Dive into a compelling conversation between Meilin Ehlke and Robert Wolf as they explore the transformative power of family history, resilience, and combating bigotry. Discover the inspiring journey of a Hungarian Jewish man's escape from Nazi and communist Hungary, and how his story illuminates the importance of empathy, unity, and ancestral wisdom."
In a recent episode of the 'Moving to Oneness' podcast, Meilin Ehlke and Robert Wolf delved into a poignant discussion centered on the biography of a Hungarian Jewish man who escaped the clutches of Nazi and communist Hungary. The autobiography-turned-biography, "Not a Real Enemy," penned by the man's parents in the 1970s, serves as a testament to the resilience and survival instincts honed during times of strife.
The narrative underscored the significance of delving into one's familial history to glean insights into themes of survival, resilience, and the enduring impact of ancestral struggles. Meilin and Robert emphasized the importance of combating anti-Semitism through education and fostering empathy to prevent future bigotry. Their advocacy for unity and inclusivity resonated throughout the episode, urging listeners to embrace diverse backgrounds and draw strength from familial narratives to navigate contemporary challenges.
Here are three key takeaways from the episode:
1. **Embrace Love Over Hate**: As Robert Wolf aptly put it, "A little bit of love goes a long way, and hate may be the easier way. I think love could be the usual way." Encouraging listeners to prioritize love and empathy over animosity, the episode highlighted the transformative power of compassion in fostering understanding and unity.
2. **Engage to Build Connections**: Meilin Ehlke emphasized the importance of engaging with others on a personal level, urging listeners to reach out to their neighbors and communities to foster meaningful connections. By asking deeper questions and seeking to understand others' stories, individuals can cultivate a sense of togetherness and shared humanity.
3. **Respect Diverse Backgrounds**: The discussion emphasized the need for respecting diverse backgrounds and promoting inclusivity in all interactions. By honoring the unique experiences of others and approaching differences with empathy, listeners can contribute to a future aligned with cosmic energies and ancestral wisdom.
In conclusion, the episode served as a poignant reminder of the resilience and strength embedded in familial histories. Through the lens of the Hungarian Jewish man's biography, Meilin Ehlke and Robert Wolf illuminated the transformative power of love, the importance of personal engagement, and the value of respecting diverse backgrounds in fostering a more harmonious future.
As Meilin Ehlke eloquently summed up, "Moving to oneness. Nourishing curiosity. Embracing differences. Becoming one." Let us take these words to heart and strive towards a world founded on understanding, compassion, and unity.
Find out more about Robert Wolf on his website: https://robertjwolfmd.com
Here is where you can purchase Robert's book: https://mybook.to/I3hEA5
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-j-wolf-md
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertjwolfmd
Moving to oneness. Nourishing curiosity. Embracing differences. Becoming one.
00:00:35 - Meilin Ehlke
It has been a long time that I had a book in my hands that touched me so deeply that my tears were rolling down my cheek on the first page. And you wonder who this person is who wrote that amazing true story. Then please stay tuned to the Moving to Oneness podcast. Hello, everyone. I'm Meilin Ehlke.
I'm sitting here in Germany and the book has close relationship geography to where I am now. And I would love to introduce to you the author of this page turner that touched me really deeply, made me think, brought on many conversations just in the days I read it and many afterwards. Please welcome with me Robert Wolf. And Robert, you are in southern Florida, where it's nice and warm and not so cold. So thank you for being on the Moving to Oneness podcast.
00:01:49 - Robert Wolf
Thank you for having me. I much appreciate it. I'm very honored to be here and I'm really glad that you enjoyed the book.
00:01:55 - Meilin Ehlke
Yes, it is beautifully written. It is. When I thought about it, and it's hard. I'm not going to talk too much about the book, everyone, because it's. It's so good. You have to read it in my eyes, because it's about a topic. Is it specifically about Jews. But I believe it touches every culture, every person on this world deeply because it is about so much more. It is about family. It is about understanding where you live, being close to others or not being close, and being very in tune with your own body to acknowledge what is happening around you. So, those are few of the points that I got right away out of the book. And even though I think it's a very, in a way, depressing, sad story, it is also. There is some invigoration that I felt. Robert.
There was some oomph. I got back. It's something. What am I fighting for? Why am I living? All these other questions that have really not so much to do with the topic or intention you started writing your book, but it has so many different layers. It has such complexity. And again, I have to say, it's in a beautifully simple way of writing that every word has its frequency, can dive into one's body. So that's how I have to summarize without spoiling the book or all the things you have to say to us.
00:03:58 - Robert Wolf
Oh, no, not at all. I mean, there's. Yeah. I mean, I. I don't even know where to start. You say so many kind words. I'm, you know, I've got a lump in my throat. I really appreciate it because that's how I felt when I worked on this project. My mom and dad wrote his autobiography in the 1970s, untitled. They went from paper to pencil, to a typewriter, to a computer, to a disk. And they wrote the stories as though they happened the previous day. The book, Not a Real Enemy, the true story of a Hungarian Jewish man's fight for freedom. I've got a copy of the front of the cover right above me here in the. In my background as you can see.
00:04:35 - Meilin Ehlke
I have it too. I have to show everyone. You sent it to me.
00:04:37 - Robert Wolf
Yep, that's the paperback. This is the copy. Behind me is the hardback, and it's also available as hardback.
00:04:41 - Meilin Ehlke
I got a nice note. (laughter)
00:04:43 - Robert Wolf
You got the signature, you got the. And I like to sign a lot more of those, including in Germany. So where do we start with that? But no, but they wrote the stories as though they happened the previous day. The sights, the sounds, you remember the smell, the fear, the way the table was set, the cold and loneliness. And, you know, I read it once, probably about 30 years ago. Didn't think much of it at the time. My parents were always Holocaust educators throughout their lives, but they were well rounded. They were happy people. You never know. They had no sign of ptsd. You never know everything that they went through, which is amazing.
