His father escaped forced labor camps twice under Nazi Hungary and twice more under communism

[00:00:00] Alright, so, we're fighting anti-Semitism. You'll see that in the book. You'll be inspired if you read the book. Like I said, it's determination, hope, resilience, and like I said, what happened to my dad could happen to anybody. Very sad, but also happy ending and the redemption part is that he delivered 10,000 babies in the Detroit area with a big smile on his face. No signs of future. We never know what he went through after just the way he was. His demeanor was amazing. And that is exhilarating in itself. It's so motivating.

[00:00:29] Hello, today we have Rob Wolfe on the podcast with us today. How are you, Rob? I'm well. How are you? Good. Tell us about yourself and then we will get started. I'm Rob Wolfe. I'm a radiologist. I'm a neuroradiologist from Detroit originally. I was born in the Detroit area, lived half my life in Michigan, half my life in New England, and now for the last six years I've lived in Florida.

[00:00:53] I've just retired after 35 years in practice of radiology, 44 years all in when you consider college medical school internship. I'm 44 years of sweat, but a very good profession for me. I like a lot of other things, but the book has been my charge, The Not a Real Enemy, The True Story of a Hungarian Jewish Man's Fight for Freedom. But I'm interested in a lot of things, sports, music. I'm a foodie, nutrition, fitness, golf, travel, investing, all kinds of things.

[00:01:23] The book has been my charge, my mission for the last six years or so, seven years, fighting anti-Semitism. I'm doing that nearly full time here. It's my heartfelt project right now. Hi, I'm Doug Katz, inventor of the Nulu Kitchen Knife. The Nulu is uniquely shaped to work in harmony with the human body, greatly reducing the strain on muscles and joints common with traditional knives. Not only is the Nulu ergonomic, it's incredibly versatile. This knife is the kitchen MVP.

[00:01:51] Visit us at NuluKnives.com. That's N-U-L-U Knives.com to see this extraordinary knife in action and understand why we say Nulu is the knife that adapts to you. Visit NuluKnives.com and enter code WHEELWITHIT-NULU at checkout. Tell us about your story. The book is called Not a Real Enemy, if I may show it. And it's, sorry, there may be a glare from the awards, but it has been four awards.

[00:02:20] It's a miracle in itself, but the book, that really, I'm not the type to pat myself on the back. I think it's nice to have those kind of accolades. It's, I'm not self-congratulatory, but it's nice to know that people in the know realize that the work is good quality and the importance of the work. But as I was saying, it doesn't really mean anything if it doesn't help me in the fight against anti-Semitism. So it's an important point. But the book contains, it's not a real enemy. It's a biography by my dad. It's an adventure.

[00:02:46] It's got his harrowing stories, good stories and bad, happy and sad. It's a biography. It's an adventure, and it's a history book that covers Hungary from the end of World War I to the end of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. It includes Nazi Hungary, Communist Hungary, two wars. And not a lot of people know about that faction in history, including myself. So I learned a lot doing this project as well. 20 miracles in the book, four escapes, twice from forced labor camp under Nazi Hungary, twice in Communist Hungary.

[00:03:16] And a teaser, he even missed an escape. Under Communist Hungary, he went to the wrong train station. Everybody else that made the right train got arrested. My dad thought he was the unluckiest guy in the world. Turns out he was the luckiest because everybody who made the correct train got arrested, including his medical school roommate. So a lot of amazing stories like that. He just happened to him with his train, and it saved his life, probably. Probably, or many years of imprisonment. And with that comes hard labor or torture.

[00:03:42] And he'd already done his dues as a Jewish man back in Nazi Hungary as well. So much. And not only his escapes, the arguing with armbrushing soldiers, cloak and dagger stories, the way he got into medical school, the way he found out about his parents' demise, what happened to his parents, who perished out. Well, my dad was away at forced labor camp in 1944. Dad went away in 1943, and they perished. And it took him months after the war to find out what had happened to them. So a lot of Americans.

[00:04:11] Just tell us more about your dad. Your support of the Wheel With It podcast is completely optional but greatly appreciated. To help support my financial independence and the work we do, and for more information about where your gift goes, visit wheelwithit.com slash give. Okay, we talked about his parents, too. My dad was kind of a spoiled child, but he also used to get beaten by his father, which is something I didn't realize. When his grades weren't quite up to par or if he was late coming home, his dad would beat him.

