From Radiologist to Author and His Fight Against Anti-Semitism

Dr. Robert Wolf

[00:00:00] Ed Watters: To overcome, you must educate. Educate not only yourself, but educate anyone seeking to learn. We are all Dead America, we can all learn something. To learn, we must challenge what we already understand. The way we do that is through conversation. Sometimes we have conversations with others, however, some of the best conversations happen with ourselves. Reach out and challenge yourself; let's dive in and learn something new right now.

[00:00:54] Today we are speaking with Dr. Robert Wolf, he is the author of Not a Real Enemy. This is a real exciting book that he wrote. Robert, to start off, could you please introduce yourself? Let people know just a little more about you, please.

[00:01:12] Dr. Robert Wolf: Well, hi, Ed. How are you? Thanks for having me on, I really appreciate it. Very grateful, thank you so much. Um, I'm Rob Wolf, I'm a radiologist and an author. Turns out I'm an author the last few years. Um, I've been doing radiology for thirty-five years. I still work part time from home, uh, Wednesdays and Thursdays, uh, doing x ray and ultrasound. I was born in Detroit, raised in suburban Michigan by my mom and dad.

[00:01:36] My dad, uh, who's the hero in the book, uh, uh, ended up, here's the punchline, he ended up delivering 10, 000 babies in the Detroit area as an OBGYN after he redid his residency in Boston. Uh, after he'd done it, uh, gone through medical school and residency in Hungary, both of my parents were from Hungary,

[00:01:53] they emigrated in 1956 after the Hungarian revolution. We'll talk more about that. Um, and, uh, just wanted out after two wars, uh, endless persecution, uh, murders, uh, just, uh, a lack of civil rights, uh, both under the Nazis and the communists. So, uh, and, uh, so I went through, uh, 12th grade in Michigan and then I was fortunate enough to go to Tufts University

[00:02:18] for undergrad in the Boston area. And then University of Michigan Medical School back in my home state, which was a great experience. And then I went to Boston University affiliate Framingham, known for the Framingham Heart Studies, Framingham Hospital for my internship. Did my radiology residency at Brown and my neuroradiology fellowship at Yale.

[00:02:39] Uh, so now I'm thirty years old and, uh, my indentured servantry years are over, so I finally started making a living at thirty. Uh, I've been in the radiology business since 1989 when I first started my residency. And, uh, here we are. I've been back and forth to New England, lived half my life in New England, half my life in Michigan, and now I'm in Southern Florida for, uh, since [00:03:00] 2019.

[00:03:00] So five years now, I got down here just before the COVID. Um, I've got a lot of interests, I'm interested in history. I published the book. And, uh, I like sports and music. I'm a foodie. I like fitness, golf, um, all kinds of history, uh, travel, uh, meeting people. And with this book, I'm doing just that. So. I can't say I'm living the dream, but I'm, uh, I'm busy and I'm trying to stay busy and I'm fighting Antisemitism, uh, at the same time with, uh, all these messages and my dad's, uh, the story of my dad.

[00:03:31] Ed Watters: In our world today, this is needed real bad. My father was a World War II veteran and he went over there and he fought to free and liberate what was going on because of the Nazis, Communism. And I remember him coming home with just enormous amounts of photographs of what was happening in Auschwitz. And, you know, it was just, those pictures are burned into my mind.

[00:04:09] They had bodies stacked like cordwood and, you know, it's really horrific what happened. And we're seeing the rise of Anti-Semitic behavior in America, this is disturbing to me. My, my father would roll over at what is happening right now. And I'm kind of just sickened by it. How could we, America, after going through all of that, end up where we are today. So with that little rant out of our way. Uh, there is a lot of things in your book that will help people discover the atrocities that happened during World War II, and this Nazi takeover of Europe. What, what's the most horrific thing that you outline in your book, Robert?

[00:05:14] Dr. Robert Wolf: Well, it's gotta be, well, you bring up so many great points. I hope I can remember to address them all. First thing, um, fifty million people died in World War II. So besides the six million Jewish people that, that perished, uh, many were tortured, many were homeless, uh, hurt. Of course, um, financially strapped after the war, uh, PTSD, uh, psychological issues. Not everybody, like your father, brought home photos, not everybody could do that. Uh, American soldiers were shocked what they, when they liberated some of these death camps and concentration camps.

[00:05:41] So, um, one personal thing, and I had to walk away, I started this six years ago and, you know, I never would have thought that I'd be fighting, my, my slippery slope went from this to this with this October 7th attack and, and all these people jumping on the band wagon. Uh, I'm going to preface by saying, The good news is the 98, 99 percent of us I think [00:06:00] are, are, I don't want to say normal thinking, because, you know, who's to say what's normal, but people that are interested in peace, their careers, their family, uh, just the simple pleasures of life, uh, while we have them, because it's short and delicate,

[00:06:12] uh, and then these terrorists, uh, don't appreciate that. And that's, that's another paradox is, yeah, as a radiologist, you know, I'm into anatomy and the beauty of the human body and how it functions, even the cell at the cellular level. And even other animals, I'm an animal lover too. So cats, dogs, giraffes, you name it, lizards, you name it, the delicacy of the, of how we are built and the beauty of it.

[00:06:33] And, and there's, these people will just, they'll destroy it in seconds. So gunshots and beheadings, and they have no respect for, and that's disturbing too. So the personal part was when my dad's parents, the grandparents I never met, uh, were taken away to Auschwitz, uh, near the end of the war in, uh, in 1944, and, uh, dead just about immediately.

[00:06:53] Uh, they were very systematic in the killings, uh, and, uh, I had to walk away from the project for like a week. I, I couldn't, uh, I, I almost didn't go back to it because it was, it was just, uh, it was, it was heart wrenching, it was gut wrenching. So, my mom's, uh, and my dad's father was a dentist too. So he was a captain on a Red Cross ship in World War I and he became a dentist.

[00:07:11] So an obvious threat to, uh, uh, to mankind is, so that they would take him away and kill him, uh, just because he was Jewish. Uh, my dad's, my father's, uh, my grandmother, his wife, they were kind people. They were, uh, they gave away freebies, uh, dental, free, free dental work to the less fortunate back in my dad's hometown of Gyor. Uh, and the mother was, uh, she made, she baked and she made food for, uh, they, they had some hired help and she was kind to them and kind to the neighbors, they were super nice people.

