Tag: Wednesday 11 June at 6 pm

Daniela Grollová-Spenser: Dispersed times, dispersed lives

Daniela Grollová-Spenser: Dispersed Times, Dispersed Lives Wednesday 11 June at 6 pm Historian Daniela Grollová-Spenser, who lives in Mexico but comes from Prague, will present her latest book entitled Dispersed Times, Dispersed Lives. She had originally intended to write her mother's biography, but her mother's story gradually grew - first into a narrative about her entire Jewish family, then into a historical context and reflections on it. All the characters in the book went through the dramatic vicissitudes of 20th-century history: Ruth and her father Wilhelm fled from the Nazis to Great Britain, where she eventually joined the British army and eavesdropped on German pilots in the rear. Her mother Anna was trapped in the Protectorate and went through the hell of the Holocaust. Ruth's future first husband Kurt fled to Palestine and joined the Allied forces, but soon ended up in German captivity. Even after returning to post-war Czechoslovakia, there was no shortage of dramatic twists and turns in the family's life. The book is also about the author's father and his family from Wallachian Meziříčí. Only recently did she discover the monument on which his name is engraved. In June, she will visit the archives in Vsetín to further investigate the fate of this part of the family, and we will be among the first to know the results of her research. The discussion with the author will be led by Eva Kopečková. Admission is voluntary.