Personal History

June 17, 2006 7:05 AM

The case of Rudolf Margolius and his family in Czechoslovakia during Fascism and Communism.
posted by semmi (4 comments total)

Thank you for this post. I definitely want to read Heda's book. I woud probably never have stumbled across this on my own. :)
posted by bim at 8:53 AM on June 17, 2006

Most of us are familiar with the Holocaust’s unspeakable brutalities and degradations. But imagine a former camp prisoner who could begin a reflection on the daily hour-long train trip from Auschwitz to a work site in subfreezing temperatures by stating, as Kovály does, “I loved those trips”:

"The tracks crossed an area under which an entire industrial complex had been built. Clouds of steam issued out from the earth in many places; mysterious iron constructions and fantastic twisted pipes rose from the moss-covered ground of the woods. The sun was already rising and, since there was always a thick fog hugging the ground, the sun’s rays broke through it and colored the mist a variety of deep pinks, an orange, gold, and blue. Out of this shimmering vapor, dark shapes of trees and bushes emerged, drifted toward us, and vanished again."

(From the second link.)

Incredible.
posted by merelyglib at 10:21 AM on June 17, 2006

Reminds me of the fictional Sunshine (1999), which takes place in Hungary during the same period of European upheaval.

"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent..."
posted by cenoxo at 8:11 PM on June 17, 2006

It's a great book, a remarkable woman writing a memoir about very harsh times. Deep blue world or Zelary
are recent Czech movies about WWII; not memoirs, and of course both fiction.
posted by lw at 11:33 AM on June 19, 2006