In June of 2017 I parked the rental car in front of the Santa Monica, California house where my father lived in 1941. I knew the address. It was on my grandfather's death certificate. I got out of the car, stood in front of the house and envisioned their lives inside that house where everything came to an abrupt end.
Originally residing in Vienna, Austria, when Hitler came to power, my Jewish family saved their lives by fleeing Vienna for New York City in October of 1938. Two years later they moved to Santa Monica.
With little to go on, my visit to the house set me off on a dogged pursuit of my grandfather's past. I discovered him in an oral history, in pages and pages of documents from an archive, history books, a museum collections, a book on the Aryanization of Jewish property owners during World War II and the Holocaust, and in Hitler's Black Book.
The outcome: I produced a two-episode podcast, Recovering Julio and Recovering Ned, that aired from October 2021 through October 2025. I’m indebted to my many collaborators who made this story come to life, and in particular: Matt Russell, Jess Garret, Jennifer Goren, and Beate Schreiber of Facts and Files.
Because of expenses related to music licensing and hosting, I’ve sunset the podcast. If interested in knowing more, please do get in touch!