A Century in the Making

The stable atmosphere of Peter Lindenfeld’s childhood in Vienna is destroyed by the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany, and the young boy and his mother flee to North America. This forced exodus leads him to Vancouver, then New York, and finally, the academic world in New Jersey. Molded by his original Austrian-Jewish culture and carved by his new environment as an immigrant, Peter, a physicist, crosses paths with Jewish social societies and scientists shaping the new atomic world. Through the microcosm of one man’s life, Peter unfolds the story of immigration, assimilation, destruction and rebirth of home and relationships in post war North America.

Peter Lindenfeld turned 100 years old in March 2025, editing and revising this book right up to his hundredth birthday. Retired from a storied academic career at Rutgers University, Peter lives with his partner in a retirement home only a few blocks from the house that was his home for many decades.