That's another miracle in itself. But flash forward 1997, my dad passed away, unfortunately, 2016, my mom passed away. And a historian friend of mine, of the families had handed me the disc and said, you really have to read this. Well, I took a year. I didn't think much of it at the time. I took about a year to take care of mom's affairs. And then I retired for a year. And then I went back to work as a radiologist. I'm a recently retired radiologist.
And that brought me to the book. It brought me to the disc. And so between reading cases, two screens. As a radiologist, the left screen is the patient cue and the right screen is the images. I loaded up my dad's autobiography and turned it into a biography. And with a lot of help, with a lot of great people that are part of the team here in the United States and actually elsewhere. I mean, the book designer was from Croatia, of all places. My co-author is from Washington State. Janice Harper did an amazing job. If it weren't for her, we wouldn't even be here. I mean, she helped turn my dad's amazing miracles and stories into a really special novel, real special biography. Stories in and out of order, converging stories, diverging stories, parallel stories, conversations, letters to and from home, you know, really enhanced the messages with, with style.
00:06:29 - Meilin Ehlke
Yes.
00:06:30 - Robert Wolf
So and you know, 15, 20 edits later, here we are. So the book's been released, it's been out for a while. I was actually in Israel when the book was released a few years ago. Amsterdam publishers, you mentioned Amsterdam earlier. They took us on, which is great that she would literally. I don't know if you don't know baseball or not, but bottom of the ninth inning, shoestring catch. It was our last query. We had vetted out agents and publishers and she took us on and that's all she does is Holocaust related. Whereas this story is. It's a biography about my dad, of course. It's a history book about little known Hungary from the end of World War I to the end of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956.
It's an adventure and it's the story. It's the trials and tribulations, the strengths and the unfortunate events that happened to my dad's parents, for example, friends and other people that he knew in the area, Jewish and otherwise. Not just Jewish. So it encompasses a lot. It's like you said, it's emotional. You cry, you laugh. Happy ending ends near you. Vienna, Austria we could do a part two. Dad went on to deliver 10,000 babies in his career, which is another. That's redemption. It doesn't bring back the 6 million, which is a number we all know, but not a lot of people know. 50 to 60 million people died in World War II, not to mention all the unfortunate people under the communists and communist Europe, the communist bloc, torture, imprisonment, et cetera, et cetera.
Including my mom's uncle for running a. Supposedly running a Jewish, an illegal Jewish wedding under the communists. But that was another story too. They tried to pinch him for the Raoul Wallenberg murder and he wouldn't give in. And happy ending for him too. But these people really suffered a lot. They went through a lot. And in the mid 20th century, Hungary for sure.
00:08:24 - Meilin Ehlke
First of all, I thought what is so beautifully out about the book? Good thing that I knew he would survive throughout the book. It helped me in a few moments because I knew you were here.
00:08:39 - Robert Wolf
Yes, I know. I am luck to be here.
00:08:39 - Meilin Ehlke
You wrote the book and I knew you were the son. But the rich heritage that is really that you had letters. And the way you wrote it and the paralyzed to two different wars and then showing similarities from a different side. And I don't know if you know that my mother escaped herself three days after she turned 18. She had previously Escaped, underage, she made it to Germany from East Germany, but she went back because she didn't want to be put into Heim. Oh, what's the word in English where children are put. And she didn't want to be encaged again. In a way.
00:09:30 - Robert Wolf
They were separated. Yeah, no, they were separated, yeah.
00:09:34 - Meilin Ehlke
And then she went back and waited until she was 18 and she escaped again and then found in Darmstadt. My dad, who is American, who came over with the Air Force.
00:09:48 - Robert Wolf
That is unbelievable.
Yeah, the Kindertransport. Right. That was. What. Isn't that Kindertransport was.
00:09:52 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah, no, yeah, that. The kinder transport, I think was much earlier, but that was in the 60s that my mom escaped. 60, 61, if I'm correct. Exactly. In 61 she escaped, but she did it on her own and two other friends. The second time they went, then separated and they found each other and somehow it's a miraculous. But I had to become and live. You know, there is reasons. And we're talking here in a spiritual podcast, moving to oneness. Right. There was a certain purpose for my mother. And there's a certain purpose in your father or also your grandparents. While I was reading, I thought your father, Erwin or Ervin, I don't know how you pronounce it correctly.
00:10:46 - Robert Wolf
Either way, the Hungarians say Erwin and I say Erwin or Erv.
00:10:51 - Meilin Ehlke
Okay. I said he always relied on his hunches. So if I could get something across, what I learned out of the book, how important it is in any situation, especially when we are under pressure and nowadays we don't have many countries, people don't have so many pressures, let's say in the western countries it's more stress or something. But we do not listen to our intuition.
And your father had an ability, I believe, to always know when there's the last moment he has the chance to change something and he has to rely on himself and get move on or move away or escape. Right? So that was always within him. And I thought that was also very nourishing. You wrote about that. To provide trust with ourselves, to believe in ourselves, because then first of all it's really dangerous. Then you have other people who have given up maybe around you and to build up the strength to believe it works. And sometimes it didn't work and he noticed quick enough to pull back. And maybe similar. Like my mother just comes right now. She knew that would have not worked. Things would have happened. Her parents maybe even would have gotten in more difficulties that she had left behind. But when she would be an adult, it would have been a different story. There's just an innate understanding. Do you also have that in life? I would love to ask you, do you have that also that you know when, when your body is ready to push you somewhere?