[00:04:40] And he'd hide behind the furniture and the curtains and his mom in fear. But he was otherwise kind of a spoiled kid. So there's a lesson, too, because whatever happened to my dad in his lifetime could happen to any one of us. It could be a bad business deal, a bad local government, federal government, foreign government, a bad storm, a natural disaster. And we could find ourselves in the same situation as my dad, on the run, no food, not knowing we were going to sleep or eat, starving. Anyway, that said, so he's a kid, and he grows up.

[00:05:09] He's a smart kid who studies hard. His dad was a dentist, by the way, a real threat to society. He lost a job because he was Jewish. My dad got kicked off the swim team because he was Jewish. It wasn't all smooth sailing there. And Jews were restricted from going into certain buildings and in certain businesses. And that was similar in other parts of Europe, too. So we flash forward to when he was 20. Let's see, we're talking 1843 now. So he was 21 when he was summoned to go to forced labor camp.

[00:05:37] The Nazi presence in Hungary was getting heavier over a very short period of time in 43 and 44. But dad was fortunate enough to be a young man. He was useful. And so they didn't kill him. He was one of 5% of all of the forced laborers in that area were survivors. Most of them didn't make it. They were either in death marches or maybe killed by enemy fire or starvation or pestilence, whatever it might have been. My dad survived because he was either working somewhere, hiding, or on the run.

[00:06:05] And this was after his second escape from the forced labor camps. That's incredible that only 5% of them survived. When he talked about it, especially in family fights, that's when he'd always bring that up, how spoiled we were as Americans and this and that and how hard it was. But my mom and dad were both Holocaust educators. And like me, they were pretty well-rounded. They were interested in a lot of things. History. They lectured about the Holocaust. They lectured about history in general, communism.

[00:06:32] And that's where the second half of my dad's life went under the communist hunger until they finally escaped. Yeah, there were all these harrowing stories. They had a lot of friends that were Holocaust survivors in Michigan and all around the world, truthfully. And a lot of friends, too, that weren't Holocaust survivors. Christian, Hindu, Muslim, people from continental Africa, Asia. So that's how my parents were. And I'm trying to do the same thing, reach out to people like that. But, yeah, he talked about all of that. And it was fascinating.

[00:06:58] And especially, I didn't think much of it until the last 5, 8, 10 years now. And you never think I would be doing this. When I saw my dad's stories, I thought, wow, these can't just sit on a disc or sit on a computer. These need to be shared. When did you first find your dad's stories? And what, besides just wanting to share it, made you want to write the book? Okay, so great question. So the history of the book, my mom and dad, once they got back from, so they endured communist Hungary.

[00:07:26] They were frontliners in the Hungarian Revolution in 56. And finally, late 1956, they decided enough was enough, two wars and accomplished persecution. Hungarians lost, of course, and communism became more hardline. And so they decided to leave. And in 1970s, when my dad had done his residency, moved to Detroit, and had their life finally stabilized after many years, they wrote his autobiography. And they wrote it as though the events happened the previous day. They were crisp.

[00:07:55] They were sharp, clear in their memory. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the fear, the way the table was set. It was just so remarkable how they put the facts down in his eyes. And then I turned it so that now, so they go from paper and pencil to typewriter to a computer. Then we'll flash forward to 1997. My dad passes away, unfortunately. Sometime in that period, I might have read the manuscript once. Didn't think much of it, except I remember the first escape.

[00:08:23] Flash forward to 2016. My mom passes away, unfortunately. A historian friend hands me a disc, but the book's now on a disc. And she says, you've got to read this. Didn't think much of it at the time. Now I have to take care of my mom's affairs for a year. Then I retired for a year. Now we're in 2018. And a friend of mine says, I can use some help, some part-time radiology help. I was short. So I went back to work after a year of retirement and did some part-time x-ray and ultrasound. But what that did do was bring me to the book. The disc sort of called out to me.

