The Last Palace Notes
Prologue
2 first-generation Czech-Jewish American: For the sake of concision, I use the adjective
“Czech” interchangeably as shorthand to reference Czechoslovakia (as in this instance), as well as the Czech Republic, the Czech lands (including Bohemia, Moravia and a portion of Silesia), the residents of those lands, and the language they speak.
3 one hundred rooms: Ebel and Vágnerová calculate the room count as follows: “upstairs, the house has 18 rooms which are mostly bedrooms and seven bathrooms; the first and second floor have 28 and 32 various types of rooms, respectively, and the ground floor and basement have 26 and 62 rooms.” See Martin Ebel and Helena Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence:
Two Faces of an Entrepreneur’s Villa in Prague, Prague, Exhibition by the National Technical
Museum and US Embassy in Prague, November 28, 2012–March 31, 2013. Other estimates vary, and the exact number is unclear.
4 Klaus was a climate-change denier: For more on Klaus, see Gregory Feifer and Brian
Whitmore, “The Velvet Surrender,” New Republic, September 17, 2010.
4 “Truth and love will prevail”: “Living in Truth,” Economist, December 31, 2011.
4 “truth-and-lovism”: Michael Žantovský, Havel: A Life (New York: Grove Press, 2014),
456.
5 He and the Russians: Peter Baker and Dan Bilefsky, “U.S. and Russia Sign Nuclear
Arms Pact,” New York Times, April 8, 2010. 5 Jewish life was flourishing: For an assessment of religious freedom in the Czech
Republic in 2010, see, e.g., U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, “Czech Republic: International Religious Freedom Report 2010,” November 17, 2010.
1 The Golden Son of the Golden City
13 a thirty-nine-year-old man: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author, New
York City, March 14, 2014; Andrea Goldmann Klainer and Peter Goldmann, telephone interview by the author, October 20, 2017. Mrs. Goldmann, the daughter of Otto and Martha Petschek, shared with me her father’s morning routine, which continued throughout the construction of the palace. That interview was informed by a number of previous conversations that I had with Mrs.
Goldmann between 2011 and 2014, and the citation to it herein incorporates those prior contacts.
After her death in 2014, I interviewed other family members to corroborate various aspects of her account, in particular her children, Andrea Goldmann Klainer and Peter Goldmann, on multiple occasions.
13 After eleven years: See, e.g., letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 38, Marc Robinson
Collection, Petschek Family Archives (denoted henceforth as MRC). Note that letter item numbers refer to the pagination order in the respective collections of the materials presented to me; the letters are not preserved in chronological or other order. Items from the Petschek Family
Archive that did not belong to a specific collection are noted simply as PFA.
13 a remaining slice of wilderness: Eva Penerova, “The House on Zikmund Winter Street,” unpublished manuscript, 3. Penerova refers to the property as “overgrown with weeds and wild bushes.”
13 accumulated multiple plots over decades: For details of the family property consolidation in Prague-Bubeneč, see Pavel Zahradník, “Dějiny domu” [History of the House];
Pozemkové knihy Bubenče [Bubeneč Land Register], entry 36 and entry 379, Prague Cadastral
Office; box 427, Soupis písemností “A” Bankovního domu Petschek a spol [Collection of documents “A,” Petschek Banking House and Co.], Státní oblastní archiv Praha [State Regional
Archive in Prague] (henceforth SOA); and Penerova, “The House,” 3. Unless otherwise specified, all references to documents from the SOA are from the above collection.
14 He had spent years walking: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 174, Eva Petschek
Goldmann Collection, PFA (henceforth EPGC).
14 Hedges ran among them: Photographs showing portions of the property prior to its development are found in the EPGC.
14 a model citizen: “History of the Petschek and Gellert Families,” March 1946, PFA, 9–
23. For an abbreviated draft of this document in the public domain, see “History of the Petschek-
Gellert Family,” November 15, 1945, box 8, Bernard Yarrow Papers, 1907–1973 (henceforth
Yarrow Papers), Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, Abilene, KS (Eisenhower
Library).
14 Still, every morning: The Petscheks’ Western orientation is discussed in the “History of the Petschek and Gellert Families,” March 1946, PFA, 18–19.
14 Music was likely running: Eva Petschek Goldmann emphasized her father’s unusual relationship with music and her belief that he was constantly hearing it in his mind, as if listening to a radio that was always on. He would frequently tap out the beat, hum, or otherwise evidence this trait: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author. Otto’s great-grandson Marc
Robinson, who interviewed a large number of those who knew Otto, phrased it as “conducting the invisible orchestra”: details from Marc Robinson, interview by the author, New Haven, CT,
November 6, 2017.