00:12:39 - Robert Wolf
Yeah, that's a great question. Lately, maybe not so much. I've been, I've been doing this so long, I've been a little bit stuck in the mud lately. And especially when I'm reading about all these attacks around the world feeling like, you know, I can't fight antisemitism myself. This is part of the reason I'm doing this because I'm trying to recruit people. The 99% of us that do not believe in this racism and hatred and anti Semitism and call for genocide and jihad.
00:13:05 - Robert Wolf
So I'm trying to get us to wrap our arms around the problem and hopefully through education mostly, but also with communicating with our government and police forces and, and public servantry to make sure that it doesn't get worse and hopefully one day go away. Now it's never going to go away. We know that. But World War II did end. Communism Hungary did end.
And you're right about my dad. I didn't mean to get off the subject, but his escape. So my dad was a four time escape artist, as you know.
So twice from forced labor camp under Nazi Hungary and twice under communist Hungary. Split second timing, a lot of courage, smarter than most people around him. Fortunately. He had the brains, he had the common sense. Integrity is a word we use. He had a lot of integrity.
00:13:58 - Meilin Ehlke
That is a good point.
00:13:59 - Robert Wolf
At the forced labor camp. He was in charge of distributing what little food they had to the rest of the inmates out in the field or wherever they were.Deplorable conditions. And he had to rely on his friend Frank and Mike and other friends that he had enforced labor camp to survive. If he.
So we talk about hope and we certainly talk about loneliness in the middle of an escape. You know you did it too. You put yourself in my dad's shoes. Like I never felt so lonely as when my dad was trying to escape in the foothills, of the Carpathian Mountains or when he was arguing with an armed Russian soldier on the Hungarian Austria border and situation or when he was hiding under beds or in casinos or wherever else.
So 20 miracles. I think a lot of it was he helped himself with like you said, timing, judgment, knowing when he had to move on. I get a little of that. I ask myself, I don't know how I could survive the way my dad did and through all of those ordeals and not have PTSD or even just survive by itself. So that alone is another miracle. So. But yeah, 20 miracles in this book. The four escapes and hiding places and like a cloak and dagger stories.
People that thought were going to be your enemies, thought you turned out to be your friends and vice versa. So a lot of twists and turns. And the way he found out about what happened to his parents, unfortunately perished in Auschwitz. Both my dad's parents, his dad was a dentist, an obvious threat to society. My mom's grandfather was a rabbi and also perished at Auschwitz. So, you know, real threats to society. The way my dad got into medical school was another miracle. So it's just so inspiring that I, like I said, I couldn't leave. I couldn't leave this story on the computer.
I couldn't leave it on a disc. I just had to share it. And you know, my parents, if you knew me seven years ago, you would say, this guy would never write about the Holocaust. He'd never talk about this stuff because I had probably Holocaust fatigue, Holocaust burnout from my mom and dad talking about all their lives, especially the second half of their lives. But I'm glad I did. And, you know, they wrote these, probably the stories for me, but they wrote them as though they knew I would do this. And I always joke him, don't you hate it when your parents are right? I always, yeah, like my joke.
But, yeah, no, I'd say it's never too late to do the right thing. I wish maybe I could have done it while my parents were still alive, but there's no way that that would have happened because I had a career in radiology and family, and we're all busy with life. So I'm glad they did it. I'm glad I did this. And the legacy will move on for my parents. I'm an only child of only children, so this is my baby. And. But I do have step kids and step grandkids, and they're all Christian and they support the book, the story.
They've been to the Holocaust Museum in D.C. you know, they've taken pictures of the book there. And before you know it, a few months later, I'm there doing book signings. And so I did four of those at the. And what a. What an honor that was. I've also done presentations at other Holocaust museums, like in Illinois and Long Island, New York. But I could do that every day, teaching kids and their families from all over the world. Australia, Germany, England, Canada, all over the.
00:17:04 - Meilin Ehlke
U.S. yeah, you have a beautiful way of doing that. There is no weight or blame when you speak. I don't feel that within you, you really are there for us to awaken, to become more aware, to take in that story. Right? Because what came with that story was saying that these escapes, I thought, oh my God, what the body can endure,.
00:13:33 - Robert Wolf
It is amazing.
00:13:34 - Meilin Ehlke
What the body can endure and what strengths we can develop. And I would love other people in this world as well. Look at your life and see what you're enduring or what are you not enduring? What have you just taken for granted and not changing or where are you not making decisions to improve your life and your light?
Ah, that is a good play on words.
00:17:57 - Robert Wolf
Well said. No enduring. Yeah, no changing. That's a great. I talk about that all the time. If you don't like what you're doing, don't go protest at college campuses. Don't go chopping people's heads, heads off. Spend more time with your family. Change jobs, change vectors. Write a book, write a play, travel, give back to the community. I always say, you know, the life is too short, it's our only commodity. So change. And then you put it so well, the education part is it's self explanatory and it's important. And I'm going to continue. The classroom is one thing, but adults too. Adult education is important. So we've done presentations at churches, synagogues, libraries, museums, community centers, remotely live. I did a live podcast in Vegas, Las Vegas this year. Going in on an Italian cruise this year. I would love to do something in Germany. Yeah, that was pretty cool. That was kind of a.
00:18:47 - Meilin Ehlke
Whenever. You know what folds now because what I also want to say, I'm not the only one who loves it. The book has five awards. That has to be done too. With such a heavy topic. It's a topic that every human being can relate to. We have had it all. I mean we think we can look at our present time on different continents, in different cultures, different social levels, different religions against each other. Men, women, against each other. Old, young. Yeah. So where can we become more compassionate? Is my question. What did you know that did through reading became people more compassionate? They, they say something about it? Do they become more. Not wise,
00:19:45 - Robert Wolf
appreciative
00:19:46 - Meilin Ehlke
but appreciated and also they respect.
