Charles Ota Heller

The Baltimore Holocaust Survivors and Descendants Group Under the Auspices of the Baltimore Jewish Council Invites you to our: NEXT MEETING: Sunday, April 17, 2016 2 – 4 pm at the Community Room, Park Heights JCC 5700 Park Heights Ave, Baltimore, MD 21215 Guest speaker: Mr. Charles Ota Heller, author of award-winning book: Prague: My…

I’m happy to have been chosen for the editorial board of Capital Gazette, the nation’s oldest newspaper. My association with The Capital goes back many years. In addition to being a subscriber/reader of the paper ever since coming to Annapolis in 1963, I was a columnist for the Sunday Capital for many years. Serving on the…

Pat Conroy–in my view, the finest American contemporary writer–has cancer. He made the following announcement on his Facebook page: “I have recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. With the help of the wonderful people at M.D. Anderson I intend to fight it hard. I am grateful to all my beloved readers, my friends and my…

Yesterday, I received a Christmas present from a good friend in the Czech Republic. What made the gift even more significant was the postage stamp on the package: The Czech Republic honored one of the great heroes of World War II–Sir Nicholas George Winton. This modest, unassuming, English gentleman saved hundreds of Czech children from…

The following is a continuation of a preview of my upcoming memoir, Ready, Fire, Aim! A Survivor’s Tales of Entrepreneurial Terror. (The manuscript is currently in the capable hands of my agent, Maryann Karinch, who is presenting it to publishers). This is a portion of Chapter 4, titled “Charm City:” “Holy Christ! What have we…

The second of several previews of my upcoming book, Ready, Fire, Aim! A Survivor’s Tales of Entrepreneurial Terror, this is a portion of Chapter 3, titled “Space Race.” Additional vignettes from the book will follow in upcoming weeks. Thanks for your interest in my latest book! —————- The last part of my college career at…

I have completed the manuscript of Ready, Fire, Aim! A Survivor’s Tales of Entrepreneurial Terror. It is now in the capable hands of my agent, Maryann Karinch of The Rudy Agency. With this blog, I am beginning a preview of a few portions of the book. I hope it will give you a taste of…

Seventy years ago today was one of the greatest moments of my life: we were liberated after nearly six years of German oppression, one during which my family was reduced to three survivors. In this photo, my father and his fellow warriors in the Czechoslovak Division of the British army are preparing to form up…

Recently, I finished reading a book about a remarkable rescue mission. Titled 50 Children: One Ordinary Couple’s Extraordinary Rescue Mission into the Heart of Nazi Germany, it was written by Steven Pressman, husband of the rescuers’ grandchild. It is the story of Gil and Eleanor Kraus, a wealthy Philadelphia couple, who left behind a comfortable life in…

My native country, Czech Republic, has been slow to honor its citizens who perished in the Holocaust. With the exception of the Pinkas memorial in Prague, few monuments have appeared since the end of World War II. Now, finally, a major step has been taken. Since more than twenty members of my family began their…