14 It was his first great passion: Robert B. Goldmann, Wayward Threads (Evanston, IL:
Northwestern University Press, 1997), 134. For the family’s support of the New German Theatre, see “History of the Petschek-Gellert Family,” November 13, 1945, box 8, Yarrow
Papers, Eisenhower Library; and letter, Mr. Eger to Mr. Petschek, December 12, 1945, box 8,
Yarrow Papers, Eisenhower Library. Further details can be found in “The History of the
Petschek and Gellert Families,” March 1946, 21–22, PFA, 21–22.
14 He would build a palace there: For a discussion of Otto’s intentions, see Penerova,
“The House,” 3. The decision to build can be dated using Otto’s correspondence with the City of
Prague. In 1923, he was still seeking permission merely to expand his existing smaller home on the compound. By spring 1924, he had pivoted to his more ambitious plan showing these features. Each is documented in the building department files. See letter from the Magistrate,
June 24, 1924, 493/1, SOA; and Zahradník, “Dějiny domu” [History of the House], 3–4.
14 more than one hundred rooms: The details of the initial conception of the palace can be found in Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181 [House no. 181, Department of Construction], Archiv
Prahy 6 [Archive of Municipal District Prague 6] (henceforth AP6). Otto’s involvement in even the most minute details of the villa’s construction: is noted in Eva Petschek Goldmann, “The
Otto Petschek Compound,” unpublished manuscript, undated.
15 a residence befitting his status: Eva Petschek Goldmann, “The Otto Petschek
Compound”; Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author. For the level of Otto’s success, see Karel Kratochvíl, Bankéři (Prague: Nakladatelství politické literatury, 1962), which documents the history of the Petschek banking enterprise. Although a Communist-era volume,
Bankéři contains a wealth of facts gathered at a time when they were much fresher. Although it should be studied with caution, it is useful and has been relied upon by scholars. See, e.g., Meir
Lamed, “Petschek,” in Encyclopedia Judaica, ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik, vol. 16,
2nd ed. (Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007), 22. 15 an embodiment: Otto’s optimism was described in Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author, and corroborated by Klainer and P. Goldmann, telephone interview, October 20,
2017. Robert Gellert, Otto’s nephew, also shared family lore about Otto’s optimistic nature:
Robert Gellert, interview by the author, New York City, February 2, 2015.
15 born in 1882: Otto Petschek’s birth certificate can be found in box 502/2, SOA. Census documents show where the family lived in 1890 and 1910, including all household members’ names—all kept at Archiv hlavního města Prahy [Prague City Archives]. The details of Otto’s childhood are from Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author. Details are corroborated in
Viktor Petschek, interview by Marc Robinson, date unknown; and Eric K. Petschek,
Reminiscences (Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corp., 2010).
15 Three generations occupied: For the Petschek family census information, see Archiv hlavního města Prahy [Prague City Archives], Všeobecné sčítání lidu 1921, Čechy, Smíchov-
Bubeneč, Dejvická 181 [General Census 1921, Bohemia, Smíchov-Bubeneč, Dejvická 181]; additional information is from Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
15 Otto was taught there by a tutor: For Otto’s educational records, see box 502/2, SOA.
15 In short pants: Photo of Otto Petschek, MRC. Eva Petschek Goldmann related that Otto was forced to perform as a child (and would later force his own son to do the same): Eva
Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
16 Young Otto’s gifts extended to music: V. Petschek, interview.
16 Recitals, concerts, symphonies, opera: For Czech music culture at the time, see Robert
Smetana, Dějiny české hudební kultury [History of Czech Music Culture]: Part I, 1890–1918
(Prague: Academia, 1972). 16 as freely as the Moldau: The Vltava River, known as the Moldau in German, is the longest river in the present-day Czech Republic and bisects Prague near the river’s terminus.
16 high culture: Goldmann, Wayward Threads, 133–134; Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
16 He begged for piano lessons: V. Petschek, interview.
16 he visited the new German opera house: For the German opera and its opening, see
Jitka Ludvová, Až k hořkému konci. Pražské německé divadlo 1845–1945 [To The Bitter End:
German Theater in Prague 1845–1945] (Prague: Academia, 2012), 50.
16 playing solely from the fresh memory: V. Petschek, interview.
