When Ivan Margolius his Mother related the awful truth to him that his father hadn't gone away on a trip and died abroad when Ivan was 5. Instead Rudolph Margolius had been found guilty of Trotskyism, Zionism, Titoism and espionage in a staged trial that was a thinly disguised plot to remove Jews and other 'inconvenient' people from positions of power in Prague. Such was his mother's commitment to protecting Ivan from the truth, he had never suspected anything. Ivan Margolius's parents came from highly talented and respected Jewish families that had lived in Prague for generations, but when the Nazis invaded and they were all put into concentration camps, only the young couple managed to survive. In 1945, when the city was liberated by the Russians, they threw themselves into building a new and better world, but when Stalin came to power they once again fell foul of a totalitarian regime; one which resulted in the arrest and murder of Ivan's father and the expulsion of his mother and himself until the velvet revolution. This is the intensely moving history of one Czech Jewish family living through first Nazi and then Russian occupation.
Through their uncomprehending eyes we see the history of their beloved Prague and of the wider events that tear their lives apart. Their tragic story traces the major events, turmoil, suffering and triumphs of Europe in the 20 th. Century - from the vibrant artistic and intellectual life of Prague in the times of Kafka to the concentration camps of Hitler and from the tyrannous rule of Stalin to liberation under Havel. Told from Ivan's perspective, it is a tragic but also uplifting tale that tells of a life lived with purpose and conviction, despite personal suffering and sacrifice.
Product code: 9780470022191
| ISBN |
9780470022191 |
| Dimensions (HxWxD in mm) |
H224xW145xS23 |
| On Sale Date |
07/04/2006 |
| No. Of Pages |
336 |
| Publisher |
John Wiley & Sons Inc |