[00:07:39] So, and then my mom's grandfather was a rabbi, another threat to society, and he also perished at Auschwitz. So I don't know that much about his history, except that, uh, that, uh, my mom had a very, very brief, uh, eight, ten page memoir where she described that. But my mom talked about it all her life. My mom and dad were history educators all their life.

[00:07:57] But if you knew me six years ago, you would say this guy would never be doing this. That I would not, but they wrote the stories in the seventies as an autobiography about my dad. And they wrote the stories as though, A, uh, they knew that I would be doing this. And don't you hate it when your parents are right? Because they were right, you know, it's, uh, I'll tell you the history of the book in a minute. But, uh, and B, uh, they knew that, uh, Anti-Semitism would, uh, would rear its ugly head again, and here we are.

[00:08:22] We're not even 80, 100 years out from the stories from my, from my dad's, uh, book and biography, and we're already going through this. And it's not just Anti-Semitism, you know, in 9/1 1, everybody was, everybody was an Islamophobe, and after the, the COVID, the coronavirus that broke out, people were attacking Asians and indiscriminately.

[00:08:40] I mean, it just, uh, it was awful. And we're seeing that now. What do I have to do with Gaza? What do you have to do with Gaza? What do Americans have to do with Gaza? It's a terrorist attack, uh, clear and simple. Israel has the right to defend itself, I feel. I mean, I'm not, I'm not going to get political. I'm, I'm really not a political guy.

[00:08:57] But I feel that a country, if this happened in the United [00:09:00] States, a mass murder like, let's say, Waco, or, uh, you know, there's, there's been many of these, these, uh, the brainwashing type of, uh, mass suicides. There, Allentown, I can't, I can't think of them all, but. We also have, uh, mass murders too, the Las Vegas, the schools now, it's awful.

[00:09:16] I mean, that's no better than, no better than Hamas attacking all these people. But, uh, it's horrendous. I can't imagine how that has to do with people protesting here in the United States. Uh, we've got immigration problems. That's another issue that's, uh, they're, they're storming in. Uh, we're seeing what happened, what's happening in Europe now.

[00:09:32] And, uh, it's, it's just hard to digest. As long as my government is on my side, on your side, uh, the local police, our military, I'm not going to feel too unsafe. I mean, anybody can come, you know, from what I'm doing, anybody could come, some crazy could come up to me and say, you know, You got to stop doing it.

[00:09:48] Or they could threaten me or worse. But, uh, here we are, the book's out and there's nothing you can do about that now. So, uh, you're not going to take it off the shelves, uh, maybe someday it'll be a movie. Some people have said that, that, you know? And from their mouths to God's ears. Cause, uh, the adventures, uh, we'll say my dad was a four time escape artist,

[00:10:04] we'll go with that. So that's a movie in itself. I mean, plus all the miracles he went through in between, just, it's amazing. So hiding places you wouldn't expect, wearing women's clothing, uh, funny stories. Uh, the book's not just all serious. There's no sugar coating in the book, but there are some humorous parts to it.

[00:10:20] Uh, it's a very, and it's the viewpoint of my dad as, as forced labor camp, and as a child, and as a medical student, and finally escaping as a doctor. So, uh, two escapes during Nazi occupied Hungary and two escapes from Communist Hungary. And if you want a little more detail, I can, without giving away the book, I can tell you, I can give you a little teasers.

[00:10:39] But here is another teaser, he missed an escape under Communist Hungary. He went to the wrong train station. Everybody that made the right trains, that made the train, got arrested by the Communists, including my dad's medical school roommate. And, uh, it, uh, it, uh, hindered his career. And that's, uh, uh, it was, it certainly wasn't, uh, and so my dad thought he was the unluckiest guy in the world, and it turned out he was extremely lucky that he missed that. Uh, and the guy that helped him with the plan to escape helped him again.

[00:11:04] That was his, uh, third escape, and he made it all the way to Austria. He was arguing with an armed Russian soldier about why he should let him into Austria. He, he was BSing him about, uh, uh, about fixing an x ray machine in one of the hospitals. And he challenged him. He says, Go ahead, call the administration there. Call the, call the mucky mucks at the hospital and see.

[00:11:22] And the soldier let him go and my dad made it. But he was so nervous because they met some lady, then she was, you know, asking a lot of questions. And, uh, he and the guy he was traveling with, uh, they changed their mind and turned right back around and he was back in Budapest. Uh, then, and he was on call the next night and nobody even knew he was gone.

[00:11:38] So, um, and then finally their last escape was after the Hungarian revolution in 56. Not a lot of people know. Well, the book's a biography that covers Hungary, it's also a history book that covers Hungary from World War I to the end of the Hungarian Revolution in 56. My mom and dad were frontliners there.

[00:11:53] They, uh, dad doubled down, he was an OBGYN. Finally, uh, he got to go to medical school after World War II, uh, as an allotment. [00:12:00] There was a quota, only ten percent of Jews, ten percent of the medical school classmate, class could be Jewish. But my dad was smart, and another miracle, he met the right connection who knew the dean of the medical school, if you can believe that.

[00:12:12] So that helped get him in. And, uh, but he had to double down in 56 as a trauma surgeon. So the Hungarian Revolution had 3, 000 deaths in it, another 3, 000 or more, uh, injured, and countless refugees. And he's doubled down as a trauma surgeon for two and a half weeks without sleep. Meanwhile, my mom, uh, was a medical student at the time, and she ran the blood banks during the war. And after that was done and they saw what a mess Budapest was and how the communists had, uh, had squashed the, the revolution, and, uh, and became even more hardliner,

[00:12:43] they decided enough is enough. Uh, they weren't very, they weren't great to the Jews either. It wasn't, uh, short of corralling them into town squares, and, and, uh, and, uh, putting them on trains and sending them to death camps, the communists were no, weren't great as far as civil rights. Uh, the Jews that had survived World War II,

[00:13:00] uh, we're, uh, often assigned to, um, to, uh, farms and factories, uh, even, uh, even the ones that were educated. So, uh, they didn't know what to do with them. So, and, and the Jews, like my dad, who, uh, escaped, uh, for, he was an escapee at the time that the war ended, uh, the ones that weren't, the ones that were still in those forced labor camps were, uh, sent to, uh, they were treated as prisoners of war.

