The Paper Man, O'Callahan - B

                       In 1930's Vienna, Mattias Sindelar is such an extraordinary footballer that he is called 'The Paper Man'  because he shreds the opposition. He is a man about town, star of his local club team and the country's national side. He meets and falls head over heels in love with the much younger Rebekah Schein,  She eventually leaves her home in the country and moves to the capital to be near him. On the day of the Anschluss, Mattias disrespects the German football authorities after playing with and beating the national team in a friendly. He is now being watched by the Gestapo. He convinces Bekah to leave for Ireland, where she has family in Cork. He makes each and every arrangement through his innumerable contacts for her to escape through Switzerland, France, and London on the way to Ireland. She gives birth to a son, Jack, a few months after arriving, never tells Jack about his father, and dies while the boy is still a youngster. In the early 1980's, a box of his mother's possessions is handed to him when the extended family members sell the house where they took in Bekah, and where Jack was raised. His father-in-law reads all the correspondence to him and tells him of the unlikely love story and that his father was one of the most famous athletes in Europe. They travel to Vienna and meet with one of Mattias' oldest and dearest friends. He gives Jack two pictures, one of his parents blissfully enjoying each other before the world fell apart. The second is a picture of a month old baby with the notation "my boy" on the back. A touching tale.