16 Otto found beauty everywhere: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
17 Watchers of Prague: The term is my own, but the phenomenon is age-old. Much like the archetype of the flâneur of Paris first articulated by Baudelaire, Prague had its own culture of watchers who “inhabited” its streets and bore witness to its curiosities and transformations. For an fascinating account of the influence of Parisian flânerie on the Prague’s residents and their own practices, see Karla Huebner, “Prague Flânerie from Neruda to Nezval,” in The Flâneur
Abroad: Historical and International Perspectives, ed. Richard Wrigley (Newcastle: Cambridge
Scholars, 2014), 281-297. See also, e.g., Angelo Maria Ripellino, Magic Prague, ed. Michael
Henry Heim, trans. David Newton Marinelli (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 1994); John Banville, Prague Pictures: Portraits of a City (New York and
London: Bloomsbury, 2000); and Prague: A Traveler’s Literary Companion, ed. Paul Wilson
(Berkeley, CA: Whereabouts Press, 1995).
17 he fully intended: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
17 university prepatory school: For Otto’s educational records, see box 502/2, SOA. 17 In 1895, his clear voice: Otto’s bar mitzvah preparations are documented in an annotated
Torah-reading volume in the PFA. Eva Petschek Goldmann told me that she believed that the bar mitzvah took place at the Old New Synagogue, and other family members said the same; I have, despite searching, not yet located community records confirming that location and their custodians in Prague believe that they may no longer exist.
18 He had grown taller: Photos of a teenage Otto Petschek, undated, EPGC.
18 In the years following: For accounts of emerging anti-Semitism within Bohemia and
Moravia at the turn of the century, see, e.g., Kateřina Čapková, Czechs, Germans, Jews?
National Identity and the Jews of Bohemia, trans. Derek Paton and Marzia Paton (New York:
Berghahn Books, 2012). The Jews of Czechoslovakia: Historical Studies and Surveys, vol. 1, eds. Avigdor Dagan, Gertrude Hirshcler, and Lewis Weiner (Philadelphia: The Jewish
Publication Society of America, 1968); Michal Frankl, “Emancipace od židů”: český antisemitismus na konci 19. Století [Emancipation from the Jews: Czech Anti-Semitism at the
End of the 19th Century] (Prague: Paseka, 2007); and Miloš Pojar, Hilsnerova aféra a česká společnost 1899–1999: sborník přednášek z konference na UK v Praze ve dnech 24.–26. listopadu 1999 [The Hilsner Affair and Czech Society, 1899–1999: Proceedings of the
Conference at the Charles University in Prague on 24–26 November 1999] (Prague: Židovské muzeum v Praze, 2000).
18 The Petschek family enthusiastically: Petschek, Reminiscences, 16.
18 Uncle Julius served him: Ibid., 27.
18 Anti-Semitic pamphlets: Livia Rothkirchen, The Jews of Bohemia & Moravia: Facing the Holocaust (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005), 17. 19 Leopold Hilsner: Ibid., 17. For the anti-Semitic and anti-German riots at the time, see
Hillel Kieval, Languages of Community: The Jewish Experience in the Czech Lands (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000), 167–170. The events described here are necessarily compressed and abbreviated.
19 The fin de siècle waves: The story of the mob has been passed down as family lore and is also set forth in Petschek, Reminiscences, 26. The author wrongly identifies the city as Pečky; by that time, the family was in Kolín. See Gottlieb Stein, Familie Schidlow: die Geschichte einer jüdischen Bürgerfamilie des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts [The Schidlow Family: The Story of a
Jewish Bourgeois Family in the 18th and 19th Centuries] (Self-published by the author, 1925),
48–71.
19 They decided to flee: “United Continental Corporation: History and Background,” undated, PFA, 22. For the economic activities of the Petschek family, see boxes 1 and 25,
“Bankovní dům Petschek a spol. 1868–1988” [Banking House Petschek and Co., 1868–1988],
Archiv České národní banky [Czech National Bank Archive], Prague (henceforth ČNB); and boxes 415 and 388, SOA. Unless otherwise specified, all references to documents from the ČNB are from this collection.
19 Otto took a more optimistic view: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview.
19 The Petscheks were not only Jewish: “History of the Petschek and Gellert Families,”
March 1946, PFA, 15. The Petscheks held board positions at numerous Czech banks, and Otto was a major contributor to the New German Theatre.
19 The nationalist ranks: For more on Masaryk and the Jews of Czechoslovakia, see
Kieval, Languages of Community, 198–216; and Michael A. Riff, “The Ambiguity of Masaryk’s
Attitudes on the ‘Jewish Question,’” in Robert B. Pynsent, ed., T. G. Masaryk (1850–1937): Volume 2, Thinker and Critic (London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan in association with the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, 1989).
