Emil, That is amazing Emil as it is almost exactly the same history that I have, including the delayed 'bris' years later at age 7 (a story in itself). My father's entire family including wife and children were murdered, disappeared. I have looked unsuccessfully for a long time for family members and met a 'Wolkowicz' from California who was travelling around the world looking for relatives - unfortunately we were not related. I have yet to find a family member from my father's side. I only learned about my father's history at the 'shiva' after he passed away when his friends came to the house and talked to us. I have no pictures of my father's family. Our house was similarly 'quiet' about the holocaust though we went to meetings about it at the Workmen's Circle/Bund.

this link is what I know of my family 'tree'.

Out of my mother's direct family of 12 parents and children, 4 of the siblings survived because they had escaped early, one to Israel in the 30's, others to Russia and one married a non-Jew in Poland and was NOT given up. My uncle in Paris who bribed people to get me and my parents out of the DP camp amazingly survived the war as a German prisoner and was NOT given up by his fellow soldiers. All remaining relatives from my mother are now in Israel and Paris. I was born in Lodz, feb25/48. Few know that there were pograms in Poland **AFTER** the war and one in Lodz after I was born. I was told they carried me through the woods at night to escape Lodz after the pogrom, as they had enough of poland. We got to Czech and then were caught by police and ended up in the DP camp in East Germany 'Fedelf???'. A letter was smuggled to my uncle in Paris who managed to get us out of the camp, to Paris, where we waited for papers and finally to Canada. My mother was travelling on her sister's papers as she had escaped from the Gulag in Russia with my half sister, where 'Stalin starved' her first husband to death. But the escape from Russia is a story in itself and in the memoires I posted and link with essays and 4 video interviews of my mother by my brother

Who said we were lucky to get this start in life so that we were driven and worked hard, while our children have it 'too good'?
I disagree as I think the famous Chinese curse is something to avoid:

"May you live in interesting times"

is a curse and not something to strive for.