Under A Cruel Star A Life In Prague 1941 1968

Author : Heda Margolius Kovaly
Publisher : Plunkett Lake Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2012-01-05
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9798985192544

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Under A Cruel Star by Heda Margolius Kovaly Pdf

The daughter of prosperous Jews, Heda Kovály found her world turned upside down with the German annexation of Czechoslovakia. Deported to Lodz Ghetto in 1941 and then to Auschwitz, where her parents were murdered, in 1944, Kovály made a miraculous escape from a column of prisoners being marched to Bergen-Belsen in early 1945. On reuniting with her husband in Prague after the war, things started to look more hopeful. Rudolf Margolius became a deputy minister of foreign trade. But in 1952 he and 13 other government officials were tried and 11 of those hanged in one of the era's most notorious show trials. Heda Kovály and her four year old son were hounded by the state and shunned by society. In this powerful and moving memoir, Kovály describes her imprisonment by the Nazis during WWII and her persecution by the Communists in the 1950s - a classic account of life under totalitarianism. 'Given thirty seconds to recommend a book to start a student on the road to u8nderstanding the political tragedies of the 20th century... I would choose this one.' - Clive James 'One does not 'review' a book like this. One weeps, and prays... Beautiful evocation of lovely Prague.' - The Sunday Times 'Once in a while we read a book that puts the urgencies of our times and ourselves in perspective, making us confront the darker realities of human nature' - Anthony Lewis, The New York Times 'This is an extraordinary memoir, so heartbreaking that I have reread it for months, unable to rise to the business of 'reviewing' less a book than a life repeatedly outraged by the worst totalitarians in Europe. Yet it is written with so much quiet respect for the minutiae of justice and truth that one does not know where and how to specify Heda Kovály's splendidness as a human being.' - Alfred Kazin

Author : Heda Kovály
Publisher : Granta Books
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : Antisemitism
ISBN : 1847084761

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Under a Cruel Star by Heda Kovály Pdf

A classic account of life under Nazism and Stalinism that will appeal to fans of Alone in Berlin and Stasiland.

Author : Heda Margolius Kovály
Publisher : Plunkett Lake Press
Page : 153 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2019-07-29
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Under A Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941-1968 by Heda Margolius Kovály Pdf

"A story of the human spirit as its most indomitable... one of the outstanding autobiographies of the century." San Francisco Chronicle "Once in a rare while we read a book that puts the urgencies of our time and ourselves in perspective, making us confront the darker realities of human nature... Mrs. Kovaly experienced the two supreme horrors of what Hannah Arendt called this terrible century. But her book is not just a personal memoir of inhumanity. In telling her story – simply, without self-pity – she illuminates some general truths of human behavior... Quietly, with cumulative force, it shows us how the totalitarian state feeds on the blindness and the weakness of man." Anthony Lewis, New York Times "A wonderfully expressive writer. Although her approach is above all personal, Kovaly’s reflections on her experiences reveal a high degree of insight into politics, individual and institutional behavior, and the formation of attitudes." Christian Science Monitor "A Jew in Czechoslovakia under the Nazis, Kovaly spent the war years in the Lodz ghetto and several concentration camps, losing her family and barely surviving herself. Returning to Prague at the end of the war, she married an old friend, a bright, enthusiastic young Jewish economist named Rudolf Margolius, who saw the country's only hope for the future in the Communist Party. Thereafter, Rudolf became deputy minister for foreign trade. For a time, the Margoliuses lived like royalty, albeit reluctantly, but then, in a replay of the Stalinist purges of the 1930s, Rudolf and others, mostly of Jewish background, were arrested and hung in the infamous Slansky Trial of 1952. Kovaly's memoir of these years that end with her emigration to the West after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 are a tragic story told with aplomb, humor and tenderness. The reader alternately laughs and cries as Kovaly describes her mother being sent to death by Dr. Mengele, Czech Communist Party leader Klement Gottwald drunk at a reception, the last sight of her husband, the feverish happiness of the Prague Spring. Highly recommended." Publishers Weekly

Author : Peter Demetz
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 300 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2009-04-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9781429930352

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Prague in Danger by Peter Demetz Pdf