[00:13:22] So even though they were never armed, uh, they never were allowed to, to hold, uh, arms or a gun, and never shot at any group, but they were still treated, so it was a mess. I mean, so, and things settled down but the communists turned out to be no better. So, um, in 56 when they escaped, and that was a harrowing story too, they couldn't go the first night,

[00:13:40] they couldn't go the second night, an unlikely source helped him, a priest. Anti- Semitic remarks all the way to Austria. The guy that helped them, the renegade that helped them escape in the middle of the winter through farms, uh, and mud and sludge, and Russian lights, and planes flying overhead, he was saying Anti-Semitic remarks. And the guards that welcomed them at the Austrian border, same thing.

[00:14:01] And believe me, my mom and dad wanted to argue with them, uh, and, but it wasn't worth it. They were too close to their goal of finally being in a free land. All my dad wanted to do was practice medicine, uh, make his parents proud, and, and ultimately be free. And until he escaped communist Hungary, that wasn't going to happen. So, uh, enough was enough.

[00:14:21] Ed Watters: That's, that's a lot to take in, Robert. Uh, the, the big thing, you know, the big thing here is everyone at that point in their life would need help. And we hear about Schindler's List and the individuals helping, you know, the Jews escape these atrocities. But yet, I hear you say that even those people were kind of Anti-Semitic in ways. That just blows my mind that we can [00:15:00] have this.

[00:15:00] And even, you know, we, we hear about Jews taking and doing atrocities to Jews to save their own lives. This is a big, you know, mental health issue, the post traumatic stress from that alone. You know, I don't know how they handled all of this. Let's get back into the Schindler's List type of people for a moment, how many people helped your father? He escaped two to four times? How many people actually helped? Yeah, how many people helped him?

[00:15:51] Dr. Robert Wolf: Well, four times total. Yeah. Yeah. No, definitely. Uh, well, he had to do it on his own the first two times. So it was he and his friend, Frank from the forced labor camp. One was out in the middle of the, of the mountains, the Carpathian mountains.

[00:16:07] They didn't know where they were heading, they thought they were on a death march. Uh, my dad was at a hospital at first because he had a foot infection, which, so it might've saved his life because it made him stop and think for a few days. And then he had to rejoin, he had to walk to the hospital on a bad foot,

[00:16:20] he had to walk back to the march on a bad foot and, uh, he escaped, uh, in the Carpathian Mountains with his friend Frank with a, with a bad foot in the middle of winter. Very exciting escape. Uh, it's the one that I remember from thirty years ago when I first read the book, but I didn't, it was just a manuscript then from my dad's autobiography. But Um, they had, they had hiding places.

[00:16:41] So, uh, my, my dad had to dress as a woman. He had to hide under a bed, he hid in a casino. These people helped him. And some of them hid, uh, gold for my dad's father, who anticipated, uh, being totally, uh, once they were, once they were arrested or whatever it was going to be, they, they knew their house would be ransacked and, and, uh, pillaged.

[00:17:00] And, and so he hid, he hid things like dental drills and, uh, things that he hid in their condo, in their apartment, uh, were all gone, they were all stolen. But other things that they entrusted to their Christian friends were there for my dad once he found them. There was, um, a Captain Kemeny, he was a local hero,

[00:17:16] he, he helped my dad. He helped them get those, the forged, uh, the Wallenberg papers. So, uh, which didn't help them at first, but it did help them later down the road. They were very valuable, uh, to have those papers that they were excused, uh, and not treated as, so there was that. Um, well, the, so the doctor, okay, here's a great line,

[00:17:34] when, before my dad went back to his forced labor camp, uh, the doctor that was supposedly treating him in the hospital was, uh, was brutal conditions, uh, very, uh, no sterility, uh, just a mess, dirty. And they, they treated the Jewish patients like crap. The doctor said, Well, it's not going to matter if I treat your foot or not because you're going to be dead soon anyway, if you can believe that.

[00:17:54] Can you imagine your doctor saying that to you? So he had it all along, you know, the message is clear. Schindler [00:18:00] was an amazing guy. I mean, he, he helped, uh, hundreds, thousands of people and, you know, and that's, we, they, there were a lot of people out there like that. Some got away with it, some used an excuse like his wealth and, and his, uh, and his prosperity, his, uh, his status to, to help the Jewish people work for his factory. And, and talk about a fugazi, talk about faking that all along.

[00:18:21] So what a great, uh, and the people that hid Anne Frank, uh, you know, nobody knew who Anne Frank was or Shindler, you know, thirty, forty, fifty years ago, but they sure do now, and they're wonderful stories. Uh, as good as you can pull out of them. So, a lot of the people that helped the Jewish people, uh, were murdered or killed, the ones that didn't get away with it, the ones that were caught.

[00:18:40] Uh, that's part of that fifty million people, plus disabled people, clowns, rabbis, men of the cloth, LGBTQ, uh, you, you name it. I mean, anybody, anybody who wasn't aligned with the Nazi party or the communist party was, uh, in the former case, uh, killed, or tortured, or imprisoned and in the latter case, often tortured in prison. Um, as an example of that is when my parents got married, uh, they, they had the civil ceremony in a crappy building in Budapest, but they also had a secret Jewish wedding

[00:19:10] uh, that was, uh, sponsored by my mom's uncle who was a surgeon. And, uh, KGB, uh, infiltrated into the wedding party and, and witnessed this. And after the, all the guests had left and my parents were on their honeymoon, he was arrested by the communists and taken away for a year, over a year and tortured. And they tried to pin the Wallenberg murder on him and he wouldn't sign, he wouldn't sign a confession.

[00:19:32] So another interesting side story. Uh, when he came back from that, it was a, he was a broken man. They sent him off to some rural clinic where, uh, he wasn't to be heard or seen from. Uh, but he was the chief of surgery at the hospital that my dad trained at, and he was very well respected before all that happened. So

[00:19:49] can you imagine how your life can turn on a dime just like that? Just like my dad's. And it's one of the messages in the book, that what happened to my dad could happen to you, or me, or anybody, whether you're Jewish or not. It could be a bad neighbor, bad business deal, natural disaster, bad local government, bad, uh, federal government, bad foreign government, whatever, the circumstances can change.

