Charles Ota Heller

Continuing to post short vignettes from my upcoming “coming-to-America” memoir, Cowboy from Prague, here is a story about a man who became my hero:   As a boy in post-war Europe, I had been a good athlete. I excelled in soccer, hockey, skiing, and tennis. No doubt, I inherited my father’s genes. He was not only…

I’ve read perhaps a hundred books about the Holocaust. And as an author of my own memoir, I also find it interesting to examine how others tell their stories. I must say that I’ve never read a “Holocaust book” as touching, as disturbing, and as good as THE LIBRARIAN OF AUSCHWITZ. Antonio Iturbe’s book, translated…

The following is another vignette from my forthcoming book, COWBOY FROM PRAGUE: “Holy Christ! What have we done?” I cry out after pulling over to the curb on a long, wide, endless street, lined on both sides with hundreds of little houses which seem to extend out to the horizon. The structures are identical, with…

Many books about the Holocaust have been written and I, as a Holocaust survivor myself, have read my share. However, very few authors have tackled the turmoil in post-war Europe and, particularly, the struggles of those who were liberated from the camps or from hiding. Martin Fletcher meticulously researched that post-war world in Germany and,…

The following is another excerpt from my upcoming book with the working title, Cowboy from Prague:               Less than one month after landing in America with my two-word English vocabulary—“sank you”—my father hit me with a bombshell. “Tommy is going away for three weeks to be a summer-camp counselor in…

Opening chapter of my upcoming book about the immigrant experience in America: “Come on, swim to me!” Water clogged my ears and I could barely hear my father, who had thrown me into the middle of Labe (Elbe) River in Czechoslovakia. Although I was nine years old, I had not learned to swim and now…

When historians look back at the past half century in America, they may not judge Gerald Ford as a great president. He was not elected to the office, and nothing world-shaking was accomplished by his administration. He did sign the Helsinki Accords, which were a first step toward the end of the Cold War, and…