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MY LIFE has not been easy, but it has brought me rewards nonetheless . I went through powerful experiences as a boy. Being not only Jewish but also deaf often made them even harder.Yet all of the hardships I endured shaped me into who I am today—a family man who is open-minded, who understands the importance of freedom, and who appreciates the ability to travel. My greatest pleasure in life is my family. Jessica and I have three daughters—Eleanor, Hannah, and Karen—and now they all have families of their own. After ten years of marriage, Jessica realized that she could live in both the hearing world and the deaf world. Ever since, we have signed together in public. We have had our ups and downs, but they come with marriage. Whether a situation is bad or good, we have learned to work through it and accept it. I have never felt sorry for myself. I grew up adaptable, versatile, and hardy, like a wildflower. My brothers and sisters split up in different directions without me, so I planted myself wherever I could. Fate, history, Hitler and his evil, and politics created a gap between my family and me that has never fully closed, but in our hearts, we are family. Eventually, all of my brothers and sisters, except Magda, moved to the Los Angeles area. Magda has stayed in Israel. All of my siblings, except Lenke, are still living, and we have given one another many nieces and nephews. I don’t practice Judaism anymore. Too many things have happened in my life that made me question the existence of God. I do believe in karma and in fate. My fate was to be deaf, but being deaf saved my life. If I had been hearing, I would not have survived the war. I would have been sent to Auschwitz along with the other members of my family. Instead, I was sent to Budapest where, with luck and determination, I stayed alive. 181 EPILOGUE ...

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