[00:20:09] Uh, so we need to enjoy our comforts. And while we do that, take the extra step and help me fight Anti-Semitism. Help your fellow men out, reach out to your fellow man. You know, we're all different, but we're all the same. You know it's, uh, and that's another lesson I got from my parents is. They were very engaging to people,

[00:20:24] they loved learning about other people's cultures, their breeding, their upbringing. They would engage with people and I try to do that and even more so now with, uh, with this battle against, uh, against hate. So, um, yeah, so they were good people amongst it. And, you know, another thing I always say is, It's always one guy who ruins it for everybody.

[00:20:43] You know, most of us are peaceful people. You know, we're not going to just start shooting at people or stabbing or beheading people. It's just not, it's not in our, uh, it's not how we, it's not how I was raised anyway. Most of us, I think, the same way. Um, but, uh, yeah. I mean that's the thing and then just we [00:21:00] got to enjoy each other.

[00:21:00] It's the one percent, it's the less than one percent that ruins it, you know, the Hitler's, the Pol Pot's, the Osama bin Laden's. Whereas we should be following people like Gandhi, and Moses, and MLK. And in some cases it was too late before they got their might. They were murdered, they, because they wanted peace, they were murdered.

[00:21:16] And that's, I think that's a dreadful story just in itself. People like MLK, and Gandhi. And, uh, Moses got his message across, but he couldn't even reap the, uh, the benefits of all the work he had done for God because, uh, of some, uh, minor, uh, uh, malfeasance or whatever God thought was, uh, so, uh, he didn't even get to cross into the Holy land. But he sure did a lot for the Jewish people and Israelis, that connection.

[00:21:37] So, and really the fight between, I mean, the, if you're going to talk about a fight between two groups, that goes back to the Old Testament, back to Exodus, but at least Israel and Egypt now are friends and Israel has become friends with more Arab nations. Uh, one exception, obviously, is, um, Iran. And then, obviously, Iran's got its outposts, its sympathizers in different countries.

[00:21:59] And those countries ruin it for, including Gaza. I mean, it's, uh, you know, Gaza's gonna become Israel, and it's gonna be a mess for that. I have no idea what it's gonna, what's gonna happen. But as long as Netanyahu's in charge, I don't think he's gonna let it be an independent nation again. He's not going to let that happen, you know, if he can help it.

[00:22:13] So, very sad times. So things are different the way people, and, you know, another sad thing is how people find different ways to torture each other, to, to be nasty to each other, to cheat each other, to, to kill, to, there's just different ways. Back in the fifties, back in the forties, when my dad was in forced labor camp, the things they, they did to torture them, they beat them, they urinated on them, uh, they made them, uh, do, they made them, uh, sit, uh, walk up and down hills, uh, like, uh, in a frog position.

[00:22:42] I've never tried that. I mean, brutally hard. You know, hang people by their thumbs on trains or whatever, uh, for hours at a time. Just, and, and we go, you know, Now it's different. Uh, different forms of torture, mental and physical. So really sad. I just, uh, it's unacceptable. And then for, you know, my story here is, it's just one of many, um, and I'm, I'm proud of my parents.

[00:23:02] I'm proud of my dad, how he got through it, how they educated people about history and the Holocaust, and how he managed to have a successful career without, uh, showing many signs of PTSD. Uh, he would mention the war when he was having a fight with me and talking about how we were spoiled Americans and this and that.

[00:23:17] And he would say, you know, You should see what the forced labor camp was. And my dad was raised as a, you know, my dad's parents struggled for a while too, but, and he was raised, they finally got established by the time my dad was born and he was a kid. So he was raised kind of a spoiled child and, uh, you would never think that he would survive a forced labor camp like he did. But a story that I didn't know,

[00:23:35] my dad used to get beaten by his father when he was, uh, you know, if he wasn't cutting his grades, or if he was late coming home, that kind of thing. So I guess he got the discipline in, in that, in that sense. There was this, uh, overcompensation that his father had to feel because they were Jewish. They had to, they couldn't just do as well as everybody else as a dentist or a doctor,

[00:23:55] they had to go above and beyond. And I think that was part of that, uh, and learned [00:24:00] helplessness. So people tell you you're no good for long enough, whether you're Jewish, or African American, or whatever, then you start to believe it, you know? So, uh, that's, but my dad wouldn't have any part of it and neither did his father. So they accepted their fates, but my dad sure didn't.

[00:24:14] Ed Watters: You know, as far as with Israel, you know, it was unfortunate. And my take on it is if you walk up to a beehive and you slap the beehive, expect a swarm of bees to slap you back. And, and that's really the take on, Israel has the right to defend itself. And I want to really make it understood that all of these protesters that are protesting Israel right now, you know, homosexuals for Gaza and a bunch of these women that are up there. Do you know what you're protesting for? If you were over in Gaza, you would be killed. And, and that's the unfortunate thing that we are dealing with here in America. And my, my big question is how is that creeping in, Robert? Is it through our school systems? Because I hear professors are, you know, leaning in that direction, but I think it's more than that. What's your take on that?

[00:25:31] Dr. Robert Wolf: That could be part of it. And I mean, part of it is what you learn from home. If you, if you don't have a good upbringing at home, if you're not educated at home, then you're gonna, you're gonna learn what you, what you, you know, what you learn.

[00:25:41] So I think education starts at home. You bring up a good point, I'd like my book to be taught in the classroom. Uh, yes, I've heard of, uh, professors that are, that are offline that, uh, unfortunately now they're being, they're being called out. They're, some of them are being fired, some of being let go, expelled from their positions because they are teaching, uh, uh, they're changing the history.

[00:25:59] A lot of these kids, like you say, they're, they weren't even old enough to know 9/1 1. Some of them weren't even born yet when 9/1 1 happened and they denied 9/1 1 like they denied the Holocaust. So, um, guys, 9/1 1 was, uh, American targets, it wasn't Jewish targets. Jews died, Muslims died, Christians, Asians, uh, countless costs, uh, uh, health issues, uh, chronic health issues from the, from the attacks. Uh, and costs of travel now, I mean, so American targets, not just. And if you look at history, you know, this October 7th wasn't the only thing, we can go back to the Lockerbie, Scotland, uh, air bombing, the bombing of the plane over Lockerbie, uh, the Olympics in 1972. The massacre of the Israeli athletes, um,

[00:26:42] so many, the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, uh, on and on. And I love the swarm of bees analogy because I have seen that comic, that, uh, that illustration with the swarm of bees with the Israeli flag, I've seen that. And it's, it's so true. Um, what else was I going to say? So oh, and these people, you're [00:27:00] right,

[00:27:00] Hamas wouldn't think of anything of killing these people. First of all, women, uh, in some countries, not Israel, that are Arabic, uh, aren't able to be educated. I mean, Afghanistan used to be that way, you know, under the Taliban. So I don't, I have no idea what the situation is now over there, but, uh, Israel is the one country where Arabs, Arabic women can be educated.