00:19:50 - Robert Wolf
Appreciative. Yeah, you said it. No, you said appreciative. And that's, that's what. Don't take things for granted. And that's one of the big lessons coming out of this book. You know, we might complain about our government, but at least you got to vote for who you wanted to vote for. And my mom and dad were so pleased. One of the main reasons they wanted to live in a free country, so they could vote. Jews couldn't vote and nobody could vote when Stalin. Stalin and so many decades of Russian rule. No, it's just so well said. We need to learn to appreciate what we have. We're free to go to work, we're free to own a radio or a tv. Don't take all that for granted. We're free to go to synagogue and church and mosque and that's all good as long as we're. Be peaceful with me and I'll be peaceful with you. You have to respect other people's religions and education, not the threat of human life. So.
00:20:35 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah, and ask questions. Right? I think what your book brings also we have to ask questions each other, to ask each other what is behind each person. Right? We have to take the time, any encounter we have with a person to ask deeper questions so I can see you better or the other person, what are their stories. Because not everyone can read the story or see the energy of a person. But we can ask and learn to understand and look for similarities instead of looking for differences. That's also rather important. And maybe there will be language barriers, but we have facial expression so we can use our hands. Well, let's celebrate together.
00:21:25 - Robert Wolf
Let's get this book translated into German. I want to talk to you about that later because that would be truly remarkable. That would be a full circle miracle. Since the wars were started. World War I, World War II started in the Germany from the Germans and restitution. My mom and dad got restitution for years from the Hungarian and German government. A lot of. Not a lot of money. But my mom was proud of that. I mean the accountability was palpable and I think she was pleased that at least there was some sense of responsibility, working backwards. My parents engaged, had friends that were Jewish, Christian, Muslim, from Africa, from Asia, all over. Holocaust survivors, doctors. They were well respected in the Jewish community and medical community. And they interacted with a lot of people of all different. They were interested. And with this project that I've been doing, I'm kind of the same way. I. I'm learning to reach out to more. It's one of the best things about doing this is meeting great people like you, people that care and people that come from different cultures, different parts of the world. Southern Florida, no exception. Because there's people from all over that whose cultures I'm really unfamiliar with. But now I'm getting to more. The Hispanic population, for example.
Then working backwards I want to touch on the four awards real quick because please go ahead. I want to stress that if it weren't for my team, my co-author, my friend Mark who's been with me throughout this journey helped me with social media, helped me with the website. Oh I love the cat.
00:22:46 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah.
00:22:47 - Robert Wolf
The book cover. The book cover. My publisher, you know the list goes on and on social media help office manager. So I couldn't do that. Secondly the awards. I mean I'm not the one type to pat myself in the back or sit in my laurels. I mean I'm pleased. It does mean that people that read that understand the importance of good literature, understand the quality of the work and the importance of the work but in the end if it doesn't help me in the fight against anti Semitism it really doesn't mean anything. So. So it's kind of a full.
00:23:17 - Meilin Ehlke
It helps in a fight against others, not just Semitism that's so important. I would love you know I speak about one that it touches anyone. I had to think during the book about people that old tribes in the Amazon how they were destroyed, killed. Nowadays it's happening in Brazil. I'm not talking you know here we say eco friendly energy but there as mean things are happening.
00:23:44 - Robert Wolf
Jewish hate is not good for anybody. Yeah, Jewish hate is not but so right. I mean a Michigan church. Michigan church got attacked about a month ago, you know a truck driver in a shooting and I was just reading that the Muslims are killing by the thousands these continental Africans and native Africans. So it's brutal. I mean so no, none of that is acceptable. I mean I don't know what I can do to save them. This is my little corner is the anti Semitism part but it's a good. We do have other problems. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you but you do touching on so many good points.
00:24:15 - Meilin Ehlke
Because you have so much to bring and I know you like a bubbling water where you that had so much not pressure. It's the wrong but it has so much joy and purpose and dedication. You have a strong dedication and I believe it's working. It's radiating already out much further than you think.
00:24:42 - Robert Wolf
I get that from my dad. I definitely get that from my dad. Bubbly like a no sign of PTSD delivered 10,000 babies. Big smile on his face, going to work. Everybody at the hospital loved him and you know and it's funny the Christians I have probably more. I've a lot of Christian and Jewish friends myself. Hindu. But I get a lot more Christian supporters of the book and the story than Jewish. And brings me to the point, my biggest obstacle in all of this is the apathy and the indifference to the fight against hatred. That's especially amongst the Jewish people. So maybe now people are starting to finally wake up after all these protests. And now people are getting murdered. Attacks in libraries. And then the one in Australia was horrible. I mean, it's just. People better start look, because you're next, you know.
00:25:27 - Meilin Ehlke
In our countries, both of our countries, people are pointing fingers. It should not be. I think my dad told me once a story really touched me. It's not a story. It is really experience why he left his hometown. It's because they had. Half of the town was Protestant and the other Catholic. You could not even date someone from the other side. And so I grew up also with two beings that are very open in seeing other people how they are and getting to know them before they create judgement or maybe both of them didn't have so much judgment that's about people. So that it's nice. But it's starting again. And I invite here everyone. How can we solve that? Because your book is doing that. It doesn't matter who. But not pointing first the finger at ourself. To stop that. Just comes as to my head. And then if we don't point the finger and hurt ourselves so often through the horrible negative talk or judgment or making ourselves small, then the less we point it at others. And that is so important.
00:26:42 - Robert Wolf
That's back to accountability. Yep. And understanding and education. I couldn't agree more. I mean, we need to. Yeah, we need to reconcile our own confusion, our own inner weaknesses. And once we do that, we can move forward. And for me, this. This thing, I mean, yeah, I practiced medicine for 35 years, so I've helped thousands of people. I was compensated for that. And. But now I'm trying to do this. It's not about the money. It's about the message. And you know, I hope that we do sell a lot of books someday, but it's not. And it's. It's about the message. It's not. And believe me, my heart's been in it. We've queried Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks and Bob Kraft, who owns the new
00:27:22 - Meilin Ehlke
WOW super.