[00:08:51] I put the disc loaded in the computer, read his autobiography. And as a radiologist, the patient list is on the left and the images are on the right. So with my dad's book, his autobiography on the left, my biography on the right. And I turned it as much fidelity as possible, dictating page after page until it completes. That's the early history of the book. And like I said, I couldn't let the stories just stay on a computer or a disc. I wanted to share them. Very motivating. And here we go.

[00:09:19] And then 20 edits later, I'm meeting my co-author, Janice Harper, and all these other miracles that happened outside of the story. Here we are. If it weren't for the team, I don't think I would be here talking about this book because it's so amazing. How did you meet Janice? And some of the team. Mark, my friend Mark, has been with me throughout the whole journey. I knew him. He's also an author. He wrote a book about fishing and something. A very smart guy. Amazing vocabulary. But he coached me.

[00:09:45] He literally, he coached me through the process of writing and getting the book, getting a copyright, getting on social media. He taught me the early facets of social media. Started my website, and he's still working on it from time to time. So that's Mark. Janice, the co-author, I met through Lisa Tenner, who's another author. She's a fine author. She's written several award-winning books. She's in Rhode Island. And we hit it off. She's also a good book coach. Hooks me up with Janice. Janice is a book coach, but she's also an author. Wrote a book about how to get your PhD.

[00:10:15] Fellow Michigander, which is cool. Now she's in Washington State. But she made the difference. If it weren't for Janice, I wouldn't be here either because she just did such a great job with the book. Like we said, parallel stories, converging stories, letters to and from home conversations really brought the story alive. Still, my dad's story, a nonfiction. So, Wels on the team, the book cover guy was from Croatia. I never met him, never talked to him, did it all online. For a reasonable price, I think he just did a great job. I'm getting more compliments about the book cover than anything else.

[00:10:44] There's testimonials, one of them, three professors, one in Israel, one in Texas, and one is Michael Berenbaum from California, who was a collaborator with Steven Spielberg in the Showa movie in the 1990s. So he's a Holocaust educator and an expert in the field. So those are the testimonials. And then we were at the bottom of the ninth, shoestring cadmium. We were queering agents and publishers. We had a big list. Janice helped me vet out the list. And it was the last one we were queering. That was Amsterdam Publishers.

[00:11:13] So literally, bottom of the ninth, shoestring cadmium. And Amsterdam Publishers, Leesbeth is her name. Fantastic job. Really good person to work with. And here we go. So it's a nice, it's discouraging. You're up, you're down. It's very fickle business writing. So it can be discouraging. And same when you're marketing a book. Sometimes you have these great days. Oh, I got this talk or this presentation. Sometimes you're getting insults or people just talking you down or calling you self-promoting, whatever the case. I don't think I have to argue a defense or apologize for promoting a story that's trying

[00:11:43] to fight antisemitism. That's my viewpoint of it. They take out your humility bone when you go through this process. Oh, yeah. That's what I've heard. It's just got to go. So tell us about the work you do trying to fight the antisemitism today. We're doing it now. Again, thank you for having me on. Hopefully you have a good audience and a good crew that listens and maybe they'll buy the book. So that'd be one thing. So 10% of my author proceeds are going to the Holocaust Museum. That's in perpetuity. That's in my trust.

[00:12:11] And so that's in addition to educating people about my corner of teaching about the Holocaust. So there's that. Which one? The one in DC? Yes. The mothership, I call it. But I've been to that. I've been there twice now for two day book signings. I do that every day, teaching the kids, teaching the families about genocide and antisemitism and the Holocaust. And so we've been doing that. And also I've been to the Illinois Holocaust Museum, the Nassau County, the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County. And I've got other things coming up.

[00:12:41] The University of South Carolina is coming up next month. That's going to be, that's my first university. I've done churches, synagogues, museums, libraries. I've done, I'm almost to 100 podcasts, 36 book presentations. And 24 radio and TV interviews. So I've been busy just doing that. And I can't fight antisemitism myself. I need the help. So if your readers are interested or somebody might want to sponsor another podcast or a book presentation, Zoom or live, it all helps.

[00:13:10] And hopefully we envelop the problem. And this is what I do. It's all about education. It's at home. We'll put the link in the show notes so people can get the book. And hopefully people will get the book and read it. And I'll add it to my reading list. I can't promise I'll get to it right away, but I will read it at some point. I understand that. I'm backlogged all the time. Yeah. So what do you see as far as antisemitism goes? I'm hoping that it's already peaked. It's been bad enough. There's been enough damage.