[00:27:21] And, uh, and it's the, the, the laws are, are not, uh, they're not so stringent. But Hamas, uh, guys, uh, you, the people that are Hamas, Ed, would not be accepted by the Nazis. So even though, so people that loud Hitler and the Nazis for killing Jews, uh, you guys are next. You know, they don't, they don't understand that either.

[00:27:39] So it's another, it's another problem that they don't know the difference, they don't know the history. So, uh, they forget the history. Another thing is social media. Like for me, social media is great because we have this, we share, we share the stories. This is all I'm doing, this is my charge. Uh, but, uh, social media has false, uh, it's got a lot of false information on it, unfortunately.

[00:27:57] So if you really want to look up history, go look it up in a book. Or find out the true history of what happened. Don't take the books off the shelves, don't deny it, don't try to change it. You can't. History happened, it's not going to change. So, um, very sad. And some people just have a herd mentality, some people are bored,

[00:28:14] I don't know what it is. I mean, some people are just looking for something to do. How can a student at Columbia protest? You know what people would give to have a education at Harvard, or Columbia, Yale. And these kids are out there, they're blowing their ride. I mean, and I can't, I can't stand that because, uh, you know, I didn't get into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford and I got my rejection letters all the same day. Didn't matter,

[00:28:34] I ended up being successful, thank God. And went to Tufts, which was a good school and very grateful for that. Plus Michigan, which was a great medical school. But, um, and finally got to Yale, you know, my last, the end of my training, which was really a redemption for me. But, uh, these kids, when they, they don't appreciate,

[00:28:50] you don't belong there. So I'm, I'm glad they're expelling kids, finally. They took too long. I mean, that's, that's another sign of, uh, of intolerance to me is they took way too long. Uh, the, maybe the police, and the mayors, and, and, uh, the deans of, of universities took way too long. Uh, and so it's a problem. I mean, the longer it lingers, hopefully it's, it slowly

[00:29:11] quiet's down. I mean, it's going to take longer now because of everything that's happened. And I still see it, but, uh, um, I don't know, we'll see. Muslims that, uh, I have a lot of friends that are Muslim too, by the way, and Christian, and Jewish, and Asian. So I, I'm like my parents, I don't, uh, a good person's a good person.

[00:29:28] And at sixty-one now, I can read a good person in a couple of minutes. I'm not gonna, you know, and my dad was the same way. Accountability is a big word. He would, uh, Jewish or not, as somebody who's created malfeasance, he called them out for it, Jewish or not. In fact, again, we were talking about this overcompensation, even more so, because they were Jewish and say, you know, it makes us all look bad, you know? It's just, uh, because if somebody is already a Jew hater and they see somebody that, uh, that, uh, robs, or steals, or kills, or then, uh, it fuels the fire.

[00:29:59] Ed Watters: Yeah. [00:30:00] Blessed are the peacekeepers, you know, it says they will be the children of God. And this, this is the, uh, essence of life, you know, peace. Life is peaceful, not chaos, chaos is of another realm and we don't want to be part of that. It's, it's just alarming to me what's going on. So Robert, how do we take steps towards bringing peace back and fighting Anti-Semitism in our world?

[00:30:41] Dr. Robert Wolf: Well, the people that are getting arrested for hate crimes, uh, these kids that are expelled, uh, uh, prisoners, and some, you know, prisoners in some cases, and of course the general classroom need to read books like mine and, and, and, uh, listen to what we have to say. They don't have to watch all my podcasts, but one, one or two would do it.

[00:30:58] Uh, there are many good books besides mine about, uh, the Holocaust and Anti- Semitism. And, uh, I think those people, the perpetrators that are arrested or caught should be, uh, should have, uh, mandatory training. I think, uh, mandatory education, whether it's a speech, which is, I got a great fifteen minute, twenty minute speech,

[00:31:15] uh, book presentation, which I do. Uh, podcasts like this, uh, it's just one person at a time. And I need help. You know, fighting Anti-Semitism, I can't do it by myself. So I'll do as many of these as I can. I don't say no to book presentations. Uh, I've done twenty TV interviews, I've done, you know, over thirty presentations, and the podcasts are, are piling up.

[00:31:36] And, uh, write a review of the book if you actually read the book and you like it. Uh, invite me for, uh, to do a, a, a talk or a presentation, uh, or a podcast, uh, in your little neck of the world, your corner of the world. And that'll help inform more people about what the dark world is really like. So. And it's not just a story about, uh, about the Holocaust, and I hate saying that word just, because all these great books from my publisher, Amsterdam Publishers, they've got these different viewpoints and different factions, uh, related to the Holocaust.

[00:32:03] Mine extends into communist Hungary. Some are about, uh, some are about food, some are about music, but, uh, the messages are there. The message is important. And, uh, this is what I do. It's, uh, it just, I educate, and so through social media, uh, it's hard to wake up every day sometimes and say, You know, people don't care about Anti- Semitism because it doesn't affect them.

[00:32:23] And that's like anything else. I mean, Asian people getting attacking, getting attacked after COVID, it was like, that affects me because it's upsetting because that can come right back to bounce and do the same thing here, which is what happened. It's halfway across the world, Israel, and they're protesting in Canada and the U.

[00:32:38] S. It's appalling, it's unacceptable. So my little corner of it is talk to you, talk to your friends, your followers, uh, talk to the next guy's friends and followers and hopefully one or two read the book and they say, You know, Rob, you know, come on out and give us a talk. I think we'll get more people involved, um, great experience.