00:27:24 - Robert Wolf
Adrian Brody, if you remember the movie the Pianist.
00:27:27 - Meilin Ehlke
Yes, I do.
00:27:28 - Robert Wolf
Adam Sandler, the comedian. Yeah. It's just. It's really difficult. I mean, I'm just looking for that one you know, I keep putting the fishing pole out, so to speak. And I'm just looking for that one, really. Somebody who says, oh my God, this story so good, it should be a movie.
00:27:43 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah, it'll be a good movie.
00:27:44 - Robert Wolf
It could be a documentary. It could be a miniseries. It could be a full feature film, you know, with the forest. It'd be Schindler's List on steroids. That's what I would. That's what I call it, the Hungarian Papillon. And remember, my dad missed. I mean, by the end of the book when my dad had his fourth escape, his risk tolerance was so high, if you remember the story of him sneaking into the medical center, to look at his dossier. And they called him not a real enemy. And he was anything but. He and my mom were real enemies because they loved mother Hungary, but they hated Nazi Hungary and communist Hungary. So they were leaving. So the country lost. Two good people would have been great doctors there. And if they didn't, if that didn't happen, like if the Soviets didn't take over and it was the Americans, there was the west that won. I mean, Austria, yes, but not Hungary. Right. And other countries surrounding. I probably wouldn't be here. I would probably been raised in Hungary and if I was lucky enough, go to medical school in Hungary and practice there. So. But that's not what happened. So my parents didn't want to have kids until they came to the United States because they wanted to be free and they got, they got what they wanted. So any easy, anything easy, they might have had their second half of lives.
00:28:49 - Meilin Ehlke
No, they got a fantastic child in my eyes.
00:28:51 - Robert Wolf
I don't know. I don't know. They got, I don't like the word, you know, deserved. I'm not into that word, but entitlement. But I think if anybody was entitled, to a better life, the second half, it was my mom and dad and many other people like them that suffered.
00:29:07 - Meilin Ehlke
I really love the title and you just touched on it. Not a real enemy. And you know how after writing the book you probably thought about it a lot and experienced while writing, reliving over and over over the story because you do has to do go into your fascia, into your body, into the cell memory. And what would you help? Is there an inner shift that would help people to dissolve their daily enemies or recognize enemies?
00:29:42 - Robert Wolf
Yeah, I mean, who knows, you know, buy your neighbor a cup of coffee, knock on your neighbor's door, ask them, how you doing? What's going on? How are your Kids, how are the grandkids? How's college? You know, relate to the kid. The younger ones, the younger people too. You have to engage. You can't just sit in a room and be on Facebook all day or watch TV all day or do it or whatever you need to reach out to people. It's really not that hard. A little bit of love goes a long way and hate may be the easier way. I think love could be the usual way. It's a little bit of work, but it's still. It's a normal human trait that should be carried over more rather than the other way around. So I can't speak for everybody in the world. I can only try to inspire through my own in my own little way. Originally we're going to call the book the Hungarian Papillon, the Hungarian Butterfly, after the famous escape artists.
00:30:36 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I read that book too, Devil's Island.
00:30:39 - Robert Wolf
It was a great movie too. And. But Janice, my co-author, talked me out of that because she said the younger reader is not going to understand the reference. So. And then.
00:30:47 - Meilin Ehlke
No, it was good. It's good, good.
00:30:49 - Robert Wolf
6's Book of Moses was the other one. I'm sorry.
00:30:51 - Meilin Ehlke
No, no, because the book lay. I had a client here and the book lay on. On the couch still because I was going back and taking some notes and it has such an attraction. The book only itself just. I have a few other books lying around in my living room. Yeah, but it has a strong attraction and it made her think. And she was born later also in Leipzig. Maybe that was. But her also went with her awake out of a bad relationship. She escaped her mother with her when she was little. So. And I think people can sense that. Where do we escape from? Yeah. And what are the ways or to be courageous to also feel what is not right.
But also there is teaching how to speak up and how to fight for others or how to be. You talked about the sharing, right. Taking care of. And that was also always an underlying silver lining was in there that there are even. That they're brutal people where when war takes over, they turn. I have to use really quick an example.
I met once a man in Italy. We were in college, summer school there. And he was the janitor and he was from Serbia or Yugoslavia at that time. And he said I escaped as well because suddenly my friends turned on me and they wanted to cut my finger off. Serbians cut. And so he did not do certain symbols anymore with his hands. So then he escaped to Italy and he was a young gentleman and I thought, oh my God, how fast people can turn. But even then the people that, you know, group up go against others, there was always the belief.
So something that pulls me forward in life, Robert, is the hope. Similar to you, I always sense the hope of the future. What beautiful thing can come out. And your father also attracted those people that provided him with food were a little kinder here and there, even though he endured a lot of brutalism, and torture. But again, there was always a way and he also gave that back. And that is what always in me thinks. Whatever is so bad in world, there is a chance if you concentrate on the good, which sounds a little awkward, but it is really what it is on the light. And it is innate in you. It attracts the people that support and help you. So I think that's also a message I would like to bring out to your readers of the book and here now to the listeners, we can change so much.
00:34:00 - Robert Wolf
When you say the words escapes and light. This is another thing I like to bring up. And you feel this. I'm sure you did too. Especially my dad's first escape in the middle of nowhere. All right, so you escape the guards, you worry. You're not, you know, you won't get eaten by bears or wolves or freeze to death at night because you're in the, you're in the wintry thicket, hiding.
00:34:18 - Meilin Ehlke
For hours up high in the mountains.
