7 Questions with Tony Bernard, Author of The Ghost Tattoo

 

Tony Bernard grew up sailing, surfing and swimming on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, being raised with his younger sister and brother by his hardworking father Henry, a local family doctor. He initially studied dentistry at Sydney University before following his dad into medicine, undertaking his medical training at Nottingham and Cambridge Universities in Britain.

After returning to practice in Newcastle, regional NSW and Sydney, he spent his career working in the emergency department of Mona Vale Hospital, the same hospital in which his dad had previously worked for many years. More recently, he also works in the emergency department of the new Northern Beaches Hospital.

His father Henry was his hero, and it was natural that he followed him into the medical profession. Yet it was one thing to idolize Henry and another to understand who he was and what he had gone through. Over decades and during multiple trips to Europe, Tony found himself on a path of discovery, eventually writing his father's memoirs shortly before his death in 2016. What began as a journey to understand his father became the uncovering of an extraordinary holocaust survival story.

Tony lives on the Northern Beaches of Sydney with his wife Jennifer and daughter Sarah.

His book, The Ghost Tattoo, was published in September or 2023. His website is https://www.tonybernard.com.au/

1. How and when did you get  hooked on history? I have had lifelong interest in history from childhood due to my father’s interest in both history  and current affairs .This stems from his life experience as a Holocaust survivor. We grew up discussing  past events particularly from the Second World War. 2. What role does history play or has it played in your personal life? I studied history at high school but it is now one of my main hobbies combined with  geopolitics and  current affairs as well. At school I never fully appreciated the importance of documentary evidence.  History to me had been the telling of stories about past events. One of the things I am proud about in my  book 'The Ghost Tattoo’, is that fact that my father’s Holocaust survival story is backed by evidence.  When I showed a draft of my book to the historian at the Sydney Jewish Museum (SJM), he told me  that the things described my book needed to be supported with evidence and that he would help me.  In particular he helped me get access to the files of the war crimes trial at which my father was a witness. After reading the finished book, he now says that he is unaware of any other Holocaust survivor with  as much evidence backing up their story as in my father’s case. 3. How does history play  a part of your professional life/career? I am a medical doctor and am very aware of the history of medicine and how rapidly medical practice  changes. And medicine like history is evidence based. We have all just experienced the biggest medical  crisis of our lives in the Covid 19 pandemic, which will be a major defining historical event of the early  21st century. 4. Why is studying/knowing history important? History explains so much of the world in which we live. And because history is the product of human  existence, it is affected by human behaviour. Thus, we see history repeated because human behaviour is  repeated. And with increasing understanding of the forces driving geopolitics, history becomes less of a  random series of events and more of a ‘predictable’ science. 5. What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why? Because of my father’s Holocaust experience including the loss of his parents and wife, as well as his  multiple near-death experiences, I am interested in twentieth century history, particularly the Second  World War period. The Holocaust was the defining point of difference about the Second World War,  even though there have been some attempts at genocide in previous wars ( e.g. the Armenian genocide  by the Turks in WW1). But I believe the twentieth century could really be called the Eighty Years War,  starting in the Balkan Wars around 1912, leading to WWI, which led to the birth of communism and  fascism, which led to WW2, then the Cold War, which lasted until the collapse of the USSR in 1991. One of the best things to come out of the 20th Century is the accountability of governments in  democracies to their people.  WW1 was started by unaccountable monarchies whereas by the end of  the 20th Century democratic governments around the world are held much more accountable for the  lives of their soldiers and citizens.                                                                        Tony Bernard podcast appearance 6.         What prompted you to uncover your family history as documented in The Ghost Tattoo?    Initially my father had me record his oral history of his early life and Holocaust experience for the  record for family and friends. However, the more I researched over the years, the more I learned and  uncovered, culminating in the documentary evidence I found including access to the war crimes trial  records I mentioned earlier. It was not until I wrote the final chapter of the book that I came to  understand my father’s regret and turmoil about the role he played in the Holocaust.   I just ask the reader; What would you have done in his position? 7.          What did you learn about yourself and your family from this experience?  I have come to realise that, in effect, my father is having me explain to the world his position and role  during the Holocaust. He is getting me, on his behalf, to put on the record for history, what he had seen happen in the Tomaszow Jewish Ghetto during this terrible time.

This is a photo of Hermann Wiese, the Gestapo Chief in Tomaszow in November 1942 at the time of the deportation of the Jewish inhabitants of the ghetto to the Treblinka death camp.

He personally selected Bernard's grandmother Theodora for the train to the death camp.

It comes from the Hessisches Archive in Darmstadt.

This is Bernard's father's registration form at the Dachau concentration camp from 27 October 1944.