19 Otto believed: “The History of the Petschek and Gellert Families,” March 1946, PFA, 3.
19 A new century was coming: Box 502/2, SOA.
19 he would graduate from gymnasium: Maturitätszeugniss, box 502/2, SOA.
19 He wanted to train: Ina Petschek, daughter of Otto and Martha Petschek, interview by
Marc Robinson, date unknown.
20 “10 days in Vienna”: Letter, Otto to Isidor and Camilla, December 31, 1900, item 64,
MRC.
20 Julius and Isidor forbade: Marc Robinson, interview by the author; Eva Petschek
Goldmann, interview by the author.
20 No indication remains: Otto’s letters from the period are, for example, steadily affectionate.
20 They sent him: For Otto’s matriculation, see Matriky Německé univerzity v Praze, inventární číslo 3 [Register of the German University in Prague, inventory no. 3] and Matrika doktorů německé Karlo-Ferdinandovy univerzity v Praze/Německé univerzity v Praze [Register of the graduates of the German Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague/German University in
Prague] (1904–1924), folios 42 and 132, Archiv Univerzity Karlovy [Charles University
Archive], Prague. For his other university records, see box 502/2, SOA.
The university was called Charles-Ferdinand University at the time and was divided into a
Czech-language branch and a German-language branch; Otto took his courses at the German- speaking branch. 20 Charles drew scholars: Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe (New York:
Simon & Schuster, 2007), 162–164.
20 An explosion of red: Otto’s original law school textbooks that include his marginalia can still be found in the library of the palace, or, as it is formally referred to by the State Department, the “Villa Petschek.” Unless otherwise specified, descriptions of Otto’s literary habits, interests, and his vast collection of books derive from the original volumes still held in the Villa Petschek library.
21 “intellectual sawdust”: Reiner Stach, Kafka: The Early Years, trans. Shelley Frisch
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016), 248.
21 That pessimistic law student: Franz Kafka and Otto overlapped in Charles University’s
Faculty of Law for six years, Kafka graduating with his doctorate in 1906 and Otto in 1909.
Their families were acquainted, and one of Otto’s best friends was Franz’s cousin Bruno Kafka.
The name Kafka frequently appears in Otto’s correspondence in the PFA, and although the references appear to be to Bruno, we cannot rule out possible mentions of Franz. Franz and Otto took at least one class together, during winter semester 1903–1904, with Professor Zuckerkandl; see “Katalogy posluchačů” [Catalogs of the University Students] of Právnická fakulta Německé univerzity v Praze [the Law School of the German Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague],
Archiv Univerzity Karlovy [Charles University Archive], Prague.
21 Franz listened dubiously: Stach, Kafka: The Early Years, 306.
21 he dragooned the family members: Photo, EPGC; “Bankovní dům Petschek a spol.
1868–1988,” [Banking House Petschek and Co., 1868–1988], ČNB (collection of family and business photographs). 21 Isidor and Julius dispatched him: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 60, MRC. Otto wrote to Popper’s daughter, later his wife, that “my father and your father had been friends since they were boys . . . At that time, I had been working then in the office of your father.”
21 Despite his advanced education: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 57, EPGC; letter,
Otto to Dr. Popper, August 8, 1911, item 18, MRC.
21 When that humbling initiation: For Otto’s early progression within his family’s coal business, see Kratochvíl, Bankéři [Bankers], 214–258.
22 “I had to go away”: Letter, Otto to Martha, July 17, 1912, item 1, EPGC.
22 dark three-piece suits: Photos of Otto Petschek, Eva Petschek Goldmann, Sylvia Hoag, and Marc Robinson collections, PFA.
22 But when he was serving: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 60, MRC.
22 Otto, five years older: Marriage certificate of Otto and Martha Petschek, box 502/2,
SOA.
22 She had a kindness: Sylvia Hoag, granddaughter of Otto and Martha Petschek, interview by the author, La Mesa, CA, December 22, 2015 (conveying information from her father,
Viktor). Further details are from Eric Petschek, nephew of Otto and Martha Petschek, interview by the author, Darien, CT, March 16, 2015; and Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
22 “Why not marry Martha?”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 60, MRC.
22 Otto attempted to engage her: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 57, EPGC. In this letter, Otto, reminiscing on how long it took him to court Martha, comments, “It took me that long [from January to October] to figure out how to get closer to such a dear Dumme.” 22 She was interested in people: For the long duration of Otto’s effort: letter, Otto to
Martha, n.d., item 57, EPGC. The number of Otto Petschek’s hats: letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 3, EPGC; and letter, Otto to Martha, August 7, 1912, item 47, MRC.
