First and foremost, enormous thanks to the immediate and extended family for sharing precious memories, letters, documents, testimony, and pictures: Helen and Stephen Siegler, Rayna Dineen, Nomi Joy Parker, Jeff Retig and his family, Fred and Rosalie Sternberg, Grace, Edwin, and Howard Freedman, Fran Schaeffler-Siegel, Rafi Lemberger, Fred Payne, David Payne, Clarissa Uvegi, Ruth Ansel, Marcia Erdberg, and especially Elizabeth Sternberg Goldreich and Audrey Cohen for going above and beyond the call. Neil Sternberg and Anita Payne, no longer with us, shared their memories before this book was even a concept.
Thank you to the Donenfeld grandkids, Amy, Harry, and Luke, for opening up their homes and hearts to us and sharing photos and reminiscences. We owe an immeasurable debt to Jude Richter at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for his deep dives into the archives and careful fact-checking. To Rebecca Erbelding and Ronald Coleman for helping us understand the process of emigration from Europe in the thirties and with tracking down documentation. To Elizabeth Edelstein, Joana Arruda, Jacqueline Smith, Alexandria Jason, and Treva Walsh at the Museum of Jewish Heritage for their education, guidance, and access to survivors as well as recorded testimony. To Elizabeth Burnes at the National Archives in Kansas City for Jules’s immigration records. To Dr. Aaron Eckstaedt, head of the Moses Mendelssohn School in Berlin, for opening his doors and giving us a tour. To Katja Baumeister-Frenzel for meeting us in Berlin and sharing her love of the Romanisches. To Ulrike Ludlam for her invaluable translating skills, on call day and night for two years. To Christoph Neimann and Lisa Zeitz for warmly welcoming us to Berlin. To Erik Spiekermann for generously sharing German typefaces. To Dr. Ewald Blocher at Siemens Historical Institute for opening up the company’s dark history. To World War I scholar Sam R. Williamson for his time deciphering the Austrian military photo. To Tobias Kniebe for providing the Wilder article. To Michael Jackson for giving us such incisive notes. And to Ancestry.com for being the best rabbit hole in the world.
To Ken Quattro, comics detective extraordinaire, thanks for responding to a cold email and being our guide through a world we knew very little about. To those comics researchers who paved the way, especially Larry Tye, whose Superman archive at Columbia was a game changer, and to Karen L. Green for helping us “access” it virtually during the pandemic. To Brad Ricca for graciously answering our emails. To Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson for sharing information on her grandfather. To Gail Sitomer for her photos and memories of Sunny. To Steven Lomazov, David Saunders, John Gunnison, and Douglas Ellis for their pulp expertise and collections.
To Rebecca Federman and Iris Weinshall at the New York Public Library for help in mailing all those books during the pandemic. To Michael Feldman for copies of the in-house Independent newsletters. To Esther Katz for information on Margaret Sanger’s sponsorship of refugees. To Chris Napolitano for sharing his knowledge of Playboy and Hugh Hefner. To Meta Shaw Stevens and Edith Shaw Marcus for helping us through the Shaw Family Archives. To Andrew Zimbel for patiently looking through his father’s negatives for us. To Scott Fortner for his Marilyn wisdom. To Craig Yoe for his scholarship and finding those copies of Nights of Horror. To Alison Russell and Lea Iselin for their memories of the Upper East Side.
Last but not least, thanks to Lisa DiMona for introducing us to each other and to Bill Ferguson for running the original story in the New York Times. To agents Larry Weissman and Sascha Alper for believing in the project and shepherding us through the process. To our editor, Megan Hogan, for her enthusiasm, thoughtful edits, and trust that we would pull all the threads together. To Rob Sternitzky for his close read. To Steve Walkowiak for making all the images perfect. To Paula and Will Christen for their horticultural knowledge. To Irene Stapinski for her memories of Times Square and life during wartime. To Stan Stapinski for his Marilyn documentary news flashes. To Wendell Jamieson for his edits, World War II knowledge, and unwavering love and emotional support. To Dean and Paulina Jamieson for suffering through—this time in such close quarters—the writing of yet another book and offering their feedback and the picture of Marilyn. You inspire me every day. To Seth Godin, who was the first to encourage me to share this story. To Anne Kreamer for being our enthusiastic first reader. To Penny Shane and Judy Goldberg for being an invaluable support system. To Jeff Scher for absolutely everything. To Buster and Oscar Scher, you know what you did. Love you both like crazy. And lastly, to Opi, who upon meeting Buster, insisted we have another.