PRAGUE: MY LONG JOURNEY HOME in former NJ hometown paper
Morris County Daily Record, April 6, 2012 Former Morristown resident writes about surviving war in Europe Written by Matt Manochio Special to the Daily Record 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…
Read MoreNo tears shed
Last week, a man convicted of 28,000 counts of being an accessory to murder was accorded three-quarters of a page in the obituary section of a major national newspaper. When my great-grandfather — Gustav Neumann – died, no newspaper carried a story about this wonderful man. John Demjanjuk was a native Ukranian who spent many…
Read MoreNewest review of PRAGUE: MY LONG JOURNEY HOME
I am pleased by the fact that 30 reviews of my book have been posted on Amazon,com (28 of them with a five-star rating). The latest was written by Dr. William G. Durden, President of Dickinson College: PRAGUE: MY LONG JOURNEY HOME is a memoir that confronts a myriad of haunting human questions–loss, identity, longing,…
Read MoreReview of my book in Outlook by the Bay magazine
Hello, friends! I am very anxious and excited to share a review of my memoir that was written by Vicki Duncan of Outlook by the Bay magazine. Please, read on: Local author Charles Ota Heller begins his compelling memoir with scenes of his early childhood in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. Throughout years of persecution and hiding, with…
Read MoreOn Being a Memoirist
Courtesy of Anne Arundel Community College I envy my novelist friends. Throughout my writing career, I have had to stick with the facts. This began in high school, where I was a sports editor writing about games I and others played. It continued in college, where I was a reporter, and later editor, for an…
Read MoreOur Perfect Storm
While gathering information for my second memoir, tentatively titled Cowboy from Prague, I came across a photo of me at the helm of a sailboat. I have a smile on my face, the sky is blue, and the Atlantic Ocean in the background is smooth. But, oh, what memories of terror this photo brought! Our…
Read MoreFrom Holocaust survivor to American hero – an incredible story
My friend Les Grinspoon sent me a link to an incredible story of a concentration camp survivor who became an American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient. I have a new hero — Tibor Rubin. Please view this clip: http://www.greatamericans.com/video/Portraits-of-Valor-Tibor-Rubin
Read MoreMemory of a Tragic Event: Lidice
A few months after the end of the Second World War, I sat proudly next to my war-hero father as Czechoslovakia’s President Eduard Beneš dedicated a memorial to the victims of Lidice. It was a simple cross with a circle of barbed wire, yet its symbolism was overpowering. Three years earlier, Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazis’…
Read MoreMy Best Friend, My Great-Grandfather
Many people never meet their great-grandparents. Others come face-to-face with their great-grands, but the age spread is such that a close relationship does not develop. I was lucky. I not only knew my great-grandfather, but he was my best friend. Gustav Neumann was a Czech entrepreneur who built a tiny general store in a small…
Read MoreWriting my long journey home
At book signings and in various social settings, I am invariably asked: “What made you decide to write your book?” It’s a simple question without a simple answer. I began to give it passing thoughts in the early 1990s when I began an emotional journey of reconnecting with my native country of Czechoslovakia. My father…
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