Menu
Whether you’re a filmmaker seeking a historian consultant, a colleague historian in need of research support, or someone delving into genealogy, do not hesitate to contact me anytime! I am here to help.
From Prague, transports with tens of thousands Jews were deported during World War II to ghettos, concentration camps, and extermination camps. Particularly, transports departed for Terezin/Theresienstadt, one of the main Nazi concentration camps. Terezin is a place where I focus on researching the fate of Czechoslovak Jews, and it’s also where guide visitors. If you’re interested in exploring this historical site with me, consider joining my tour.
I also actively strive to search forgotten Holocaust survivors originally from Czechoslovakia. They live literally all over the world, and unfortunately, their numbers are dwindling rapidly. It’s a race against time to document as many testimonies as possible. I have succeeded in locating forgotten Holocaust survivors in Israel, the United States, Canada, and Australia. I have personally visited some of them, although both in terms of finances and time, make it challenging to reach everyone.
If you know any Holocaust survivor born in Czechoslovakia, please contact me!
With holocaust survivor Josef Cipin, born in todays Slovakia, who was as a young boy in the Terezin/Theresiendstadt Ghetto. Toronto, Canada, September 2023.
At the age of 16, I volunteered for a year to assist Holocaust survivors and political prisoners. I visited them, helped with their basic needs, and listened to their stories. They shared their experiences and passed on life lessons and advice to me.
I not only do research concentration camps but I also delve into the incredible stories of the so-called Kindertransports. In Prague, Nicholas Winton saved 669 children, primarily of Jewish origin, in 8 train transports. A part of my dissertation is dedicated to this narrative. I had the honor of meeting children saved by Nicholas Winton and studying their stories in the British National Archives. Perhaps this sounds familiar to you; recently, a film titled ‘One Life’ was released, depicting this remarkable event.
With Lord Alf Dubs (1932), born in Prague, who, as a 6-year-old child, was saved on the Kindertransport by Nicholas Winton. He later became a renowned British politician. London, United Kingdom, November 2022.
However, when we talk about the Holocaust, it’s not just the Nazi extermination and concentration camps. Hundreds of Czechoslovak Jews ended up in Soviet Gulag camps, while others experienced another forgotten chapter – the Hungarian Jewish Labor Battalions. Jews were sent to the front line with pickaxes and shovels, forced to dig trenches, clear the dead bodies, and do other dirty work. All the while, they suffered unbelievable hunger, harsh winters, and constant torment from the guards. I have written a book about one of these survivors, Josef Müller.
Very often, I also encounter the opinion that Jews were only the “victims” of concentration camps and did nothing to defeat the Nazis. This is by no means true. Thousands of Jewish soldiers fought bravely in all the Allied armies. Their fates are often unjustly forgotten. Two stories, those of Ervin Hoida and Josef Müller, mentioned earlier, I have described in books: The Story of a Czechoslovak Jewish Soldier on the Western/Eastern Front.
At Prague Main Train Station, you’ll find an emotive statue of Sir Nicholas Winton with two children ‘waiting for a train.’ Sir Nicholas George Winton saved 669 mainly Jewish children in 1939 by ensuring their departure by train to England. This story forms a crucial part of my dissertation at Charles University.
During one of my tours at Terezin National Cemetery.
With holocaust survivor Lydia Tischler (1929) from Ostrava. Surviving both the Terezín ghetto and the Auschwitz extermination camp, she faced the Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele at the age of 16 and was fortune to survive. After the war, she studied child psychotherapy and became a prominent psychotherapist. London, United Kingdom, November 2022.
With holocaust survivor Gidon Lev (1935), born in Karlovy Vary, who spent four years as a young boy in Ghetto Terezin/Theresienstadt. He later became a TikTok star. Currently residing in Israel, I had the honor to meet him in Prague in September 2022.