Deila Mangold

My wonderful gentle, kind father passed away just 10 days ago. He 97 and a German Jew. Many people at the memorial service were stunned to learn this, his attitude and fun loving nature were a miracle.

His family owned the flour mill in Frankfurt am Main and other towns in Germany. They collected Chinese antique artifacts as well as French Impressionist Art and German Expressionists. They loved Opera and hiking. They were charitable and religious. His early life was idyllic. His father died of cancer in 1935, his mother committed suicide a year later. They also owned a house in Switzerland and my aunt, who was 10 years older than my dad, lived there after her 1st husband left her and the Nazi threats were intensifying. My dad had to transfer to a university in Czechoslovakia, had to empty out the house in Frankfurt and then went to live in Switzerland also. Even with property, both had to go back to Germany every month, at greater and greater risk, to reapply for a 30 day visa to live in Switzerland. My aunt got passage to (now) Israel and my Dad to New York, though there were earlier attempt to go to England or Brazil. Clearly getting “out” was not easy. The saga of those times were detailed in an autobiography my father wrote about 15 years ago. He did not talk about those times but we learned from the book and asked questions later. He was so proud to be a US Army veteran and to have used his language and geography skills to do his part. The picture attached is of my Dad, daughter-in-law, granddaughter and me taken just 2 months ago.