The Lost Café Schindler: One family, two wars and the search for truth
Kurt Schindler was an impossible man. His daughter Meriel spent her adult life trying to keep him at bay. Kurt had made extravagant claims about their family history. Were they really related to Franz Kafka and Oscar Schindler, of Schindler's List fame? Or Hitler's Jewish doctor - Dr Bloch? What really happened on Kristallnacht, the night that Nazis beat Kurt's father half to death and ransacked the family home?
When Kurt died in 2017, Meriel felt compelled to resolve her mixed feelings about him, and to solve the mysteries he had left behind.
Starting with photos and papers found in Kurt's isolated cottage, Meriel embarked on a journey of discovery taking her to Austria, Italy and the USA. She reconnected family members scattered by feuding and war. She pieced together an extraordinary story taking in two centuries, two world wars and a family business: the famous Café Schindler. Launched in 1922 as an antidote to the horrors of the First World War, this grand café became the whirling social centre of Innsbruck. And then the Nazis arrived.
Through the story of the Café Schindler and the threads that spool out from it, this moving book weaves together memoir, family history and an untold story of the Jews of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It explores the restorative power of writing, and offers readers a profound reflection on memory, truth, trauma and the importance of cake.
Review
An extraordinary, cadenced and moving story. I felt gripped by Meriel Schindler's uncovering of her father's story and by her tenacity and courage in telling it so openly. -- Edmund de Waal, author of The Hare with Amber Eyes
'Enthralling memoir... ideal for anyone who loved The Hare with Amber Eyes.' ― The Bookseller
'An absorbing memoir... told with forensic detail.' ― Jewish Chronicle
'Written by a leading employment lawyer, this is a remarkable journey to uncover the truth behind the stories... It is a historical detective story uncovering family history. I cannot recommend it too highly.' ― Law Society Gazette
About the Author
Meriel Schindler spent the first fifteen years of her life growing up in central London before suddenly being moved to a convent school in provincial Austria. Five years later she moved back to the UK to study French and German at university and is now an employment lawyer, partner and head of a team at Withers LLP, a law firm. Meriel is also a trustee of Arvon, the writing charity, is married to husband Jeremy and has three grown-up children.
www.merielschindler.com
Podrobnosti
| Autor |
Meriel Schindler |
|---|---|
| Vydavatel |
Hodder Paperbacks |
| Jazyk | anglicky |
| Vazba | měkká |
| Počet stran | 432 |
| Formát | 12,9 × 19,8 cm |
| EAN | 9781529332087 |
| Rok vydání | 2022 |
| Edice |
Biografie, memoáry, osobnosti Historie |
Autor
Meriel Schindler
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