism. His positions have made him a prominent voice within the party at a time of growing internal divisions over Middle East policy. Leftists have taken aim at Torres, accusing him of supporting a so-called “genocide” in Gaza.
During his remarks this week, Easton claimed that “349 members” of Congress have received “direct funding from Israel,” a characterization that misrepresents how US campaign finance works. Organizations such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) are US-based and funded by American donors, though they advocate for strong US-Israel ties and support candidates aligned with that position.
Supporters of Torres argue that such rhetoric suggesting foreign funding risks fueling harmful narratives, particularly amid heightened concerns about antisemitism. They contend that backing for Israel among US lawmakers reflects policy alignment rather than external control.
Easton, for his part, framed his campaign as an effort to mobilize supporters beyond traditional electoral participation. He encouraged individuals to become “active participants” and “active protagonists” in shaping political outcomes, emphasizing sustained engagement outside of election cycles.
Political analysts have noted that campaigns like Easton’s bid often aim to influence the broader ideological landscape even when victory is unlikely. By promoting more expansive policy goals and organizing committed supporters, such efforts can seek to shift the boundaries of mainstream political debate, sometimes referred to as the Overton window.
For Torres and his allies, the race underscores a wider debate within the Democratic Party over foreign policy, economic systems, and the role of activism in electoral politics. While the outcome of the primary remains uncertain, the contest highlights competing visions not just for a congressional seat but for the direction of the party itself.
Another candidate seeking to defeat Torres is Michael Blake, a progressive former New York state assemblyman who is running an insurgent anti-Israel, left-wing campaign.
Efforts to unseat Torres are considered a longshot. Though little recent polling of the race has been publicly released, existing polls show Torres with widespread approval across his district. The 15th district, which contains the heavily Jewish Riverdale suburbs, is expected to reelect Torres, although the Democratic primary is still to be held in June, followed by the general election in November.
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German Intelligence Warns of Rising Iran-Linked Terror Threat
Broken glass and shattered storefront windows mark the façade of an Israeli restaurant in Munich after assailants smashed the windows and threw pyrotechnic devices inside during an overnight attack on April 9-10, 2026. Photo: Screenshot
As escalating tensions in the Middle East ripple into Europe, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has raised the alarm over a growing threat from Iran-linked terrorist networks, prompting Jewish communities to heighten security amid fears of targeted attacks.
On Tuesday, the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution warned of a rising threat level across the country and Europe more broadly from pro-Iranian extremist groups, specifically citing the expanding activities of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya and signaling broader concerns about coordinated operations on the continent.
“What’s new is [the terrorist group’s] warning that they will no longer limit themselves to ‘simple’ attacks but will also include more dangerous means in the long term,” an agency spokesperson told the German newspaper Handelsblatt, pointing to an apparent shift toward more sophisticated and potentially lethal methods, including the use of explosives or weapons.
Since the start of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran earlier this year, European governments have tightened domestic security amid mounting fears that Tehran could activate proxy networks across the continent to retaliate against US, Israeli, and Jewish targets.
But even with increased security and heightened intelligence monitoring, Europe has seen a string of attacks targeting Jewish and Israeli institutions, several of them claimed by the newly emerged Iran-linked terrorist organization.
Just in April, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya claimed responsibility for a wave of attacks across the UK, Germany, North Macedonia, Belgium, and the Netherlands, many of them concentrated in London.
Since emerging in early March, the group has taken credit for at least 15 attacks against Jewish and Western targets across Europe.
German intelligence has identified a recurring pattern, with young individuals repeatedly recruited via social media and encrypted platforms to carry out attacks in exchange for modest payments.
German officials suspect the terrorist group may be part of a broader Iraqi Shiite network with ties to Iran’s regional proxy infrastructure, raising concerns about cross-border coordination and external direction.
“The organization uses various channels from the Shiite extremist and pro-Iranian sphere on different social media platforms to report on its activities,” the agency said in a statement.
“The group has also recently stated its political motivation behind its actions and openly threatened Israeli institutions as well as the so-called ‘enemies of Islam’ in Europe,” it continued.
In recent weeks, six sites across Greater London have been targeted, including a Jewish ambulance service and a Persian-language media outlet. In the latest incident on Saturday, an accelerant-filled bottle was hurled through the window of a synagogue in Harrow, on the outskirts of London.
Marc Henrichmann, who chairs the parliamentary oversight committee of Germany’s intelligence services, told Handelsblatt that the surge in incidents is “closely linked to the escalation of the Iran conflict,” warning that the spillover is already being felt across Europe as alarm grows among security experts.
