The Discovery of Richard Hecht

About the Book

This book is a memoir.  It attempts to reconcile the decisions we make of a free will with the futility of it.  It is the story of a man living in several different cultural environments, trying to find his place under the sun.   Struggling, many times inadequately, with professional problems and familial conflicts.

The Discovery of Richard Hecht is the story of a Jew, born in a small town in southern Poland in 1928.  His parents immigrated to Paris in 1929 and he grew up there, assimilating the French ‘age de raison’ culture.

During the Second World War and the German occupation of France, he escaped from being shipped to Auschwitz for exterminationby the Germans, first by hiding in an abbey, then by hiding in a family of lumberjacks in Burgundy in the last two and a half years of the German occupation.

His father died in an airplane crash in 1948, causing a breakup in his family.

In 1959 Richard, his wife Madeleine and their daughter Elisabeth, immigrated to the U.S.A. where he pursued his career as a Designer-Patternmaker for ladies’ Ready-to- Wear clothing industry.

In 1961 his son, Solomon, was born.

After retiring to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Richard decided to write his memoirs to find out what his life was all about. In the process of examining his family’s conflicts and the challenges of his professional life, he discovered himself.

About the Author