The Petschek Villa was Norman L. Eisen’s home during his tenure as US ambassador. In this book, he details the lives of five of the palace’s residents: the Jewish financial baron who built the Villa after WWI as a statement of his faith in Europe, and who died of a broken heart after Europe rejected him, his house, and his hopes; the complex German general who occupied the palace during WWII, ultimately saving the house and Prague itself from destruction; the American ambassador and Holocaust hero who protected the property after the war, acquiring it for the U.S. amid the turmoil of the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia; his successor 40 years later, an iconic former child star who used the house as her stage to help the Velvet Revolution succeed in restoring Czechoslovak democracy; and Eisen, the son of a Czech Auschwitz survivor, who found himself battling the lingering ghosts of European intolerance.

Author Norman L. Eisen Published by Headline ISBN 9781472237309 EAN 9781472237309 Bic Code Cover Paperback