“The threat to Jewish, Israeli, and American institutions remains high, even though they are already under special protection,” Henrichmann said.
“Our objective must be clear: to identify and dismantle these foreign-controlled terrorist networks, and to do so we must significantly strengthen our intelligence capabilities, particularly in the digital domain,” the German official continued.
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Israel Condemns Venice Biennale Jury Decision to Ban Israeli Artist From Winning Top Awards
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar attends a press conference with the Danish Foreign Minister (not pictured) in Jerusalem, Sept. 7, 2025. Photo: Ritzau Scanpix/Ida Marie Odgaard/via REUTERS
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has denounced the International Jury of the 61st Venice Biennale after its five members announced last week that they will not consider awarding top prizes to an artist from Israel.
In a released statement, the Venice Biennale’s jurors said they will exclude from consideration for the Golden and Silver Lion awards artists from “those countries whose leaders are currently charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC),” which applies to both Israel and Russia in relation to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, respectively.
Belu-Simion Fainaru is the artist representing Israel at the Venice Biennale this year with his installation “Rose of Nothingness.” Fainaru’s artwork will address topics such as Jewish mysticism, memory, and poetry. The artist – who was born in Bucharest, Romania, and now resides in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa — won the Israel Prize in Design and Interdisciplinary Art last year. A University of Haifa alumnus, he represented Romania at the 2019 Venice Biennale.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a post on X that the jury’s decision to “boycott” Fainaru is “a contamination of the art world.”
“The political jury has transformed the Biennale from an open artistic space of free, boundless ideas into a spectacle of false, anti-Israeli political indoctrination,” the ministry added.
Fainaru believes that the jury’s decision has “created a hostile and degrading environment” and that he is being discriminated against based on his national origin, he said in an email last week cited by Artnet.
“The Biennale has publicly stated that it rejects any form of cultural censorship and confirmed participation of all countries recognized by Italy, including Israel, Russia, and Iran,” he added. “I must mention that other states with serious violations are not excluded. This statement is the violation of essential equality condition based on legally unstable and arbitrary basis.”
“Unfortunately, the Biennale may end up being less about the art on display and more about the turbulent world surrounding it,” he also wrote in an Instagram post on Sunday. “But we are still making art and believe in dialogue. We look forward to hosting you at our pavilion.”
The ICC issued arrest warrants in 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip. The Jewish state has strongly denied the allegations, with officials saying the Israeli military has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, despite Hamas’s widely acknowledged strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population. Israel launched its military campaign against Hamas after the terrorist group’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
This year’s Venice Biennale will be open to the public from May 9-Nov. 22, and the awards ceremony will take place in Venice on May 9. The Golden Lion awards are given to the best artist in the main exhibition and to the best national pavilion, and the Silver Lion is awarded to a promising young artist. The winners will be selected among 110 participants.
This is the first year that Russia has been allowed to reopen its pavilion at the Venice Biennale since 2022. The ICC currently has an active arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes against children in Ukraine.
Zoe Butt, Elvira Dyangani Ose, Marta Kuzma, Giovanna Zapperi, and Solange Farkas are the jurors for the Venice Biennale this year. Explaining their decision to exclude Israel and Russia from the event’s top prizes, the jury said they feel “a responsibility towards the historical role of the Biennale as a platform that connects art to the urgencies of its time.”
“We acknowledge the complex relationship between artistic practice and nation-state representation that provides a central structure for the Venice Biennale, particularly the way this relation binds artists’ work with the actions of the state they represent,” they added. The jury also said their decision was inspired by a statement made by the late Koyo Kouoh, who curated the Biennale’s main exhibition this year, titled “In Minor Keys.” Kouoh had said: “In refusing the spectacle of horror, the time has come to listen to the minor keys, to tune in sotto voce to the whispers, to the lower frequencies; to find the oases, the islands, where the dignity of all living beings is safeguarded.”
Following the statement from the jury, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced that the bloc will withdraw $2.3 million in funding from the international art event for allowing Russia to participate. “While Russia bombs museums, destroys churches, and seeks to erase Ukrainian culture, it should not be allowed to exhibit its own,” Kallas said, as reported by Politico. “Russia’s return to the Venice Biennale is morally wrong, and the EU intends to cut its funding.”
Finland announced last week that its political leaders will not participate in the Venice Biennale this year because of Russia’s participation, and Latvia’s Culture Minister Agnese Lāce said she will boycott the event’s opening on May 9 if Russia is included.