Several members of my family–including my grandmother, Otilie Hellerova, and my best friend and great-grandfather, Gustav Neumann–made their way through this gate. The sign above it informed them that “work will make you free.” Instead, it was a gateway to hell. Terezin, a concentration camp located in the Czech Republic, was a stopping point on the…

In the past couple of weeks, Time magazine and The Wall Street Journal have reported on the atrocities committed by Muslims in the Middle East against Christians. USA Today reports that, in eastern Ukraine, the thugs who seek the return of the Soviet Union have issued a proclamation, requiring all Jews to register and to…

Her name was Irena Sendler. She was a Polish lady living in Warsaw when World War II came. During the war, Irena got permission to work in the Warsaw ghetto, as a plumbing/sewer specialist. She had an ulterior motive. She smuggled out Jewish infants  in the bottom of the tool box she carried. She also carried a…

I always wanted a Porsche, early on the Speedster and later the 911. I’ve owned BMWs, MGs, a Triumph, Toyotas, and now a Subaru BRZ. But, for whatever reason and even after I could afford one, I’ve never bought a Porsche. Now, I’ve discovered that an invisible force may have kept me from doing so. A…

The Annapolis Book Festival has become an annual rite of spring for our area’s reader-writer community. The 12th edition will be held on Saturday, April 5, 10:00 am to 4:30 pm, on the campus of The Key School, located in Hillsmere Shores at 534 Hillsmere Drive. Attendees will have no trouble finding panel discussions which will interest…

Irena Zíková was the translator of my first book. After my Czech publisher and I modified the manuscript which would eventually become Prague: My Long Journey Home for a Czech readership, Irena did a masterful job of converting it from English to Czech. The book, Dlouhá cesta domů, debuted in April 2011. Irena sat next…

                                                                                      In my book, Prague: My Long Journey Home, I write about Czech collaborators with the Nazis and the Svejks–those who simply stood by and did nothing. But there were also many Czechs who resisted and who provided assistance to the Allies via clandestine activities. One doesn’t often hear about such resistance coming from those Czechs who…

I feel a personal connection to this year’s two anniversaries of the Heisman trophy–the award presented to the season’s best collegiate football player. Fifty years ago, I was a young, first-year, professor at the U. S. Naval Academy. One of my students was a midshipman named Roger Staubach, the recipient of the 1963 Heisman for his…

What a week this has been for Oklahoma State athletics! On Tuesday, our top-ten men’s basketball team ripped through #11-ranked Memphis by 21 points–putting up 101 points against them. On Friday, our nationally-ranked Cowgirls’ basketball squad demolished the University of Southern California by 31 points. Then came last night. We faced the third-ranked Baylor Bears, with…

I feel honored to have been asked to speak about my book and my experiences as one of Europe’s “hidden children” at the commemoration of that horrible event known as “Krystallnacht,” or “Night of Broken Glass.” The following is the announcement of the event–an invitation to all readers to come and join us. ANNAPOLIS —…