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Dan Propp's parents Arthur and Elsa Propp fled the Nazis to South America.
Imprisoned by the Nazis after Kristallnacht, his father, who had been born in Konigsberg (later Kaliningrad) in 1890, managed to escape from Berlin by air with the assistance of a woman from the British underground. Estranged in England, he sailed from Liverpool to Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda, in 1940, en route to Chile. His mother took a ship to Brazil. They settled in Bolivia, one of the few countries willing to accept Jewish immigrants.
Jews had been in Bolivia since the 16th century. The wave of Jewish immigration to Bolivia in 1938 and 1940 was largely facilitated by the German Jewish businessman Maurice Hochschild, an agnostic. Born in Germany in 1881, the "Bolivian Schindler" became one of Bolivia's three tin barons in the early part of the 20th century, along with Simon Patino and Carlos Aramayo, but his role in sparing the lives of an estimated 9,000 Jews (about five times more than Schindler, a member of the Nazi party, reputed to have saved 1,684 Jews) is rarely cited. Jews arriving in Bolivia were given farm work in the coca-growing region of Yungas, to the east of La Paz.
Dan Propp was born in Sucre, Bolivia, on October 16, 1944. The Propps came to B.C. in 1950, first to Vancouver. A few months later they settled in Gibson's Landing on the Sunshine Coast where Arthur Propp, in his 60s, started the Sucre Lumber Co. After his father died in 1965, Dan Propp wrote to Elie Wiesel about his parents' experiences. Wiesel subsequently provided numerous notes of encouragement to Propp over the years, the last one in April of 2013.
Propp produced four self-published books and arranged for the publication of his father's memoirs, written in German, as Von Koenigsberg nach Kanada (2017), translated into English as Where the Straight Path Leads (2017), both available via Amazon.
Dan Propp of Steveston taught in the Surrey school system for 23 years, previously working for The Richmond Review and the Surrey Leader. He studied photography in Los Angeles during the 1960s. Dedicated to the children of the Holocaust, his collection 3 Stories opens with The Berlin Baker's Son, a story about a child of the Holocaust who searches for a sense of belonging in Los Angeles and Vancouver. Another story, A Nobody From Powell River, describes a son's upbringing in an isolated Jewish family and his attempts to untangle his parents' post-Holocaust trauma.
In 1991, Dan Propp offered these words of remembrance:
Kiddush in Bolivia
I remember Kiddush in Bolivia
A handful of children we were
The rabbi's, the lawyer's, the beggar's
The grocery store owners, and me
Gestapo, German, Yiddish
Eyes that reflected the tide
Schiller, Goethe, Talmud
A difficult mixture to hide
Tin mines, coca leaves, eucalyptus
Escape to this world of thin air,
9000 foot altitude
The expressions our people did wear
We the children now scattered
Middle aged memories growing old
The legacy of our parents
Is a story that must be told
I remember Kiddush in Bolivia
A handful of children we were
The rabbi's, the lawyers, the beggar's
The grocery store owner's, and me
BOOKS:
3 Stories (Self-published, 2004)
Von Konigsberg Nach Kanada (2016) by Arthur Propp with Dan Propp / translated as Where the Straight Path Leads / Von Koenigsberg nach Kanada (2017) by Arthur Propp with Dan Propp
[BCBW 2020] Alan Twigg / HolocaustLit
Maurice Hochschild, the Bolivian Schindler.
Imprisoned by the Nazis after Kristallnacht, his father, who had been born in Konigsberg (later Kaliningrad) in 1890, managed to escape from Berlin by air with the assistance of a woman from the British underground. Estranged in England, he sailed from Liverpool to Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda, in 1940, en route to Chile. His mother took a ship to Brazil. They settled in Bolivia, one of the few countries willing to accept Jewish immigrants.
Jews had been in Bolivia since the 16th century. The wave of Jewish immigration to Bolivia in 1938 and 1940 was largely facilitated by the German Jewish businessman Maurice Hochschild, an agnostic. Born in Germany in 1881, the "Bolivian Schindler" became one of Bolivia's three tin barons in the early part of the 20th century, along with Simon Patino and Carlos Aramayo, but his role in sparing the lives of an estimated 9,000 Jews (about five times more than Schindler, a member of the Nazi party, reputed to have saved 1,684 Jews) is rarely cited. Jews arriving in Bolivia were given farm work in the coca-growing region of Yungas, to the east of La Paz.
Dan Propp was born in Sucre, Bolivia, on October 16, 1944. The Propps came to B.C. in 1950, first to Vancouver. A few months later they settled in Gibson's Landing on the Sunshine Coast where Arthur Propp, in his 60s, started the Sucre Lumber Co. After his father died in 1965, Dan Propp wrote to Elie Wiesel about his parents' experiences. Wiesel subsequently provided numerous notes of encouragement to Propp over the years, the last one in April of 2013.
Propp produced four self-published books and arranged for the publication of his father's memoirs, written in German, as Von Koenigsberg nach Kanada (2017), translated into English as Where the Straight Path Leads (2017), both available via Amazon.
Dan Propp of Steveston taught in the Surrey school system for 23 years, previously working for The Richmond Review and the Surrey Leader. He studied photography in Los Angeles during the 1960s. Dedicated to the children of the Holocaust, his collection 3 Stories opens with The Berlin Baker's Son, a story about a child of the Holocaust who searches for a sense of belonging in Los Angeles and Vancouver. Another story, A Nobody From Powell River, describes a son's upbringing in an isolated Jewish family and his attempts to untangle his parents' post-Holocaust trauma.
In 1991, Dan Propp offered these words of remembrance:
Kiddush in Bolivia
I remember Kiddush in Bolivia
A handful of children we were
The rabbi's, the lawyer's, the beggar's
The grocery store owners, and me
Gestapo, German, Yiddish
Eyes that reflected the tide
Schiller, Goethe, Talmud
A difficult mixture to hide
Tin mines, coca leaves, eucalyptus
Escape to this world of thin air,
9000 foot altitude
The expressions our people did wear
We the children now scattered
Middle aged memories growing old
The legacy of our parents
Is a story that must be told
I remember Kiddush in Bolivia
A handful of children we were
The rabbi's, the lawyers, the beggar's
The grocery store owner's, and me
BOOKS:
3 Stories (Self-published, 2004)
Von Konigsberg Nach Kanada (2016) by Arthur Propp with Dan Propp / translated as Where the Straight Path Leads / Von Koenigsberg nach Kanada (2017) by Arthur Propp with Dan Propp
[BCBW 2020] Alan Twigg / HolocaustLit
Maurice Hochschild, the Bolivian Schindler.
