News & Events

Upcoming and Featured Talks

Tuesday, March 5, 2024, keynote speaker at Days of Remembrance, John Carroll School, Bel Air, MD. “Surviving the Holocaust to Pursue the American Dream”
Monday, February 19, 2024, 2:00 pm, online discussion of Cowboy from Prague, National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library (see NCSML website for link)
Wednesday, December 6, 4:00 pm, book-signing at Annapolis Yacht Club, Annapolis, MD
Saturday, December 2, 2023, 10:30 am, grand opening, Wyrd Bookstore, Edgewater, MD
Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 6:30 pm, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Orlando, FL, presentation: “Surviving the Holocaust to Pursue the American Dream”
Thursday, May 4, 2023, 7:00 pm, National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, Cedar Rapids, IA, presentation: “Surviving the Holocaust to Pursue the American Dream”
Monday, April 17, 2023, 11:00 am, Joint Base Andrews, Camp Springs, MD, presentation: “Surviving the Holocaust to Pursue the American Dream”
Wednesday, March 8, 2023, 2:30 pm, Ginger Cove, Annapolis, MD. presentation: “Surviving the Holocaust to Pursue the American Dream” (Ginger Cove residents only)
Thursday, February 9, 2023, 7:30 pm, Defiant Requiem Foundation presentation via Zoom: Prague: My Long Journey Home
Thursday, November 17, 2022, 9:00 am, keynote speaker at Lessons of the Shoah Conference, John Carroll School, Bel Air, MD
Tuesday, July 19, 2022, 6:30 pm: Annapolis Yacht Club/CEO Club, Annapolis, MD. Book launch party for Cowboy from Prague: An Immigrant’s Pursuit of the American Dream
Friday, June 17, 2022, 3:30 pm: Catalina Rotary Club of Tucson (via Zoom). Virtual presentation of Immigrant Trilogy
Tuesday, May 10, 2022: National Security Agency, Fort Meade, MD. Virtual presentation of Prague: My Long Journey Home
Wednesday, September 8, 2021, 7:00 pm (via Zoom): “Travel Tales”, Heritage Harbour Lodge, Annapolis, MD. Speaking about Prague: My Long Journey Home
Monday, August 9, 2021: Summer Teachers Institute 2021, “American Discrimination During the Holocaust Era,” Registration: https://tinyurl.com/STI21
Thursday, April 15, 2021: Fort Detrick, Ft. Detrick, MD. Microsoft Teams presentation of Prague: My Long Journey Home, as part of Holocaust awareness week
Wednesday, March 10, 2021: John Carroll School, Bel Air, MD. Zoom presentation of Prague book as part of school’s annual Holocaust Remembrance program.
Wednesday, May 13, 2020: “Travel Tales” of Heritage Harbour, Heritage Harbour Lodge, Annapolis, MD. Speaking about Prague: My Long Journey Home
Wednesday, March 11, 2020: 10:45 am–John Carroll School, Bel Air, MD. Discussing Prague book as part of school’s annual Holocaust Remembrance program.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020: 9:35 am/11:00am–Old Mill Middle School North, Millersville, MD. Discussing Prague: My Long Journey Home
Monday, February 24, 2020: 2:20 pm/3:15 pm–Old Mill Middle School North, Millersville, MD. Discussing Prague: My Long Journey Home
Monday, December 2, 2019: St. Mary of the Mills, Laurel, MD. Discussing Prague: My Long Journey Home
Sunday, November 17, 2019, 1:00 pm (EST): Interview on talk show, KVOI, AM-1300, Tucson, Arizona
Sunday, July 28, 2019: 1:00 pm–Jewish Museum of Maryland, 15 Lloyd St., Baltimore, MD. Discussing Prague: My Long Journey Home
Wednesday, May 1, 2019: 7:00 pm—Towson University, Towson, Maryland. Discussing Prague: My Long Journey Home
Monday, March 11, 2019: 11:00 am–John Carroll School, Bel Air, MD. Discussing Prague book as part of school’s annual Holocaust Remembrance program.
Wednesday/Thursday, February 20/21, 2019: 9:35 am/3:20 pm–Old Mill Middle School North, Millersville, MD. Discussing Prague: My Long Journey Home
Friday, February 15, 2019: 1:25 pm/2:20 pm–Annapolis Middle School, Annapolis, MD. Discussing Prague: My Long Journey Home
Wednesday, December 18, 2018: 11:00 am–Magothy River Middle School, Arnold, MD. Discussing Prague: My Long Journey Home
Thursday, November 29, 2018: 12 noon–Rotary Club of Annapolis, Annapolis Yacht Club, Annapolis, MD. Discussing Prague: My Long Journey Home and Ready, Fire, Aim!
Thursday, November 8, 2018: 6:30 pm–Book Club, Annapolis Yacht Club, Annapolis, MD. Discussing and signing Prague: My Long Journey Home
Friday, August 10, 2018: pm–Preston Community Arts Center, Kingwood, West Virginia. Discussing and signing Prague: My Long Journey Home
Thursday, July 19, 2018: 6:30-8:30 pm–Bearing Witness Institute, Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC. Discussing and signing Prague: My Long Journey Home
Tuesday, May 8, 2018: 1:30 pm–Book Club, Sibley Memorial Hospital, Building A, Conference Room 5, Washington, DC. Discussing and signing Prague: My Long Journey Home
Wednesday, April 11, 2018: 7:00 pm–Mount St. Mary’s University, Emmitsburg, MD. Discussing Prague: My Long Journey Home with faculty and students
Thursday, March 15, 2018: 2:35 pm–Old Mill Middle School North, Millersville, MD. Discussing Prague: My Long Journey Home
Wednesday, March 7, 2018: 11:30 am–Entrepreneurs’ Exchange luncheon, Brio Restaurant, Annapolis, MD. Discussing and signing Ready, Fire, Aim! An Immigrant’s Tales of Entrepreneurial Terror
Monday, March 5, 2018: 10:00 am–John Carroll School, Bel Air, MD. Discussing Prague book as part of school’s annual Holocaust Remembrance program.

News

The Catholic University of America Magazine Spotlight: Charles Ota Heller, One of WWII’s “Hidden Children”
When Hitler’s troops marched into Czechoslovakia in 1938, Charles Ota Heller (Ph.D. 1968) was 3 years old. For this child of a Roman Catholic mother and a Jewish father, the next years would bring torment as the Nazis put a chokehold on the country. Fifteen members of his family disappeared almost overnight. His father, a well-to-do clothing manufacturer in Prague, escaped and joined the British Army. To save Charles’s life, Heller’s mother hid him on a farm just before she was taken to a slave labor camp. Read More

Capital Gazette: Man Writes of Life in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia
When he was 9 years old, Charles Ota Heller found a loaded gun in a roadside ditch and shot a Nazi in the chest. He hoped the man died, though he didn’t stick around long enough to find out. All he heard was a woman’s screams as his victim lay on the ground in the waning days of World War II. Read More

Morris County Record: Former Morristown resident writes about surviving war in Europe
Charles Heller was 9 years old when he shot a Nazi in Czechoslovakia. The son of a Jewish father and Christian mother, Heller was in hiding at a family friend’s farm on the outskirts of Prague. Read More

Outlook by the Bay Magazine: Prague, My Long Journey Home
Local author Charles Ota Heller begins his compelling memoir with scenes of his early childhood in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Read More

Capital Gazette, Bookworm: Heritage Harbor Resident does some name dropping

The Sunday Capital, Annapolis, MD, May 21, 2017, p. D2: article about the launch of Ready, Fire, Aim! An Immigrant’s Tales of Entrepreneurial Terror.