00:34:21 - Robert Wolf
Listening to one of the guys get caught, right? And, and hearing them, you know, getting. Dragging him away, dogs barking, and you're scared to death. But so, all right, so you escape. So where are you gonna go? Where's your next meal coming. Coming from? How do you know you're not going to get killed or arrested the next day or caught? You don't know where your next meal, you don't know where your job, your next job is going to be, where you're going to sleep or live. And so there's no light at the end of the tunnel. You're escaping. So that's courageous enough. It's one thing to escape, but it's another thing to not know where you're going to, where you're going to end up. So, so that's, I think it's remarkable with that part of it too. So no light at the end of the tunnel until there's actually a light at the end of the tunnel. Even then, literally, their last escape in the dark. Russian lights scanning all over the area looking for people, trying, refugees. And if your country is so damn good. Why are people trying to leave? Why do people want to leave North Korea or Iran or whatever the case may be? Hungary, the Soviet bloc? Because it's not great. People don't want to live where they're oppressed and they can't vote and they can't live the lives they want to live. So.
00:35:26 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah. Or the fear of being a listener to the whole time, right. You cannot be your truth. That means you can never express emotion correctly. So if you can't express emotion, you also cringe inside and you lose so much energy. So being tight is. You. You have so much. You barely. You never feel your body.
00:35:52 - Robert Wolf
So well said. I mean, that's one thing too. You know, we're even. If somebody were to come after me and. And kill me, okay. But you can't take away my memories. You can't take away my experiences. We all have our personal experiences that nobody can take away. They can't take away your feelings. They can't take away your memories. And hopefully most of us have good memories. I mean, we all have bad memories too. That's the challenges in life. But they can't take that away. So it's just I'm seeing the world hopefully change. Hopefully. Around here in southern Florida, for example, we. We embrace the fight against the anti, Semitism, hatred. I'm really trying. I mean, I reach out to politicians down here. Very difficult to get your foot into, you know. You know how since COVID people ghost you people, you have to make an appointment just to text somebody, you know, and then. And ghosting is a part of apathy to me, if you're not interested in the story, because not everybody reads, not everybody wants to read about the whole Holocaust. If it were a feature film, maybe that'd be a different story. But okay, okay, I can accept that. And you know, the entertainment time, not the entertainment dollar, is very competitive because you've got other books, you've got Netflix, you've got Hulu, you've got countless things you can do for. For entertainment. But just say, no, we're not interested, or we. We don't have the time now, or we don't. Our budget won't allow it, and I'll accept that. But please don't. Don't ghost me. And worse yet, say that you want to do something, a program or show, and then ghost me. You know, that's. That's a tease. That's just. That's. And that's probably the worst part of doing this is the. Is that that feeling of that apathy and indifference. But for the most part, you know, I wake up and say, so what are we going to do today? We're going to try and keep, keep getting the message out. And once in a while I'll take the day off too. And, and, and just say, look, I got to walk away for a little bit. And, but, and that's important too. I mean, you got to take a break.
00:37:43 - Meilin Ehlke
So that's your father and your grandfather speaking, I guess.
00:37:47 - Robert Wolf
Yeah.
00:37:50 - Meilin Ehlke
And sharing because it will multiply and it's little setbacks. You so very resilient because those are your ancestors now. This is right. You have strong ancestors. And that's also something I would love people to really recognize, to take a look at their ancestors. Right. Then you won't be ghosted so much because people are a little afraid to look. Who are my parents? Maybe? Yes. Who was behind there? The grandparents, the great grandparents. Now you in the US It's a really becomes an interesting story. Where did they all come from? Did they all escape already somewhere or a situation or many, many different. And what if you go further back? And so if you go back 20 generations, you have 1 million people behind you. And what are you creating in the future with that force of knowledge and that wisdom? And when we come looking at our ancestors, we get so much history known. Because even in your book I looked at the geography, where were those towns? Right? If we ask these questions to understand also the different land, because land has also knowledge for us and people become again invigorated again in living.
I think there is a damper also happening. You mentioned it in our countries, there's a damper. There is no liveability anymore. And it's worth living. If I read you correctly, and what is within you, you invite all of us to live because your father and your grandmother, they fought for living. They fought to, to create a better world. And that we maybe learn by looking at our ancestors and who they are, where they came from, it will be easier for us to create a meaningful life. So I think why is the world becoming a little bit more dangerous? Because people give up on themselves. They let others rule themselves. And they don't voice the opinion, as you just said, it's difficult. They're trying to avoid a conversation or a discussion or maybe a disagreement. Right? If they don't want to work with you or support you so that you just don't write anything, that people get more invigorated, stand up for who they are, but to recognize themselves. So all of this came out.
Fight for this too, in a different way than you knew, Robert. But your book just raised, even though it was saddening often, but it showed why everyone is living for and what we can create out of our lives now. This is the strongest thing I pulled out. I'm not going to play small anymore. I'm not going to become invisible. I'm going to show myself more. I'm going to speak out who I am, what I stand for. This is what I got out of your book as well. I thought those things before, but reading that story, whatever vibration is in your book, Robert just upped it and invited me to pull me along. So I want to thank you for that really strongly.
00:41:20 - Robert Wolf
You really made my day with, with the. Appreciate that. And that's what it meant. And it did the same for me. It was really a profound life changer for me as well. So, to quote my dad, and forgive my Hungarian accent, he used to say, "enjoy every moment". And he would say, "nobody bothering you". That's all the time. And my mom used to say, "we would not vote. We would not belong to the Nazi Party and we would not belong to the Communist Party. We vote for the best candidate". So I love what she used to say about that. And the other thing my dad used to say, "don't do it for the money." He was talking about medicine back in the day. So my dad loved his work and he was compensated for it. But he didn't work in the richest area in Detroit, so he made a lot less money than some of the other ones that lived in the west side, other practicing physicians. Plus he got off to a late start because it took him forever to, to get to the United States. And then he had to redo his residency.