A dramatic account of life in Czechoslovakia's great capital during the Nazi Protectorate With this successor book to Prague in Black and Gold, his account of more than a thousand years of Central European history, the great scholar Peter Demetz focuses on just six short years—a tormented, tragic, and unforgettable time. He was living in Prague then—a "first-degree half-Jew," according to the Nazis' terrible categories—and here he joins his objective chronicle of the city under German occupation with his personal memories of that period: from the bitter morning of March 15, 1939, when Hitler arrived from Berlin to set his seal on the Nazi takeover of the Czechoslovak government, until the liberation of Bohemia in April 1945, after long seasons of unimaginable suffering and pain. Demetz expertly interweaves a superb account of the German authorities' diplomatic, financial, and military machinations with a brilliant description of Prague's evolving resistance and underground opposition. Along with his private experiences, he offers the heretofore untold history of an effervescent, unstoppable Prague whose urbane heart went on beating despite the deportations, murders, cruelties, and violence: a Prague that kept its German- and Czech-language theaters open, its fabled film studios functioning, its young people in school and at work, and its newspapers on press. This complex, continually surprising book is filled with rare human detail and warmth, the gripping story of a great city meeting the dual challenge of occupation and of war.

Author : Mary Antin
Publisher : Read Books Ltd
Page : 279 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2018-08-31
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781528781558

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The Promised Land by Mary Antin Pdf

This compelling autobiography narrates the story of immigration rights activist Mary Antin, and her enlightening journey from early life in Russia to her migration and Americanisation in late nineteenth-century USA. The Promised Land is an introspective first-hand account of life as a Jewish American immigrant. Mary Antin was just 12-years-old when she arrived in Boston with her family and she underwent a great deal of change and development before she could call the USA her home. Antin’s autobiography details how the young Jewish girl escaped Czarist Russia and adapted to an entirely new culture and lifestyle. Antin explores her memories of public school and accompanies powerful historical context with hard-hitting political commentary. The Promised Land is one person’s story, but speaks for the millions who have had all too similar experiences. This gripping volume includes fascinating chapters such as: - Children of the Law - Daily Bread - The Exodus - The Initiation - ‘My Country’ - A Child’s Paradise Now in a new edition, Read & Co. Books have republished this illuminating autobiography for a new generation of readers. The Promised Land is a great read for those interested in the history of immigration rights and for fans of Mary Antin’s work.

Author : Melissa Feinberg
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 251 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2021-12-29
Category : History
ISBN : 9781000518337

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Communism in Eastern Europe by Melissa Feinberg Pdf

Communism in Eastern Europe is a ground-breaking new survey of the history of Eastern Europe since 1945. It examines how Communist governments came to Eastern Europe, how they changed their societies and the legacies that persisted after their fall. Written from the perspective of the 21st century, this book shows how Eastern Europe’s trajectory since 1989 fits into the longer history of its Communist past. Rather than focusing on high politics, Communism in Eastern Europe concentrates on the politics of daily life, melding political history with social, cultural and gender history. It tells the history of this complicated era through the voices and experiences of ordinary people. By focusing on the complex interactions of everyday life, Communism in Eastern Europe illuminates the world Communism made in Eastern Europe, its politics and culture, values and dreams, successes and failures. This book is an engaging introduction to the history of Communist Eastern Europe for any reader. It is ideal for adoption in a wide array of undergraduate and graduate courses in 20th century European history.

Author : Madeleine Albright
Publisher : Harper Collins
Page : 480 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2012-04-24
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780062030368

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Prague Winter by Madeleine Albright Pdf

“A riveting tale of her family’s experience in Europe during World War II [and] a well-wrought political history of the region, told with great authority. . . . More than a memoir, this is a book of facts and action, a chronicle of a war in progress from a partisan faithful to the idea of Czechoslovakian democracy.” -- Los Angeles Times Drawn from her own memory, her parents’ written reflections, and interviews with contemporaries, the former US Secretary of State and New York Times bestselling author Madeleine Albright's tale that is by turns harrowing and inspiring Before she turned twelve, Madeleine Albright’s life was shaken by some of the most cataclysmic events of the 20th century: the Nazi invasion of her native Prague, the Battle of Britain, the attempted genocide of European Jewry, the allied victory in World War II, the rise of communism, and the onset of the Cold War. In Prague Winter, Albright reflects on her discovery of her family’s Jewish heritage many decades after the war, on her Czech homeland’s tangled history, and on the stark moral choices faced by her parents and their generation. Often relying on eyewitness descriptions, she tells the story of how millions of ordinary citizens were ripped from familiar surroundings and forced into new roles as exile leaders and freedom fighters, resistance organizers and collaborators, victims and killers. These events of enormous complexity are shaped by concepts familiar to any growing child: fear, trust, adaptation, the search for identity, the pressure to conform, the quest for independence, and the difference between right and wrong. Prague Winter is an exploration of the past with timeless dilemmas in mind, a journey with universal lessons that is simultaneously a deeply personal memoir and an incisive work of history. It serves as a guide to the future through the lessons of the past, as seen through the eyes of one of the international community’s most respected and fascinating figures in history. Albright and her family’s experiences provide an intensely human lens through which to view the most political and tumultuous years in modern history.