[00:13:39] First of all, not just the October 7th massacre, which is horrible, but there's been other terrorist attacks. We'll talk about 9-1-1. I need to remind people that support terrorists. It was terrorists that killed 3,000 people during 9-1-1. And that was an attack against America. And the people that died were Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Asian. It wasn't targeted against Jews, so it was targeted against America. Prior terrorist attacks, the bombing of the Lockerbie airline, the Six-Day War, the Yom Kippur

[00:14:07] War, and we'll flash back to the Holocaust or persecution of Jews under communist Hungary. And we can flash back even farther to the Crusades, where there's Christian and Muslim fights. And we go back to Exodus. We go back to the five books of Moses, the Old Testament, and to Exodus and the 400 years of slavery. Is it ever going to go away? I hope so. Realistically, probably not. But my job is to try to recruit the 99.9% of us that are against hate and racism and

[00:14:35] the Holocaust to keep it that way, to keep our government and our local police informed, to reach out to senators and congressmen, whatever it takes. And like I said, leadership starts at home. It starts with the individual. And education starts at home, too. And that's all I'm trying to do. So in the long run, I think it'll be OK. When these flare-ups happen, it happened with the Asian population after COVID. It happened with the Muslim population after 9-1-1. And that's just ignorance. That's not reading, knowing your history. It's accountability.

[00:15:04] And I'm not into Islamophobia either. But those that are Islam and know those that might be terrorists or murderers should act out and reach. And again, we talk about that accountability. Yeah, that's great. Have you seen the movie Bonhoeffer, Pastor, Spy, Assassin? And you have to put the subtitle on. Otherwise, there will be 20 different Bonhoeffer movies. Oh, really? No, but if you don't mind when we get off, if you could email or text it to me to remind me.

[00:15:34] I haven't seen it. It sounds like something I would... It is one of the best movies I've ever seen. It's from the studio called Angel. They crowdfund all their movies and TV shows. And then the subscribers vote on which ones they want to get made. The Bonhoeffer movie was just... I don't often cry at movies, but I was so emotional at the end of that thing. I've cried.

[00:16:02] If you don't mind, email me after the meeting, after our show, and I'll check it out. I've cried plenty in this process. Not only... It's like doing my parents' eulogy every day. So I understand that emotion. Even Schindler's List, I watched that again recently and compared it. And what a difference watching it after doing the book versus before doing it. Yeah. A lot of parallels, a lot of similarities. So as well done as possible. But the story would be different. It's a different country. It's a different set of circumstances.

[00:16:30] And not a lot of people know about forced labor camps and death marches, let alone the history of Hungary itself, the Hungarian Revolution again. So it would... And it would definitely be action-adventure four escapes. Tom Cruise plays my dad. Tom Hanks plays the next part. Tom Cruise is still in great shape. He does all his own stunts. Yeah. Like, I was gonna say... He just did Mission Impossible, I guess. I can't keep track with him. But I think he's one of... He's a great actor to me. So he would have been...

[00:16:57] Keanu Reeves played my dad's friend Frank in the movie. So... Oh my gosh. Yes. The story should be a movie. And I kind of thought that at the beginning when I did this. But we have queered a few producers. I haven't heard back. Many of them are tied to LA and unfortunately the fires that are going on. But if it does happen, I think people circle back to the book. And that would be the ultimate way to fight anti-Semitism. People go to the movie and realize how wrong hate is. And how hate is shown... Rears its ugly head in so many different ways.

[00:17:27] I would love to help out with that movie. Especially with that cast. So... Please call me. Fantasy. I've already reached out to Spielberg. He doesn't do these anymore. He did Schindler and he did this show movie. I got a nice letter back from probably his attorney's signed letter saying he appreciates the sending, but they don't... He doesn't do this anymore. And for legal reasons and that. He's not... I reached out to Tom Hanks too. But that was with the original version of the book. So maybe I should send him a new copy of the fresh book with the awards on it. Maybe he'll look. He's a history buff too.

