Real-Life Addy Kurc In ‘We Were The Lucky Ones’: How Is Addy Related To Georgio Hunter?

The most fascinating aspect of We Were the Lucky Ones was how Georgia Hunter came to know about her maternal grandfather’s story, Addy Kurc’s. Georgia didn’t know that her grandfather’s name was not Eddy Courts in reality, as she was never told what he and his daily endured back in the day. Georgia had no clue that her grandfather had faced such adversity back in the day, and that’s where she decided that she wanted to know more about what had actually happened. Hunter didn’t even know that her grandfather was from Poland, as she always believed that he was born and brought to the States. Hunter often wondered why her grandfather didn’t tell her anything about his past. She started researching the topic, and the kinds of things she found made her realize what he would have done. Hunter believed that Addy had chosen to leave that life behind him. It was a scary time, and even when the entire Kurc family survived, those turbulent ties left wounds that never healed with time. Hunter believed that for Addy, not thinking about the past or talking about it helped him move on in life. Georgia Hunter was 14 years old when Addy passed away due to Parkinson’s disease, and then it was fate that she got an assignment in her school where she had to write about the life of one of her family members. She casually went and asked her grandmother, Caroline, about her grandfather, and that’s when she revealed to her the past that was buried somewhere in the sands of time. 

As shown in the series We Were the Lucky Ones in real life, too, Addy Kurc was living in Toulouse when he realized that back in his hometown, Germany had waged a war on Poland. The fact that crossed everybody’s mind was how bad it could be. Addy’s parents, Sol and Nechuma, believed that whatever might happen, it couldn’t be worse than the war they had already survived. Within a week’s time, everybody realized how wrong they were in underestimating the terror that could be spread by a madman sporting a short mustache. Addy wanted to come back to his hometown to attend the Passover, but in no time, he realized that it was impossible to do so. In reality, too, there was a line in front of every embassy, and people just wanted to go as far as they could from the looming shadow of war. Around this time, Addy joined the French army, which had a separate wing for Polish soldiers. Addy realized that France would not be able to hold back for long. He knew that, in probably a week’s time, the Nazi soldiers would reach there and take the territory under their control. So he decided to take his chances and go to Brazil, as that was the only place back then that was giving visas to Jews. Imagine a situation where you have done nothing wrong but still feel the fear of being persecuted because you belong to a certain caste, community, race, or color. It boils your blood; it makes you feel helpless; it makes you desperate, and such traumas are carried forward through generations. 

It is true that Addy met a woman on the cruise that he took to go to Rio. I don’t know what Addy did to buy that ticket in real life, but it could be said for certain that he must have gone to extreme lengths to get it. As we saw in the third episode of We Were the Lucky Ones, Addy did meet a woman named Eliska on the cruise, and he fell in love with her. It is also true that the ship stopped at Dakar because the British government didn’t want complications. Everybody knew that there were a lot of Jews on board, so they didn’t want to take her risk. I personally felt that Addy and Eliska were going to end up together, but that didn’t happen in real life. They had their differences, and after Addy reached Brazil, he decided to part ways with Eliska. Addy was constantly worried about his family, and he wanted a partner who could listen to him and discuss things with him. Eliska’s stand on things was very clear: she said that there was so much negativity around her that she didn’t want to have any sort of discussion about such topics.

Addy married Caroline, a woman of American descent who worked at the embassy in Rio de Janeiro. Caroline was someone whom Addy not only loved but also respected and admired. Addy loved how selfless Carolina was. Caroline knew how important it was for Addy to be reunited with his family members. She understood what he might have gone through and the kind of hopeless days he must have seen. Finally, after all the efforts made by Halina and others, the entire Kurc family (apart from Jacob and Bella) decided to join Addy and Caroline in Rio. Georgio Hunter has written in her novel that Addy doesn’t know how he should react. He didn’t know if he should cry or laugh. Addy saw his parents, and for a moment, he couldn’t understand if it was happening in real life or if he was merely hallucinating.

Addy spent the Passover with his entire family after what seemed like not less than a century. Addy was even happier because his partner, Carolina, understood him better than anybody else. She knew that it meant the world to him to just catch a glimpse of his family. The meal they had that day was probably the most delicious one they had in their lifetime. It was a miracle, and Addy didn’t want to know how they had defied the odds. He was grateful that he had his people around him. When a person encounters such a thing, they stop taking anything in their life for granted.