[00:32:56] My assistant was Muslim and we did a book presentation [00:33:00] for a friend, one of my best friends from ninth grade freshman year high school, is a Greek Orthodox church priest. So he invites me, we sold out all the books, about forty books. My assistant's a muslim, who's one of my best friends from freshman year in college, and I happened to be there visiting him with a couple other college buddies. And we did a book presentation for a room full of Greek Orthodox, uh, families

[00:33:22] and it was wonderful. There's a lot of kids there. The message was clear and, uh, um, and that was a great experience and I could use more like that. I mean, another thing is the apathy of the Jewish people sometimes. I mean, not everybody, but you know, and you're, like you said, the Anti-Semites that helped the Jews in Hungary,

[00:33:42] most of the people that helped my dad that were Christian, were not Anti-Semitic. So I don't want to give that message. This is just a handful of people in his, along the path that he just happens to remember, you know? So, um, yeah, more of those talks are, are really, are key and this is what I do. So, um, I don't know how else to answer that other than say, uh, just stay, stay with the ride and stay with it.

[00:34:03] But, uh, oh, I know what I was gonna say was, uh, um, it doesn't affect them. But if people saw, uh, caravans of Nazi, uh, swastika laden armored tanks, and, and, uh, and trucks going through the streets with people marching, uh, with those, with those same, same, with whatever, let's say it's the, uh, the, the Palestinian, uh, flag or whatever, the red, green and black, whatever that is, uh, marching in the streets and, and, uh, taking control.

[00:34:29] I don't care if you're Jewish, Christian, even Muslim, I'd be scared. That, that would affect me. So I'm trying to educate people before that happens, before, uh, we're under sharia law. This is the United States, this isn't there. It's, you come here, you got to abide by our laws. Not the other way around. Learn our language, uh, get your, get your cards, get your, uh, get your house in order, and work and contribute. You know, don't, uh, don't destroy, you know, don't, uh.

[00:34:54] Ed Watters: That's right. Yeah. That, that's good. We, uh, often say it doesn't affect us, but I can tell you 100 percent it does affect us. My father came home, post traumatic stress, became an alcoholic, got divorced, had, it destroyed our family. And now I'm seeing families of my siblings being destroyed because of the alcoholism and the hatred. Hatred, there is no place for hate in our world. And if you're around hate, stand up to it and address it because that's the only way to blot it out. Hate will never cause love.

[00:35:45] Dr. Robert Wolf: Yeah. No, I'm sorry to hear about your father. And, uh, it's funny, uh, um, my mom and dad, my, my dad could have gone to the bottle and been a chronic smoker and drugs and he, he, he didn't buy into that and neither did my mom, it's, it's amazing. Uh, I, I'm, I'm [00:36:00] so, I'm so, uh, impressed with that that, uh, cause a lot of people do. Uh, PTSD, we always think of the Vietnam war too, you know, these poor guys that were in this war, we were under, under manned and, and we had no idea why we were there.

[00:36:11] I know why we were there, same as Korea. But we were under manned, under underfunded, uh, the equipment was, uh, less than adequate. So, you know, and we, we hear about PTSD from those two, but World War II, not so much. But a lot of the survivors have perished already now. So, but I never would have thought that, uh, yeah, American, uh, Americans that, uh, helped in, uh, the Asia Pacific and in Europe that, uh, you don't even think about that because we won the war.

[00:36:36] So you think, Oh, we won, everybody's good. But not when you see your buddies getting, not when you see your buddies getting killed next to you, or you, yeah, or you see, uh, yeah, emaciated people and emaciated bodies all piled up, like you said, and dead babies that have been smashed. And, you know, you talk about these photographs and I've seen plenty of them and it's not, you know, I don't, I don't live to watch people suffer and I don't, uh, and I try not to post some of these on social media because it's, these are shock, shock value pictures.

[00:37:04] And I guess when I close out this campaign, if I ever do, then I'm going to post some of them and say, This is what we're trying to avoid. And, and, you know, because I've been ridiculed, I've, I've been called self-serving and, and, uh, uh, self-promoting, and, uh, and I've been, I've been built, I've been, you know, ridiculed, I've been argued with, and, you know, and I try to weave through that.

[00:37:25] And fortunately, that comes few and far between, and it tends to come in streaks. But, uh, it's part of the, it's part of the process. And, and I asked myself, Well, why am I, why am I engulfing myself in all this misery when I'm in Florida and I could be on the golf course, or sitting out at the beach having a cocktail, or doing something that's more fun.

[00:37:42] And believe me, I've got my good times too. But I, it's difficult to do that and give the same message every day, but doing it a different way. But I'm managing to. So I think, and great podcasts like this, and, um, good, good artwork, great reviews we've gotten, we've gotten, uh, over the years, over the last year and change, and, uh, that keeps me going.

[00:38:01] Another thing is, uh, I just got invited for the second time to go to the United States Holocaust Museum for a book signing, which I can't tell you what an honor that is. I mean, just to have your book on the shelves there is one thing, right? Then they even, then they invited me to do a book signing, which went super well.

[00:38:15] And now I've been invited, I'm going back in October. And there's nothing like sitting there talking to kids and families from all over the country, all over the world, uh, in a matter, in just three hours, six hours. I met all these people, Australia, and England, and Germany, and all over the U. S., and with the kids. And they're buying two or three books and we're talking about genocide and we're talking about hate.

[00:38:36] And that's, that's what I'm doing. That's what, and like I said, I want the book to be taught in the classroom. That is so gratifying that I could do that every day and you wouldn't even have to pay me as long as I could afford to live in a nearby hotel or something or an apartment, uh, in D. C. You could, I could do that every day.

[00:38:51] That, that's what it's about. And, uh, and it's not about the money for me because I, I do need to sell a lot of books to break even because I've spent a lot of time and money on this project, [00:39:00] um, and given up a lot of radiology time for it. Uh, but it's a good, I wouldn't do it any other way, I wouldn't change a thing.

[00:39:06] This is much more important to me now. And like I said, if you knew me six years ago, you'd say this guy, I had Holocaust burnout from my mom, from all the talks and the things, and, um, unreal. But the book called out to me like, uh, Superman's kryptonite. That's my, the book was written in the seventies. It's an autobiography, paper and pencil, typewriter, to computer, to disc.

[00:39:27] Dad dies in 97, unfortunately, mom in 2016. Historian friend hands me the disc. Uh, I retired for a year after taking care of my mom's affairs. And then, uh, a friend asked me, Well, we're short of radiologists, can you help us out Wednesdays and Thursdays? So that brought me to the disc. So on the, we've got a left screen, right screen.

