From what information is available here on ET and elsewhere, Michel Navratil was Slovak-Hungarian while his wife Marcelle was an Italian woman. They lived in France where they had 2 kids. By 1912, Michel Sr was having business issues while Marcelle was reportedly having an affair. They were separated but I am uncertain if there were formally divorced; as I understand, the children were living with the mother but their father picked them up for weekends and such. During one such access period, Michel reportedly "kidnapped" his children and went into brief hiding, planning to move to America with them and settle there. He was reportedly helped in this plan by a friend named Hoffman and so Michel Sr adopted that surname, calling himself "Louis Hoffman" and the boys became 'Loto' and 'Louis Jr'
This suggests that Michel Navratil Sr had done at least some advance planning and given the circumstances, this would have included some financial security and plans once they reached America. Once on board the Titanic, Michel Sr reportedly wrote to his parents in Hungary, explaining what he had done and asking them to take care of the children in case there were problems in America. To my mind, this suggests that apart from careful planning, Michel Navratil was a good father who loved his children, whatever else one feels about his actions.
On board the Titanic Michel Sr told his fellow passengers that his wife had died recently. He reportedly rarely let his sons out of his sight but eventually befriended a Swiss passenger (who spoke French) named Bertha Lehmann whom he let babysit the boys on one occasion when he joined a card game. Bertha Lehmann was rescued on Lifeboat #12; we all know about how Michel Navratil Sr handed his two sons to the crew loading Collapsible D and stepped back, later gong down with the ship. His body was later recovered and believing he was Jewish, he was later interred.
Note: This particular incident with Collapsible D indicates to me more than any other the illogical and mechanical mindset of Second Officer Lightoller. When it was lowered, Collapsible D was less than half full with about 20 people in it (although it later picked-up several more) and it would not have hurt anyone if the father, the only carer of 2 very small children, had been let in.
Somehow, I find this Navratil story very poignant and feel a lot of sympathy for Michel Navratil Sr, irrespective of the moral significance, if any, of his actions. If you look at my own thread in the "What if...." sub-forum, I have said that if I had a chance to save just ONE additional person from the Titanic, it would be Michel Navratil Sr.
The other paradoxical outcome of this tragedy is that the children, Michel Jr and Edmund, were eventually (the authorities had some difficulty in determining their identities upon arrival in New York) claimed by their mother Marcelle, went back to France and lived out their life as Frenchmen. It might not mean much to any third party but had their father 'Louis Hoffman' survived the Titanic sinking, the two sons would have grown-up as Americans with a completely different lifestyle.