7 Questions with the Author of Ensnared in the Wolf's Lair, Ann Bausum

 

Ann Bausum is an award-winning author of 16 works of nonfiction for children, teens, and adults. Her books often explore under-told stories and examine social justice history, but she’s also written twice about a famous dog! Earlier this year National Geographic published her latest book for middle graders and up: Ensnared in the Wolf’s Lair—Inside the 1944 Plot to Kill Hitler and the Ghost Children of His Revenge. [http://www.annbausum.com/ensnared-in-the-wolf's-lair.html] Find out more about her work at her website: AnnBausum.com. [http://www.annbausum.com/index.html]

 

1. How and/or when did you get you hooked on history?

My interest in history dates to fourth grade if not before. That was the first year I studied history in school, and I fell in love with the subject. It probably helped that my father was a history professor and that I lived in an historic area in Virginia, so I didn’t just read about history—I was surrounded by it.

What I didn’t know at the time was that my community (Lexington) and my state history books offered a distorted view of the past that had been heavily influenced by the so-called Lost Cause mythology. I was in my 20s before I realized how misled I’d been by this false historical narrative. My love of history was undiminished, but ever since I’ve been guided by a passion to examine the past truthfully, warts and all.

2. What role does history play or has it played in your personal life?

In addition to being steeped in history through my surroundings, I grew up during an era crammed with significant occurrences. My first memory of current events was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy when I was in first grade. Plenty of other notable events followed with the Civil Rights Movement, additional tragic assassinations, the Vietnam War, Watergate, and so on.

At the same time the country was undergoing a social transformation. My mother was an educator, too, and she modeled the possibility of being a working mother. I attended high school in the Washington DC area and volunteered on Capitol Hill during my junior year for my local congressman. The Watergate investigation was underway and my representative served on the House Judicial Committee during those Congressional inquiries. During one of my volunteer sessions I three-hole-punched the entire set of transcripts that had been obtained by court order from the Nixon White House. How could I not get caught up in history? I had touched it, literally, and I would forever be drawn to its pursuit.

3. How will history play a part of your professional life/career?

Now I research and write about history for young people and teens. I’ve pursued this passion for more than two decades, and I have no plans to stop anytime soon. There are so many underappreciated topics to explore, and it seems more important than ever to offer the newest students of history the facts and the context that will help them understand the past and make a difference in the future.

4. Why is studying/knowing history important?

I’ve focused my career on writing about the underbelly of our past. Some might say it’s better to focus on the most admirable stories. I cherish examples of human achievement at its best, but I also think we must plumb the depths to find lessons of pitfalls that would better be avoided than repeated. As individuals we practice facing our demons and learning from past mistakes. We would do well to follow that same therapy collectively.

5. What is your favorite period or aspect of history to learn about and why?

I’ve been particularly drawn to two periods of U.S. progressive social change: the opening decades of the 20th century and the 1960s. But I’ve explored other countries and eras, too. More than anything I’m drawn to those under-told stories that deserve to be reclaimed from obscurity. The hidden gems of history offer unexpected inspiration and diversion. We may value seeing familiar masterpieces at a museum, but often it’s the previously unknown painting that catches our eye and comes back to stir our imaginations later own. History can work the same way.

And although I tend to focus on stories from the darker side of history, every now and then something different comes along, like Stubby, the stray dog who joined the fight during World War I and came home to a hero’s welcome. This loveable creature insisted that I write about him not once, but twice, and I enjoyed the diversion immensely. One of Stubby’s unofficial roles during and after the war had been as a therapy dog. I later realized he’d offered the same comfort to me between my forays into more troubling history.

6. How did you begin writing history books for young people?

My story is surprisingly similar to those of other children’s book authors: I found my way to this genre through the eyes of a child, or in my case three children. The first one was me. I adored reading children’s literature during my youth, and becoming an author of such books was an early career goal. I have always made my living by writing, but it wasn’t until I had two sons of my own that I found my way back to this earlier ambition. I watched books influence them the way they had once captivated me, and I had my eureka moment. Maybe I could apply my writing skills to this seminal genre. I’ve never turned back.

7. Your most recent book is Ensnared in the Wolf’s Lair. What is it about and how did you choose this topic?

 

This book examines a little-known story from World War II history: Hitler’s vengeful response to the failed 1944 attempt to assassinate him and overthrow his regime. Most adults and some younger readers will know about the doomed Valkyrie plot, but few beyond German have focused on the punishments that followed not just for the captured conspirators but for their family members. More than 200 relatives were apprehended, ranging from elderly to newborn. Younger children were separated from their surviving parents and held for weeks or months in secret detention. These youngsters—who gained the name of ghost children during their captivity—are now in their eighties, and I was fortunate enough to interview several of them for this project. One of them had kept a diary of her experiences as a twelve-year-old, and she permitted me to draw from her text for my narrative.

 

My interest in this topic coincided with the 2018 separation of children from older family members at the U.S. southern border. I often examine stories from the past that can be used as a window for viewing current events. This history, with its focus on the role played by misinformation, propaganda, and fearmongering during the rise of Hitler, and the example of Hitler’s obsessive pursuit of revenge without regard for family suffering, seemed like a valuable episode to examine during this time of global unrest.

 

Looking ahead I’ve returned my gaze to my childhood and am examining the origins of that Lost Cause mythology. It’s not enough to know that I was misled. I want to understand the forces behind this deception. I hope the insights I gain can help to disarm a propaganda that continues to influence and distort our understanding of our nation’s past—and ourselves.