Introduction by Helena Trestikova and Ivan Margolius
I The Eyeglass by Kupka (The First World War and the First
Republic)
II A Small Bloke in a Dirty Trench Coat (The Beginnings of Fascism
and the Occupation)
III Weeds for Dinner (The Transport to Lodz Ghetto)
IV A Zest of Life (Living in Lodz Ghetto)
V A Word of Honor (The Transport to Auschwitz)
VI Columns of Five into the Gas Chambers (Auschwitz)
VII Kudla (The Labor Camp)
VIII Now or Never (The Death March)
IX Ten Lumps of Sugar (A Search for Prague Refuge)
X Striptease at the Housing Department (The Prague Uprising)
XI Carps Are Not Killed Here (The Postwar Life)
XII The Country in Decline (After the Coup, 1948)
XIII Without a Single Word (The Trial)
XIV The Eleventh into the Tally (After the Execution)
XV The Den in Zizkov (Life in Isolation)
XVI An Elegant Torch (The Warsaw Pact Invasion: 1968)
XVII A Line for Apple Strudel (The Exile)
XVIII What Else Could I Possibly Want? (The End)
Timeline
Heda Margolius Kovaly (1919 2010), a Czech writer and translator,
was born in Prague to Jewish parents. Heda spent the years of the
Second World War in a ghetto, Auschwitz and other concentration
camps, escaped from a death march, and took part in the Prague
uprising against the Nazis in May 1945. After the war Heda worked
at various Prague publishing houses as a graphic designer. In 1952,
her first husband, Rudolf Margolius (1913 1952), was convicted in
the Stalinist Slansky Trial. The 1968 Soviet occupation of
Czechoslovakia forced Heda into exile in the United States. She
translated over two dozen books and her celebrated memoir, Under a
Cruel Star, was first published in 1973 and has since been
translated into many languages. Her crime novel Innocence appeared
in Czech in 1985 and in English in 2015. Heda returned to Prague in
1996 where she died.
Helena Trestikova is a documentary film director born in Prague and
studied at the Prague Film and Television School of the Academy of
Performing Arts. Since 1974, Helena has made over fifty documentary
films mostly on the themes of long term human relationships and was
awarded number of prizes including the European Film Academy 2008
Prix Arte. The film Hitler, Stalin and I, based on her interview
with Heda, was first shown on Czech television in 2001 and
subsequently received the Festival Award Special Commendation at
the 2002 Japan Film Festival; the ELSA award for the best Czech TV
documentary film by the Czech Film and Television Academy in 2002,
and the Gold Kingfisher award for the best documentary film at the
Festival of Czech Films, Plzen in 2003.
Ivan Margolius is an architect, translator and author of memoirs,
books and articles on art, architecture, engineering, design and
automobile history. Ivan, son of Rudolf and Heda, was born in
Prague, where he studied architecture and in London following his
arrival to the United Kingdom in 1966. He practiced architecture at
Foster and Partners, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Yorke Rosenberg
Mardall and collaborated on books with Norman Foster, Richard
Rogers and Jan Kaplicky.
Based on an interview with the late writer and memoirist Heda
Margolius Kovaly 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.... The story is so
engrossing and filled with such immediacy and realism that the
narrator, speaking from the soul, instantly wins the hearts of
readers.... Stories of people with admirable fortitude struggling
even in the most hopeless situations with a cruel fate will always
find their audience.- Jan Hofirek, Kniha.cz, "An
Exceptional Life Wandering Through the Century of Horrors"
Heda's torturous path through some of the 20th century's greatest
calamities is rendered with deep wisdom and a poetic eye for
detail. Her misfortunes, and her perseverance through them, make
Hitler, Stalin and I both an important historical account and a
testament to human endurance...A Czech writer who survived the
Holocaust, Stalinism and exile gives a compact, compassionate oral
history of her life.
- Tobias Mutter, Shelf Awareness
Oral interviews can be a gold mine for historians, and this is no
exception.
- Tulsa Book Review
A compelling read, appalling and inspiring, tragic and hopeful.
Heda's voice comes through incredibly strongly and my admiration
for her clear headed courage and determination is very deep. Full
marks to the interviewer for her part in getting Heda's testimony
on the record. The words and tone of voice do not strike a false
note. The translation reads simply and without affect. I cannot
begin to imagine what reading and re-reading about Rudolf's murder
must have been like. What degrading times they were [...] I am very
pleased - if that is the word - to have read it.
- Sir John Tusa, presenter of BBC 2's
Newsnight(1980-1986) and managing director of BBC World
Service (1986-1993)
Trestikova's interview and chilling newsreel footage of atrocities
bring Margolius-Kovaly's story to life. Her combination of
determination and luck renders her almost matter-of-factly told
tale extraordinary. [...] In Margolius-Kovaly (who penned the 1997
memoir Under a Cruel Star: Life in Prague 1941-1968), she's found a
composed, eloquent yet spunky subject whose quietly upbeat nature
is inspirational and infectious.
- Eddie Cockrell, Variety
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 Trestikova
Heda Margolius Kovaly was a well-known writer and translator who
survived the Auschwitz extermination camp and whose first husband,
Rudolf Margolius, a deputy minister of foreign trade, was found
guilty in the notorious Slansky show trials in what is one of the
darkest chapters in Czechoslovak history. Kovaly's oral history
should be required reading for anyone learning about the Holocaust
and crimes committed by Czechoslovakia's communist regime. It also
offers a glimpse into Czechoslovakia's First Republic. [...] Her
descriptions are unforgettable.
- Jan Velinger, Radio Prague
A story written by life itself. [...] After all the hardships, Ms.
Kovaly 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.
- Kamila Petrasova, Kultura 21
In today's political climate of rising extremist ideologies and
nationalist tendencies, a new book, Hitler, Stalin and I, is an
oral history that examines persecutions rooted in strong political
rhetoric of exclusion. Czech author and Holocaust survivor, Heda
Margolius Kovaly [... gives] a panoramic view of life-long survival
in the face of despair and violence, while retaining optimism and
faith in the better angels of human nature.
- Frank Shatz, former correspondent for the Hungarian News
Agency, The Virginia Gazette
Kovaly's story is engrossing, immediate and real. Kovaly speaks
from within, from her soul and pulls us into her life. I actually
read the book in one sitting because I did not feel I could or
wanted to stop. Prepare yourselves for an emotional read.
- Amos Lassen, Reviews by Amo Lassen -- Amos Lassen
It is hard to imagine a reader who would not be inspired by the
momentous life of Heda Margolius depicted in Hitler, Stalin and I.
[... The book] is at once a harrowing journey, a kaleidoscope of
images and sounds. If a reader truly hears the haunting words as if
they are spoken one can begin to understand that this life and
death human drama is not just about one survivor but a meaningful
observation of an even more significant story about the bloody
outcomes of extremism.
- Laura Schultz, New York Journal of
Books
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