Today is the 26th of August, one day after Horst Cahn's 89th birthday. I returned to an old Post and changed the title because of an earlier senior moment.
Today will be another hot one in San Diego. No clouds in sky today as I trucked my way down India Street and made my right turn on D Street for Amtrak #567. I just love letting Amtrak do the driving. It is free with my $41 Compass pass.
Too bad some shit-poor politicians placed sky-scrappers by the bay. Not only did it cut off circulation, but kicked off the view from downtown -- it was almost as bad when earlier decisions replaced street cars with buses.
I packed a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast. Also, I bought a Wall Street Journal and carried a few pages of my football story to edit. At exactly 8:10 the doors of Amtrak #567 opened. I knew Rick was our conductor today. He always unlocks the sliding doors at that time.
I got on and took a deep breath. I needed to expel the fumes of the city and replace them with air. I removed my football story and began to edit it. Rick walked down the aisle to check tickets.
"Headed for Encinitas?"
Yes Rick. What day in October is your last?
"October the 30th, a Thursday, is my last day."
Well, what will you do on the 31st?...He paused while a two passengers turned their heads to listen.
"Golf. I will play golf. I have invited our president to be my caddy for a day -- that if he is not too busy."
Now amicable Rick turned and walked away. The well groomed smiling conductor will be missed. I got off at my Encinitas exit, rode to the senior center and wrote what you read this morning. what you are reading.
Now train in on a post written several months earlier. It was about another birthday.
I would be leaving the downtown 'Y' Yesterday I felt too good for an afternoon nap. I needed more information about the only living survivor of a labor camp inside Poland. Horst Cahn had mentioned that he worked as a baker and then chef inside a country club in Rochester, New York. I wished to find out the name of the club.
I took the trolley from the American Plaza to Market Street. A block or two later I found myself on the ninth floor. A few people were enjoying the view of the Harbor South. One could make out the Tijuana mountain range, North Island, and of course the Coronado Bridge. One was having lunch. Yet it was too hot to view the scenery. It felt like ninety degrees on top of the new San Diego Library.
I entered the Genealogy room and asked Derek for help. He directed me to a computer and Cahn name lit up the screen. I scrolled down and hit Rochester, New York. His date of birth, city, and name of spouse brought up a treasure trove of information
A copy of his Certificate of Information helped a great deal. The labor camp of Auschwitz was boldly printed as were date of birth, 25 Aug.1925. The prisoner's No. matched his left arm, #104909. His name was given as Horst Israel and last permanent address was Hindenburgstr.22 in the city of Essen.
He was imprisoned because he was "Jude-Sch" Sahutzhaft. He was treated in Hospital Monowitz from October 20th until the the 13th of November 1943. His father's name was David Cahn and mother's Hedwig Markus.They were arrested on the 27th of February 1943 and arrived at camp on the third of March.
The city directory proved he was a Baker and lived at 236 Brooklawn Drive #18 in 1959. And there it was! The name of the country club.
He had begun as a baker, and later "When the chef became ill, he took over as the chef of the Irondequoit Country Club. Other documents showed he had entered the Displaced Persons Refugee Camp in February 2nd, of 1951. From Munich he was given a travel document number 1-609984 and placed on the General W. G. Haan sailing for New York.
It took me a few minutes to begin his life inside Ancestry.com. More would unfold later. Yet to write a documentary, I needed to understand the State of Germany inside 1943. The same room has three microfilm machines. A librarian gave me October of 1943 and it appeared that Germany had already lost the war.
A Czech survivor told our military that Germany was building missiles that could fly over two hundred miles. The citizens no longer spoke of winning the war, as there cities inside the Ruhr basin were bombed night and day by liberator bombers.
Nuts and Bolts: Dietrich Bonnoeffer will be speaking as a Nazi dissident at the North Coast Calvary Chapel at 1330 Poinsettia Lane in Carlsbad. The event is August eight at seven p.m.
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