00:42:14 - Meilin Ehlke
So, yeah, I was going to say doctor, you have to.
00:42:18 - Robert Wolf
Imagine that. And he barely spoke English and so he's taking elementary school, high school English while he's trying to repeat his residency as an OB gyn. And I remember as an intern resident, we used to kind of make fun of these, the foreign medical grads that, that didn't have a good grasp of English. And now I'm a little regretful about that because I kind of understand. I didn't even think that my dad could have gone through all that, you know.
So more resilience. My mom's parents got a divorce around the war time because to save the family name, so they, they lived in separate areas, separate countries. So another sad story. But in the end, like, like you said, work every day, work at it. Somebody told me my dad's Messenger I like. I love that. That was a really a nice feel good. The comment at the Holocaust Museum, somebody once said sorry for your loss. And that was super nice. I mean because these are grandparents that I never even met. But it's still a loss to my family. And you know how my life might have been different if they had survived the war too. So. And then somebody also said to me once thank you for what you're doing. Like thank. Thank you for your service. Which I always say to the police and military guys I see, first responders. I said thank you for your nurses. Thank you for your service. That goes a long way too. It means we appreciate what other people are doing and especially some of these difficult jobs putting their lives on the line every day to protect you and me.
00:43:41 - Meilin Ehlke
You know what your book reminded me too. I had experiences in my life where you met people. I remember in Atlanta someone in the parking lot who was taking care of the tickets and other people were treating him with I don't know just his day of working for taking money for parking. But then I spoke with him.
So I'm inviting everyone to respect and ask questions and put yourself in other people's shoes. So he also escaped. But he was a doctor. It would but he had no money even to take a residency. Right. Or had to work a parking lot to rebuild himself just few weeks A few days ago someone was in my home about the telephone. Not telephone, energy bill. Right. And he was out of Dubai now knocking on door to door. But he turned out when I spoke with him because I said he's so nice and helpful and I could feel that he really cared that I had the best deal and he wouldn't say this and it turned out he was a lawyer once in Dubai. But it doesn't count here.
So we encounter so often people that are from somewhere else. And I'm also if I'm honest Robert mad that we. We look at other people like not worth anything that if they don't have the way of expressing they have a different color, they have a different religion. I or since a little girl I didn't like that because we all are beautiful beings. I have a purpose here on earth that's not one of us who has not and then whoever is trying to make it better support each other, support yourself. Ask who you can help. And that is another thing that you brought out.
How can we create community to support each other and invite strangers and you mentioned before a smile is often so already sufficient to create peace. How can we do it fast because that's the question. We can see what is happening around the world as I was point saying, the finger pointing. But what can we do now? What would you say? What did you learn about a oneness while and all your travels, do you see that people are becoming more one? Are they becoming more open or do you feel that it's the opposite?
00:46:23 - Robert Wolf
I don't know, it's a mix. I think it's probably the opposite. I think the coronavirus didn't help. And you know, with these attacks people are looking over their shoulders, you know, But I see it, it's up to me. If I can't get other people to care about communication or fighting hatred, then it's up to me to get it out there to try to catalyze that, to make that move forward. So you made another good point. I want to comment on it, but I slipped my mind.
Oh, I scold people for saying I'm only a janitor or I'm only a truck driver or I'm only a waiter. No, you've got important, you've got an important job too. My dad used to say hi to the custodians in the hospital and I started out as a volunteer and cleaning out hot tubs and physical therapy and a custodian. So I did all of that too. So it's not, it's a great point that we all have a purpose and as long as that purpose isn't cutting my life off or children or threatening or persecuting, then fine. You know, we've all, we've all got, we've all got purposes, men of the cloth, police, military, you know, the government, whatever it is. We all have a purpose for sure.
00:47:37 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah. And thank you. You followed your purpose of, of once being a neuro radiologist?
00:47:45 - Robert Wolf
That's correct. Very good. Interesting career. I mean no, I was always into the neurosciences, head and neck, spine and brain. And that was from. Back from medical school. So that was kind of my talent and so I just kind of followed it. I had disappointments along the way. I wanted to be a neuro ophthalmologist, an eye doctor with special. But I didn't get in very competitive and some of it is my fault. I mean, I guess I felt prejudice against. I don't know, that's not the right word but I just felt very disappointed. But I learned about accountability at that point in my life. I had to change the way I approach things because I think I was good enough to do that. But I wasn't going to wait another three, four, five years. And you know, the path is long enough as it is. So I was. And it worked out. I wouldn't. At this point, I wouldn't change a thing. I also considered psychiatry back in the day. It was another backup plan because it's related to the neurosciences. But I did a rotation in medical school. I didn't really like the attending. He didn't think I'd be good at it. And it was Veterans Administration and a lot of PTSD there too. And as a kid in medical, I just didn't understand it. So I'm glad it worked out the way it did.
00:48:56 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah. And then it is really. It fits you if you think about it, because you. I have to think about the story of the infinite mind. When I was younger, living in Atlanta, I heard that radio show that inspired me really to think more about how our brain function, creativity, writing, being creative. And we need someone to understand nerves. I have cerebral palsy. So I'm happy for everyone who understands how our nervous system functions. Trauma influences our nervous system. And it goes on and on. And so it needs a very fine person to understand that. So you have maybe more than a talent to do several things. And you chose luckily, the right thing. And that also translates back into the book that you wrote. Why it is so senseatory. That's the word. It touches so many senses while reading. And the pictures you can really read and see, feel and taste as well as a reader.
00:50:01 - Robert Wolf
Appreciate that. I never would have guessed you have cerebral palsy if I heard that correctly. But I have a question for you. Can you buy books written in English in Germany through Amazon or not?
