The Arks

The book follows the journey of my name. It is the story of two successive escapes from the Jewish ghettos to freedom. The first escape is of the Jews from the ghettos into the center of European culture, from 1848 to 1938. The Jews, with a Moses instinct for freedom, built a pro­mised land of a radically modern Jewish way of life in the heart of Europe. They could not settle there. In 1938, this culture is shattered and the Jews are sent back to the ghettos. The Löw-Beer factory is stolen by the Nazis and becomes Schindler’s Ark, a concentration camp where Jews are saved not exterminated (in Spielberg’s Oscar winning film Schindler’s List). The LÖw-Beers use their Noah instinct to tear away their roots and escape. The white light of the Tugendhat home shines on the hill above Brno. Like the crest of a wave, it is a highpoint of European culture that came crashing down. The Löw-Beer factory and concentration camp shine a darker light. Arks is the journey of a name. It is a journey of survival and freedom. Dr. Daniel Low-Beer works at the World Health Organisation as an epidemiologist, and lives in Geneva, Switzerland. He is a poet, writer and is the grandson of the last Jewish owner of the factory which became Schindler’s Ark.