Charles Ota Heller

What Does Chesapeake Country Mean to Me? After 27 years of wandering—as a hidden child in World War II Czechoslovakia, as a refugee from Communism in Germany, as a new American in New Jersey, as a college student in Oklahoma, and as an engineer in California—I found my home on the shores of the Chesapeake…

The following is another excerpt from my upcoming memoir, COWBOY FROM PRAGUE: AN IMMIGRANT’S PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, to be published by Atmosphere Press in late spring/early summer: It was February of my junior year at Oklahoma State University. As always on non-game weekdays during basketball season, I walked into Gallagher Hall at 3:15 pm…

The following is another excerpt from my upcoming memoir, COWBOY FROM PRAGUE: AN IMMIGRANT’S PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM. This one is a poem that constitutes the book’s Introduction: I am from a far-off land, Once called Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic. I am from a small village called Kojetice, And I am from a glorious…

The following is another excerpt from my upcoming memoir, COWBOY FROM PRAGUE: AN IMMIGRANT’S PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM: Like most veterans of World War II, my father seldom spoke of the horrors he had seen. Only occasionally, when feeling nostalgic or wishing to entertain us with an amusing anecdote, he would regale us with…

I have read many “Holocaust books,” and written one myself, and WHEN TIME STOPPED by Ariana Neumann rises to the top tier of the genre. When I read in the publisher’s promotional  material that it was the story of a man named Neumann from Prague, I simply had to read the book. After all, I,…

The following is another excerpt from my upcoming memoir, COWBOY FROM PRAGUE: AN IMMIGRANT’S PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM: He yearned to be recognized as an intelligent human being, but he was viewed as a dumb jock. My first impression of him was that of a comic-book version of a cowboy. A giant ellipsoidal head…

With this blog, I will begin posting vignettes from my forthcoming (early 2022) book, COWBOY FROM PRAGUE: AN IMMIGRANT’S PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM. The following is the opening chapter, titled “Escape”: We’re dead! Two soldiers emerged from the darkness and pointed their rifles at us. They were Nazi SS murderers rumored to be hiding…

READY FOR PRIME TIME! The blank on the right is the completed manuscript of the third book in my memoir trilogy. Titled COWBOY FROM PRAGUE: AN IMMIGRANT’S PURSUIT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, the manuscript is now completed and professionally edited. Discussions with hybrid publishers are ongoing. Please stay tuned.

I was born three years before my country, Czechoslovakia (today, Czech Republic), was occupied by Nazi Germany. As soon as I could walk, I was immersed in sports, following in the footsteps of my parents. My father, Rudolph, was an outstanding volleyball and table tennis player, and he and a colleague were co-holders of the…

When I came to the United States in 1949 as a 13-year-old Czech refugee, I had never heard of the game of baseball. Less than a year after arriving, as I was learning the game, I came across the story of a young man whose story reminded me of my own. Larry Doby, a wonderful…