Author : Inge Scholl
Publisher : Wesleyan University Press
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 1983-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9780819560865

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The White Rose by Inge Scholl Pdf

A unique study of the WW2 culture of Germany.

Author : Heda Margolius Kovály
Publisher : Soho Press
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2015-06-02
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781616954970

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Innocence; or, Murder on Steep Street by Heda Margolius Kovály Pdf

This rediscovered masterpiece captures a chilling moment in the stifling early days of Communist Czechoslovakia. 1950s Prague is a city of numerous daily terrors, of political tyranny, corruption and surveillance. There is no way of knowing whether one’s neighbor is spying for the government, or what one’s supposed friend will say to a State Security agent under pressure. A loyal Party member might be imprisoned or executed as quickly as a traitor; innocence means nothing for a person caught in a government trap. When a little boy is murdered at the cinema, the ensuing investigation sheds a little too much light on the personal lives of the cinema’s female ushers, each of whom is hiding a dark secret of her own.

Author : Heda Margolius Kovály
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Czechoslovakia
ISBN : 0575400862

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Prague Farewell by Heda Margolius Kovály Pdf

Author : Ivan Klíma
Publisher : Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
Page : 621 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2013-11-04
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780802193018

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My Crazy Century by Ivan Klíma Pdf

An intimate, politically vital memoir by the acclaimed Czech author “of enormous power and originality” explores his life under Nazi and Communist regimes (The New York Times Book Review). In the 1930s on the outskirts of Prague, Ivan Klíma was unaware of his concealed Jewish heritage until the invading Nazis transported him and his family to the Terezín concentration camp. Miraculously, most of them survived. But they returned home to a city that was falling into the grip of another totalitarian ideology: Communism. Along this harrowing journey, Klíma discovered his love of literature and matured as a writer. But as the regime further encroached on daily life, arresting his father and censoring his work, Klíma recognized the party for what it was: a deplorable, colossal lie. The true nature of oppression became clear to him and many of his peers, among them Josef Škvorecký, Milan Kundera, and Václav Havel. From the brief hope of freedom during the Prague Spring of 1968 to Charter 77 and the eventual collapse of the regime in 1989’s Velvet Revolution, Klíma’s revelatory account provides a profoundly rich personal and national history. Klima’s memoir provides “a sweeping, revealing look at one man’s personal struggle as writer and individual, set against the backdrop of political turmoil” (Booklist) and a “searching exploration of a warped era . . . rich in irony—and dogged hope.” (Publishers Weekly).

Author : Kamala Markandaya
Publisher : Penguin Books India
Page : 186 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Anglo-Indian fiction
ISBN : 9780143102519

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A Silence of Desire by Kamala Markandaya Pdf

He Was Not Himself Because His Wife Was Not Herself, Because In Marriage You Acted And Reacted One Upon The Other, However Much You Wished It Otherwise, And Whether You Wanted To Or No. Dandekar Is A Routine-Bound Government Clerk Who Is Able To Provide His Family With A Comfortable Life. But His Ordered Existence Is Thrown Off Course When, One Day, He Comes Home From Work To Find His Wife, Sarojini, Missing. On Her Return She Gives Him An Excuse For Her Disappearance Which He Realizes Is A Lie, Further Rousing His Suspicions. Doubt And Mistrust Plague Him And He Puts His Career In Jeopardy When He Begins To Trail Sarojini In The Hope That He Might Find Her With Another Man. But When He Stumbles Across The Truth He Gets More Than He Bargained For. In A Silence Of Desire Kamala Markandaya Explores The Tension Between The East And The West Between Superstition And Science, Faith And Reason, Tradition And Progress In A Profound Manner.

Author : Buchi Emecheta
Publisher : Heinemann
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 1994
Category : African fiction (English)
ISBN : 0435909916

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Second-class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta Pdf

Adah's desire to write is pitted against the forces of an egotistical and unfeeling husband and a largely indifferent white society.

Author : Philippe I. Bourgois
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 436 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0521017114

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In Search of Respect by Philippe I. Bourgois Pdf

This new edition brings this study of inner-city life up to date.

Author : Heda Margolius Kovaly
Publisher : Doppelhouse Press
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2018-01-09
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0997818476

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Hitler, Stalin & I by Heda Margolius Kovaly Pdf

The oral history of a renowned Czech writer, whose optimism and faith in people survived grueling experiences under authoritarian regimes.