Holocaust survivor publishes memoirs, traces life

By Kyle Boggs
Summer Reporter

They broke her hand. They had to; it was the only way she could leave. As a Jew, the Nazis would have done much worse to her if they knew of her ethnicity. She had to obtain the necessary papers in order to leave Austria, escaping Hitler and the Nazis.

Now Anna Akeley, a well-known resident of West Lafayette, is 98 years old and resides at George Davis Manor. Her room is filled with interesting pictures of her family and places she has been and remnants of her fascinating life, such as certificates honoring her knowledge as a physics instructor.

"The Earth is Round," title the memoirs that trace her life from her birth in Vienna, Austria in 1904 to her new life in America.

"Anna is a remarkable storyteller, and a remarkable person," said Agnes Schenkman, the co-author of Akeley's memoirs. "Her attitude toward life is something that everyone can learn from."

Akeley, born Anna Frost, lived in Austria and studied physics and radiology at the local university.

Around this time Hitler's troops began to invade Europe. She was scared of what might happen, but legally she couldn't leave without a proper visa. Akeley said that to go to America at that time, she had to obtain a visa from an American, but she didn’t know one.

"It was the combination of two men that persuaded me to finally leave," said Akeley. "One of them; Mr. Hitler, didn’t like me and wanted me out. The other was Edward Akeley, a theoretical physicist and my future husband."

Edward, an American, could give her the visa that she needed to leave. Unfortunately, by the time they met, he already gave out as many visas as he was allotted.

"He told me that I needed to get out of there, and in a hurry," said Anna.

Edward had to go back to America, but was still determined to get Anna out of Europe. He began to ask random Americans on the street if they could send Anna a visa.

Eventually, he met a man while waiting in line for a telephone booth. After hearing about Edward's predicament with Anna, the man sent her a visa, no questions asked.

Here began Anna’s journey to America.

First, she boarded the Trans-Siberian train that went to Berlin. Her only memory of Berlin is a visit to the zoo where she recalls feeding an elephant while waiting for the train to Moscow.

"At that time, airplanes only could fly over land for fear of running out of gas," said Anna. "That’s why I had to travel by boat."

Unfortunately, upon reaching Moscow, she missed her boat to Korea and had to stay there for fourteen days.

Finally, Anna sailed to Korea. To her dismay, the boat from Moscow to Korea was late, and she missed the ship to America.

She had neither food nor companion and only three American dollars to her name. She was able to trade her first-class ticket to America for a third class one, but the ship didn’t leave again for another three weeks.

The Society of Friends, or Quakers, noticed her situation and took her in and fed her.

"At the time, I didn't know a lot about them, but they were very nice to me," said Anna.

Eventually, in Korea, she met a Japanese dentist who had just installed a x-ray machine in his office and was looking for someone to teach him how to use it. Along with physics, Anna also received a diploma specializing in radiology. She worked with the dentist while she stayed in Korea.

Finally, she made it to America and was soon married to Edward.

Because a lot of the teachers had to go off to war, Purdue University and many others were in need of teachers to take those positions. Edward tried to convince Anna to get a job teaching physics at Purdue, but she was afraid that her English wasn’t good enough.

In about two weeks, Edward taught Anna everything she needed to know about teaching physics with proper English

At Purdue, Anna was awarded prestigious teaching awards for her excellence in physics.

Although Anna’s story began many years ago, she has never forgotten what she went through.

"I am very old, but I've never forgot what I've learned," said Anna. "It's important to keep things in your life new."

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