[00:39:44] The left is the patient list, the right screen are the images. And, uh, between cases, I loaded up my dad's autobiography and dictated it as a biography, uh, on the right screen, uh, almost word for word. Except it was, you know, third person instead of first person. Tried to query agents and publishers, didn't do that well.

[00:40:01] We're going to self publish, but then I found my co author Janice, who really made the book special. Uh, she's really turned the book into a wonderful biography. And, um, twists and turns, and, and, uh, parallel stories, converging stories, conversations, uh, letters to and from home, uh, did her homework on the culture, the food. And, uh, the way my dad described the story in the seventies, it was like the, it happened the previous day.

[00:40:25] So, uh, the smells, the sounds, the way the tablecloth was, the way the table was set, the fear that he had during his escapes, the, the, what was going on in his mind and his heart at the moment. All recorded, you know, so it was easy to do as far as that, the information was all there. Plus his valid history, which we had to, you know, we verified the history too.

[00:40:44] I did a little bit, then Janice did, and then we hired, uh, well, the people, the professors that did the testimonials, uh, verified the history, or not, or made corrections. And then we, we hired a professional historian, uh, Peter Black, who's retired from the U. S. Holocaust Museum, and, and we had him review the book and, and verify the history, and we made the changes.

[00:41:03] So, so it is a history book, besides being an adventure, of course, my dad's escapes, plus the miracles on the run. And, uh, and a legacy in my, my, the trials and tribulations of my dad's family and parents and what they went through and why, and the message was clear from the beginning. That's why I did it too.

[00:41:19] Like this thing cannot sit here on a desk on a computer screen. It's got to be shared because the messages were clear from page one. And, uh, I guess this is my charge, this is, I'm my dad's messenger I've been called. That, that made my day. Somebody said, You're your dad's messenger. So I like to be, uh,

[00:41:34] everybody's messenger, you know? So all Jews should go to Israel, they say. I say, Everybody should go to Israel. I mean, it's the most tolerant. I was there last year, the year, almost a year before, um, the attacks happened. I never felt safer. And we did mosques, we did, we did churches, we did synagogues. Uh, my group from Tufts, uh, were all a big mix.

[00:41:56] We had a professor who was Muslim, a lovely professor and his wife [00:42:00] at the Fletcher school, uh, more Christians than Jews and we did more Christian sites than Jewish sites and it didn't matter. It was so wonderful, it was just a great trip. Food was amazing, the people were amazing. Uh, soldiers all around, you know, armed kids, kids that are twenty years old, twenty-one years old. And I never felt, I didn't want to come back and I love Florida.

[00:42:18] I live here, it's a great state. It's a great area and I didn't want to come back. So I think everybody should go to Israel and see what it's about. See what the western wall is, see what the mosques look like. Uh, listen to these calls for prayer cause, uh, it's out there. And, and it's a very, very, it should be a peaceful country and some, there's always somebody out there that just wants to, you know, turn the, turn the ball over, who wants to, to shake things up. And here we go again.

[00:42:43] Ed Watters: Yeah, that's right. Here we go again. You know, and that's a big major part of why I enjoyed having you today is there are so many that witnessed, eyewitness accounts on what happened over in Europe during World War II and most of them are gone. So, recording this history is so important. If we forget this history, it's bound to repeat it. And here we are tearing down memorials and statues and things to remind us of the atrocities that occurred in our life. It's time for people to wake up. Is there anything that you would like to add to our conversation today that you feel is important?

[00:43:38] Dr. Robert Wolf: I love what you say about witnesses because, um, first of all, another miracle was, but an old lady found him a few months later and said she, she recognized Irvin and she was an eyewitness at Auschwitz and told him exactly what happened to his mom and dad. And to be able to do that and survive and, and retell the story back to my father,

[00:43:57] it's unbelievable. So, so there's that and other stories like it that, so unbelievable that, that thing as well. And the witnesses in, let's say, the shooting at the Danube at the end of World War II, where, you know, the famous shoes along the Danube River. It's a, it's a very famous story, it's a very sad story at the end of World War II.

[00:44:15] It's the exact opposite of what happened with Schindler's people. They had the armed guards and Schindler just flat out said, You can leave peacefully or you can, you can make trouble. And what did they do? They left. Well, it didn't work that way for these poor people in Budapest. Um, and uh, your witnesses, you know, there was no social media, there were no cell phones, no police around.

[00:44:34] The police were your enemies and the witness was the next victim. So, uh, and same with these, uh, mass executions like in Ukraine in the, in 1941, very disturbing, uh, photos from that, from that time period. The witness, uh, the, the, any witness was the next victim so there were no. But what the witness is, like the Nazis took a lot of photos, like you said, they recorded a lot of stuff and they sent it, they sent it home to their families, almost proudly, which is, it's disgusting, it's [00:45:00] sickening. Just like, uh, I've been reading about this, this, uh, priest, this reverend that loves Israel. And he's talking about the October 7th attacks, and he was over there, and he was watching a film on it and saying how maniacal these people were while they were butchering everybody, and kidnapping them, and raping them.

[00:45:15] And that's, that's even, they were actually enjoying, uh, you know, I want to be convinced that many Nazis and many soldiers were following orders. If you don't follow orders, you die. And that's the sad thing. But you still have your sadists that, you know, you've been doing this so long that you buy into it.

[00:45:30] So it's, it's important that you mentioned witnesses and, and, uh, they just didn't have them. There, there's no cell phone and no, you know, no 91 1 and everything that we have now. Uh, it's just, it's amazing what the difference was. Just isolated people that were hated by their own government and their own police

[00:45:44] and, and you're, you're dead. You're, you're Jewish, you're screwed, you know? And, and, uh, that's what I'm fighting now and, and hopefully my grandkids too. I've got two step, uh, daughters and three step grandkids, they're all great. Two have already been to the Holocaust Museum and sent pictures of them holding the book and told the staff about me and that, that's so heartwarming that I can't tell you.

