Knocking on Every Door

There was a feeling of imminent danger…. we were all subject to the mad and ever-changing rules of Hitler’s Germany. We were desperate to find a safe haven.

As Hitler’s army sweeps into Czechoslovakia in 1940, Anka Voticky, a twenty-five-year-old mother of two, her husband, Arnold, and her family flee halfway around the world to an unlikely refuge – the Chinese port of Shanghai. Estranged from all that is familiar, their security is threatened yet again when the Japanese occupying the city force the Jewish refugees into a ghetto. After the war, the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia sends the Votickys on another harrowing journey out of Europe, this time to safety in Canada. Global in scope, Anka Voticky’s memoir provides a rare glimpse of the far-reaching impact of World War II. At the same time, Knocking on Every Door is an inspiring story of love, family commitment and Anka’s willingness to cross oceans in search of freedom and a better future for her children.