A Life Built from Fear

A young man senses that if the Nazis enter Austria the Jews will be treated like second-class citizens like they were in Germany. Unable to persaude his father to leave, because he does not want to give up what he has, the youth goes to America with a friend's family.Arriving in America he gives up the chance to go to Yale to make it on his own in his new country. He moves to New York City, where he gets a job in the garment district and a one room flat.The Nazis enter Austria, and the...
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A young man senses that if the Nazis enter Austria the Jews will be treated like second-class citizens like they were in Germany. Unable to persaude his father to leave, because he does not want to give up what he has, the youth goes to America with a friend's family.Arriving in America he gives up the chance to go to Yale to make it on his own in his new country. He moves to New York City, where he gets a job in the garment district and a one room flat.The Nazis enter Austria, and the young man's mother and brother are smuggled out to England, but the father remains believing that the Nazis will need his services because of his knowledge of financial exchange. When he finally realizes that he was wrong in his assessment, he too is smuggled out to England to join his wife and son.The brother in England writes to his brother in America to bring him over because he is going insane with the way he is living. The boss of the youth in America provides sponsorship and fiancial means to bring the brother over and provide him a job when he arrives. However, after a short period of time and the desire to live the good life, the older brother quits and goes to work for a gangster that specializes in extortion.The older brother who works for the gangster lives the high lifestyle his income allows, while the younger brother remains in his one-room flat. When the Nazis begin bombing England the young man's boss sponsors his parents to come to America.Upon arriving in America the parents stay with the younger son, but the father is distraught over the fact that 3 people are sharing one room. When he sees how well his older son is living he berates the younger son by consistently pointing to how well the older brother has done for himself. The parents ultimately move in with the older brother. Because of the fact that he was forced to leave his home land, the father has a distaste for non-Jews believing that they all hate Jews.The older brother is told by his boss to hurt one of the people that he is trying to extort money from, and that someone is the boss of the young man, the same person that sponsored the older brother to come to America and paid his way.Arriving at the plant one evening the older brother attacks the man who is alone in his office. However, as he is about to leave the younger brother arrives and confronts him. Ripping at the mask that the older brother wore, the young man recognizes his brother, but the older brother gets away. When the youth goes to see what happened to his boss and friend he discovers that he had battery acid thrown in his face.The brother has no compunction about turning his older brother in even though it means that his parents will not have a place to stay. The friends that brought the young man to America have their relatives in America agree to take the new immigrants in and provide them with shelter. This becomes a bitter pill for the father because they are non-Jews, and the situation is compounded because their son is romantically involved with their daughtter.