Uncle Peter

My Uncle Peter Loeser was my step father Tony Gargagliano's best friend. He was born in Holland. He introduced Tony to my mother Sonia, after both of their first marriages broke up. He also knew and worked with my bio dad, Tom Lisker. They were all Madison Ave advertising art people in the 50's and 60's.

When I was seven my mother dragged me into the kitchen to say "Uncle Peter has had a few drinks, he's telling stories about how he escaped the Nazis. Don't ever ask him about this."
Of course I wanted to ask him. When I was 21, out on my own, I wrote a four page hand-written letter to him when he lived in Santa Monica California. I asked him about his life and told him about mine. I told him why and how I escaped my family, particularly my mother, and what I thought my mother was doing to me because of HER childhood.

18 years ago Uncle Peter was asked to write his war story for Steven Spielburg who was collecting Holocaust survivor stories. I have a copy and it's AMAZING! He escaped the Nazis 6 times. One time, a crowd of hundreds were rounded up in a theater. He walked out, acting like an everyday German going to work. He hid in ceilings. He fell in the firing squad, feigning death. He lived with a family, hidden between two floors, never being outside for a few years. He knew to avoid the two creaky stairs when entering their apartment to use their bathroom. He got really good at morphing.

I think of this because when I photograph I am taking Uncle Peter's advice on how to be invisible. "People never look up!" This is one of the many ways he was invisible to the Nazis. He was a natural actor--in order to walk out of a round up he had to be confident, and have German posture. Be an actor! And it worked.

Uncle Peter was surrounded by glamorous women fashion models who were ranked on description cards - "Legs Excellent, Eyes Blue" - yet he had an early life of adventure, espionage, and tragedy. He gave his photography portfolio to my half-brother Peter, his namesake, and Peter loaned it to the art directors of MADMEN to get the details right. He died 2 years ago at age 90, a bachelor.