00:50:13 - Meilin Ehlke
Yes. Yes.
00:50:14 - Robert Wolf
Okay. So that's okay. This is that. And then the big thing with your listeners and your audience that would be like we've talked about this earlier. If my. My publisher just posted about the top five most widely sold books in. In our little. In our genre in our. From her. And there's probably been about a hundred of them. And so she said she and three out of the five were translated into German. Now then she was saying that the biggest. She was really impressed with that because those were so they were very widely read. And I said, well, coincidentally my. I'm doing a podcast with somebody who's interviewing me out of Germany. So I'm just curious. I'm just. If you've got listeners or you yourself know somebody that might be interested in and the only way she'll do it is if we, we need an offer for the rights to be written in German, she says it's too difficult for us to translate. Then try to sell in German. It's easier if a publishing house out of Germany would make an offer to have the book translated. So if you know somebody or you've got friends, historians or rabbis or anybody that my producers, publishers.
00:51:21 - Meilin Ehlke
Okay, let's set the intention.
00:51:25 - Robert Wolf
That would be such a, you know, my mom and dad would raise up out of their graves if they saw that this book was translated in German. And I can't even imagine, you know.
00:51:33 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's, let's, let's just, let's put it out into the world, give it some force behind it and the right person will pick it up.
00:51:45 - Robert Wolf
Hungarian and Hebrew and then Spanish would be great because we have this huge Spanish Hispanic population down here. But Germany would be very, very poignant, salient. You know, it's the place that it should, you know, that's, that's the spot.
00:51:59 - Meilin Ehlke
I think besides that, it's right, let's do. It will happen. If you desire it to happen and you put a strong intention in there, it will. Robert, how can people reach you to connect with you? We haven't even spoken about that.
00:52:14 - Robert Wolf
Well, that's it.
00:52:14 - Meilin Ehlke
I'll put it in the notes as well.
00:52:16 - Robert Wolf
That's why I wanted to bring that. Yeah. So if you, if you could buy the book in English in Germany and elsewhere. I know other countries, Australia and England. You can buy the book in. Written in English off Amazon "Not a real enemy". If you google "Not a real enemy". You'll find me. If you google Robert J. Wolf, MD. You'll probably find me. This is my website, therobertjwolfmd.com.
What else? I'm on social media across the board. I'm on X. I'm on LinkedIn, which is my favorite platform. Tik Tok, Meta, which includes Facebook author page Robert J. Wolf or Not A Real Enemy by Robert J. Wolf. If you do google those. And I'm on Instagram. And what else? Oh, Blue Sky. I got a great YouTube channel. I've got a great office manager who's helping me with the YouTube channel. So check that out if you want to watch. Get the delve deeper. The website's pretty loaded with good content, video, little blurbs, all kinds of good stuff. So. But, yeah, but please read the book and reach out. You know, reviews, podcasts, zoom meetings, something like this is perfect.
00:53:20 - Meilin Ehlke
Yeah. Invitation flying you over here to Europe. All these things.
00:53:23 - Robert Wolf
I would love that.
00:53:25 - Meilin Ehlke
I believe we have to think bigger. I would love that happen out of your book to think bigger. The biggest possibility we can create, then smaller things happen. But even the big ones can happen in even larger. No, we are setting no limits anymore.
00:53:44 - Robert Wolf
Well, I appreciate your time. Let's get this book distributed into more countries and I think Germany would be appropriate especially hearing about the other books where there's a renewed interest and again the sense of accountability and acknowledgement. Hungary, the same way Hungary restricted the immigrants, you know when Syria had its war and and he they were criticized for that. But now from what I hear Hungary has less and has less anti Semitic events.
00:54:13 - Meilin Ehlke
I have to connect you to a podcaster but everyone he Endre Hoffmann was on the Moving to Oneness podcast about Self-worth just a few months ago. (episode 148) So, I will connect you with him.
00:54: 27 - Robert Wolf
Oh, that is really kind.
00:54:30 - Meilin Ehlke
Now he is again in Hungary and I will connect you because it's important that we weave a web of all of us light workers to create this beautiful light that is coming.
00:54:43 - Robert Wolf
I appreciate that. I guess I should share. My email address is robertobertjwolfmd.com. So if somebody is really serious about going further with a program or book review, anything helps or a connection for possible translation and publication in your new country. And I've only been to Munich.
00:55:02 - Meilin Ehlke
Twice you have an open house now here. Whenever you do come and it happens you have a place.
00:55:08 - Robert Wolf
Thank you.
00:55:09 - Meilin Ehlke
Thank you Robert. Thank you for everyone who has been listening. Also keep observing yourself. Use your smile more often, please. Ignite the light within you. Let it shine brighter. Robert said over and over and over the world is getting a little dimmer. So it is our responsibility to bring light. To move into our own strength. And especially 2026 is demanding that the cosmic energies know many of you know it. And connect to Robert, to me or others so we can move forward together and nudge each other higher and higher. Higher or I should say brighter and brighter and brighter.
And yes, look at your ancestor. I think this comes strongly know where you're coming from because connect to the land your ancestors come from. Maybe ask questions. So before I forget Robert, but I think that's also important. I'm going to ask many more questions to to my parents as long as I have them and I'm going to record it and write it more. I've started it here and there.
00:56:27 - Robert Wolf
Good for you.
00:56:29 - Meilin Ehlke
To get more answers. And I invite others because this heritage of material should not get lost. And if it does, remember and connect in the spirit with them and let them tell you their story and maybe that will catapult you forward.
So everyone, thank you for listening listening to the Moving to Oneness podcast. We are very appreciated and thank you, Robert, for your time, your energy and the energy you put into your book. So I was able to enjoy it. Thank you very much and the best to you.
00:57:05 - Robert Wolf
Same to you. Thank you.