[00:46:04] Uh, my, ten percent of my author proceeds are going to the Holocaust Museum in perpetuity. That's from my mom and my dad, that's me giving back to the Jewish faith. And, uh, hopefully it ends up being a big sum down the road and hopefully the kids are a part of that too, the grandkids. And, and I love their tolerance,

[00:46:21] they're great kids. Some are in New England, some are in Virginia beach, West Virginia. And we stay in touch, um, uh, they visited me down in Florida too. And it's important that these kids keep the messages going. And that's, we'll start with our own family and we, we hope that, uh, that other families take it on too.

[00:46:37] So, um, I would like to show a picture of my book if, uh, and where you can buy the book if, um, all right, so the book is called, drum roll, please, um, Not a Real Enemy, The True Story of a Hungarian Jewish Man's Fight for Freedom. Sorry about the reflection. Uh, that's no optical illusion. It's won four awards, which, um, I still don't know what to do with that.

[00:46:58] That's, I mean, I got to thank my team. It's another message out of the book, use a team, get help, uh, don't try to go it alone. Uh, I've, uh, expense, but time, but worthwhile because I didn't want anything to be shoddy work. I'm, you know, even the book cover, everybody says it's so amazing. That was a Croatian and he was a bargain, but he's from Eastern Europe and he loved the story.

[00:47:17] It hit him so he did a great book cover. The awards, uh, to me, it means that important people that read, that know good literature, thought that this was, and they appreciate the importance of the work. So that's what it means to me. But if the book ultimately doesn't help me fight Anti-Semitism, then the words don't mean anything to me.

[00:47:35] So, so there's that. But Not a Real Enemy, if you Google Not a Real Enemy, The True Story of a Hungarian Jewish Man's Fight for Freedom, or you Google me, Robert J. Wolf, M. D., you'll find the book. Um, I've got a website, robertjwolfmd.com. It's got a little bit more, it got a lot of podcasts, TV interviews, and more about the Hungarian Revolution and, and, uh, World War II as in the eyes of Hungary.

[00:47:57] Um, uh, you can get the book on [00:48:00] Amazon, Barnes and Noble online, or you can go to the store and ask. It is on the shelves at many Barnes and Noble stores, which is nice. Uh, Walmart online, Tufts University, my alma mater. I got, I got a nice review from Dr. Sol Gittleman, who was the provost at, uh, at Tufts. He's retired now, wrote a great review.

[00:48:18] Um, where else? The Holocaust Museum in D. C., of course, and, uh, the one in Illinois, uh, Michigan, the Zeckelman Center in Michigan, and also the Long Island, uh, the Holocaust Museum and Tolerance Center, where I am scheduled to do a presentation in March. So, uh, that's another honor. And hopefully a lot more of those to come, and hopefully with, uh, the audiences of influential people.

[00:48:40] I, believe me, I've pitched Adrian Borys, and I've pitched Bob Kraft, and I've pitched, uh, and I hate the word pitch, uh, because I know you're kind of trying to end this, but queried, I'll say, uh, who else? Um, uh, Natasha Lyonne, a Hungarian Jew. And, and, uh, it's hard. Uh, I've got more on my list, like Adam Sandler.

[00:48:57] He's up, he's just north of me in Boca. Uh, you know, he's a comedian, but he loves Israel and it's worth a shot. It's a, who else? Spielberg, they sent me back a nice letter with the book. Spielberg's done, he's done his, you know, he did the Shoah movie, which my mom was in, and of course, uh, Schindler, and it's a heartfelt project. But for legal reasons, and, uh, and actually the movie industry right now is tough, is from what I'm hearing.

[00:49:19] So, uh, but, uh, so I have, I have reached out to these long shots, but in the end, it's got to be the local people, the local synagogues, the local museums, churches, libraries. Uh, my hometown in Michigan has been great, they're still helping me out. And, uh, on and on and on. So, uh, Not a Real Enemy, uh, it's at the Holocaust Museums, Amazon, Barnes Noble, and you can Google Not a Real Enemy or Robert Wolf, Robert J. Wolf, MD and please reach out. Let's talk about the book, talk about the stories, the subject matter.

[00:49:56] You could do that or just, uh, just go, if you're on social media, I'm on all the social media too. So Robert J. Wolf, MD, I'm Rob Wolf on Facebook, but I'm maxed out on friends. So, but I have a, uh, Not a Real Enemy by Robert Wolf is my, uh, my Facebook, sorry, Meta, uh, business page. So, but I'm also on X, uh, you know, formerly Twitter.

[00:50:15] Uh, I'm active every day with the book and sometimes just other stuff, just to get my mind off it, music, sports, food, um, travel. Uh, but, uh, I'm also, uh, LinkedIn, I love LinkedIn, that's, I, it's a very useful tool. It's a very, it's a great connection for me, Robert J. Wolf MD. And I'm on Instagram too. So, uh, that's enough,

[00:50:34] believe me, it's a lot of work. I've got a Google business page that an assistant has helped me with that. I don't even know where that is or how to find it, but, um, I've got, I've had help with the website. Mark, a good friend of mine does a great job with the website. And, uh, he's been on this journey with me since we started.

[00:50:48] He's the one who got me into social media, got the website going, and he's still working with me sometimes. He's an author himself and a great guy, but busy too. So, uh, oh, and I have a YouTube channel too. [00:51:00] So Robert J. Wolf, MD, check it out. It's, uh, I've got, this'll probably be on the YouTube channels when it's been released and we've got at least thirty videos on there and counting. So, we're busy and the message is there. And I don't expect people to watch every video, one or two, or parts of it. Just as long as you get the gist of what we're doing. Uh, or read the book and share with people, that's, that's the bottom line. So

[00:51:24] Ed Watters: Yep. I'll share all of those social medias, your website, how to contact you. Uh, it's fascinating what you're doing and so needed in our world. We really need to spread this message. It's one of the most important messages of our day and our time, because we don't want a repeat of what occurred just less than a hundred years. You know, it's crazy. So Robert, thank you so much for sharing your story and all of your information with us here on the Dead America Podcast today.

[00:52:02] Dr. Robert Wolf: I appreciate you having me, uh, thank you so much. It's, it's been a pleasure and great meeting you too. Thank you.

[00:52:10] Ed Watters: Thank you for joining us today. If you found this podcast enlightening, entertaining, educational in any way, please share, like, subscribe, and join us right back here next week for another great episode of Dead America Podcast. I'm Ed Watters, your host, enjoy your afternoon wherever you may be.