Luck or Destiny? (ePub)

An only child living with his parents in , Emil Muller was just 16 years old the morning when the Nazis banged on the door of the family apartment and dragged young Emil and his father from their home leaving his mother frightened and alone. Thus began the series of experiences, which Emil refers to as "adventures," during which he made his way across attempting to reunite with his parents and escape for . Another person might not have survived the pressure of being one step ahead of the Nazis with no one to rely upon but himself. However, Emil's personal strength of character, his solid sense of right and wrong, which he developed through a classical Jewish and secular education and observing exceptional role models in his parents' example, and his quick mind, which allowed him to assess a situation and determine the right course of action led him to the rickety ship in which he crossed the Atlantic Ocean to arrive in Cuba.

During the crossing, he would lie in his bunk bed in the crowded men's dormitory and plan his future. One of the things he promised himself that he would do was to record his adventures during this period of his life. One day, a determined man of 73 bought a typewriter that he did not know how to use, sat down with a stack of blank paper, and started typing his memoir in English, a language he had never studied formally and knew only through speaking it. When he got up, he had a 400-page manuscript that was pure Emil.