EBOOK
About
In the tradition of Studs Terkel, Hitler, Stalin and I is an oral history of a renowned Czech author, Heda Margolius Kovály (1919–2010), whose optimism and faith in people survived grueling experiences under authoritarian regimes. Based on interviews with award-winning filmmaker Helena Třeštíková, Kovály recounts her family history in Czechoslovakia, the deprivations of Łódź Ghetto, how she miraculously left Auschwitz, fled from a death march, failed to find sanctuary amongst former friends in Prague as a concentration camp escapee, and participated in the liberation of Prague. Later under Communist rule, she suffered extreme social isolation as a pariah after her first husband Rudolf Margolius was unjustly accused in the infamous Slánský Trial and executed for treason. Her son and translator of the book, Ivan Margolius, adds critical contextual information surrounding the trial and its recently uncovered documents and film footage. Remarkably, Kovály, exiled in the United States after the Warsaw Pact invasion in 1968, only had love for her country and continued to believe in its people. She returned to Prague in 1996.
Related Subjects
Reviews
"A story written by life itself. [...] After all the hardships, Ms. Kovály remained someone with an open mind and many truths echo in her life story. The book is difficult to tear yourself away from until you finish the last page. This emotionally charged story, yet realistic and without embellishment, will not leave you in peace."
Kultura 21
"Heda had an enormous talent for expressing herself. She spoke with precision and was descriptive and witty in places. I admired her attitude and composure, even after she had such extremely difficult experiences. Nazism and Communism afflicted Heda's life directly with maximum intensity. Nevertheless, she remained an optimist."
Helena Treštíková
"Based on an interview with the late writer and memoirist Heda Margolius Kovály and the basis for a film shown on Czech television, this work stands out as one of the best examples of memoir literature.... The book has extraordinary momentum, reads in 'one sitting' and, were it not a depiction of real life events, could be described as a suspense thriller...."
Kniha.cz