[00:17:56] Adam Sandler's moved near me. He's up in Boca Raton. I'm here and I've got his agent's number. But I work alone. I have no assistance. So I'm backlogged. I don't know. 50, 100 phone calls. But Adam Sandler, even though he's a comedian, he supports Israel. And he'd be a great guy to get into his hands. Yeah. And he's not the only one. Adrian Brody, who just did The Brutalist. Phenomenal actor. He's known for The Pianist too. Brutalist was a well-received movie. The Oscar nominee. I saw it. It was post-war Hungary mostly. It was mostly in the United States.

[00:18:24] It wouldn't have as much action and adventure as Not a Real Enemy would. But good movie. Adrian Brody, he's on Instagram. Tough to reach. Elizabeth Shue. Whoever else. Oh, who's the trying to think? She was in The Russian Doll. Red-headed actress. Leon is her last name. Natasha Leon. Hungarian descent, I believe. Now she could play either my mom or my dad's mom with the red hair. My mom had that typical Hungarian red hair. Same thing. Same thing. Anyway, whole cast. It's a fantasy cast. Oh, yeah. You never know.

[00:18:54] You never know. I mean... If we could get half that cast, that would be... Oh, you only need one. You need one producer. What you need is a good producer and a good screenwriter. But we're still at the book level. We did a pitch deck to query producers, but we'll see how that goes. I'm catching you around bedtime. It's actually the middle of the afternoon, but I... Oh, I'm kidding. I got a massage today, so that's probably... Good for you. I need... I'm a long overdue for a massage.

[00:19:24] That's so soothing. I'm doing an Italy cruise coming up finally like a vacation week. I've been... I think on the boat on the ship, they offer massages and spas, so good for you. Drink lots of water. You want to stay hydrated, of course. Stay connected with Wheel With It and Devin Wieters by following us on social media at wheelwithit.com slash follow us. They tell you that. Yeah. Yeah. I need to drink more water. Yeah. Anything else that you want to add? Can we get up here? Yeah, sure. All right. So, all right.

[00:19:54] We're fighting anti-Semitism. You'll see that in the book. You'll be inspired if you read the book. Like I said, it's determination, hope, resilience. And like I said, what happened to my dad could happen to anybody. Very sad, but also happy ending. And the redemption part is that he delivered 10,000 babies in the Detroit area with a big smile on his face. No signs of PTSD. You'd never know what he'd been through after just the way he was. His demeanor was amazing. And that is exhilarating in itself. It's just, it's so motivating. Yeah, that's amazing. Amazing.

[00:20:23] And brought all that life back in it. Like I said, it doesn't bring back 6 million or 50 million or the people from Gaza, but still, it's contributing to life. And that's what I've been doing. I can't understand all this hate and how people can kill people in just a second. I mean, when we're here for the preservation of life and enjoying the beauty of the anatomy, the beauty of the cell, the beauty of the science. And people just don't respect that. Besides that, you can find me. So if you Google Not A Real Enemy or if you Google Robert J. Wolfe, MD, you'll find me if you want to reach out and carry this conversation further.

[00:20:51] I'm on socials across the board. Facebook, now called Meta. Facebook author page, Rob Wolf or Not A Real Enemy by Robert Wolf, MD. YouTube channel, website, robertjwolfe, MD.com. I'm on X. I'm on Instagram. I'm on LinkedIn, Blue Sky, and TikTok. Find me if you'd like. Check the storage. I have a lot of content on the YouTube channel and on the website. And again, thanks to the team for helping me with that. And we'll have all those links in the show notes.

[00:21:18] And you can follow us at WeWitItPod on all social media. And you can go to WeWitIt.com and it's all there for you. Comment, subscribe, share this podcast with a friend. Hit the bell if you are on LinkedIn, Spotify. And we will see you guys next episode. Bye, guys. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you for joining us. If you're listening on Spotify or your favorite podcast app,

[00:21:45] please be sure to hit the follow button and, if available, the bell to get notified when we upload new episodes. It really helps support the show. Also, if you're on Spotify, please leave us a comment. If your podcast app allows you to, please rate and view us. It helps more people find the show. Remember to follow the show and our guests on social media using the links in the show notes. We'll see you next time. Bye.