22 But Otto, ever dogged: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., EPGC (this letter was not assigned an item number in the review of the collection).
23 “a big realist”: Letter, Otto to Martha, August 7, 1912, item 47, MRC.
23 “In such moments”: Ibid.
23 “‘Thank God’”: E.g., Letter, Martha to Camilla, June 4, 1928, item 183, EPGC; letter,
Martha to Camilla, May 30, 1928, item 184, EPGC. In Otto’s and Martha’s correspondence, the use of Yiddishisms is frequent.
23 He tried to woo Martha: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
23 Sometimes she even sent: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 54, EPGC. In this letter,
Otto wrote, “I didn’t cancel the order for your dress,” as Martha had requested, but “ordered it instead. Don’t get mad!” He then felt the need to clarify: “Otherwise I didn’t spend anything.”
23 But she kept: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 149, EPGC.
23 his forty-sixth hat: Letter, Otto to Martha, August 7, 1912, item 47, MRC; letter, Otto to
Martha, n.d., item 3, EPGC.
23 “By the way”: Letter, Otto to Martha, August 7, 1912, item 47, MRC.
24 “Encouraged by your best present”: Letter, Otto to Martha, August 8, 1912, MRC.
24 “My Mama always says”: Letter, Otto to Martha, July 29, 1912, item 4, EPGC.
24 Otto remained patient: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 57, EPGC.
24 Prague’s affluent Jews: For a map of the sprawling Petschek properties, see Helena
Krejčová and Mario Vlček, Výkupné za život: Vývozy a vynucené dary uměleckých předmětů při emigraci židů z Čech a Moravy v letech 1938–1942 (na příkladu Uměleckoprůmyslového Musea v Praze) [Lives for Ransom: Exports and Forced Donations of Works of Art During the
Emigration of Jews from Bohemia to Moravia, 1938–1942 (the Case of the Museum of
Decorative Arts in Prague)] (Prague: Dokumentační centrum pro převod majetku z kulturních statků obětí druhé světové války, 2009), 366. Each volume contains both Czech and English translations.
24 Their summerhouse: Penerova, “The House,” 3; Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s
Residence.
24 arm in arm: For details of the property, see Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the
House], 1–2; the remainder are based on Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
25 Otto invited Martha to the garden: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 174, EPGC; letter,
Otto to Martha, October 25, 1916, item 10, EPGC.
25 “Madam, would you like”: Otto Petschek recalled the story of how he proposed in a letter to his wife: letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 174, EPGC; Ibid., item 10.
25 They married in 1913: Per Otto and Martha’s marriage certificate, they were married on
May 8, 1913. See box 502/2, SOA. Details of their honeymoon derive from: Eva Petschek
Goldmann, interview by the author.
25 They spoke Italian: Ibid.
25 Returning to Prague: Otto’s father-in-law, Julius Popper, had given the newlyweds an apartment in his family building, which also contained his home and law firm, as a wedding present. See Penerova, “The House,” 1.
25 Otto resumed his work: Kratochvíl, Bankéři [Bankers], 214–258. 26 “It’s FLOWING”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 76, EPGC; letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 13, MRC; Ibid., item 60.
26 “HRDLS”: The two address each other in their letters as Dumme (dummy) and sign off with “HRDLS,” wishing one another a thousand kisses. See, among many others, letter, Otto to
Martha, n.d., item 161, EPGC.
26 In February 1914: Viktor’s birth certificate can be found in box 502/2, SOA.
26 He was the spitting image: Photos of Viktor Petschek as a child, can be found in the
MRC.
26 der Hund: E.g., letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 109, EPGC.
26 In that summer of 1914: For more on the run-up to World War I, see Christopher Clark,
The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 (New York: HarperCollins, 2012); and
Margaret MacMillan, The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 (New York: Random
House, 2013).
26 Otto worked long days: Otto’s exceptionally intense World War I–era work is reflected in his correspondence, such as the following, in which he enumerates a long list of steps that he had taken to develop the business in the previous year: letter, Otto to Martha, c. August 1917, item 25, MRC.
27 Prague, too, was in the grip: Hugh LeCaine Agnew, The Czechs and the Lands of the
Bohemian Crown (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2004), 164.
27 Otto rallied: The Petscheks’ loyalties are described in Petschek, Reminiscences, 16, 19; and V. Petschek, interview.
27 an artillery spotter: Petschek, Reminiscences, 18–19.
27 But 1915: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 147, EPGC. 28 Hans’s battery: Letter, Otto to Martha, item 115, EPGC.
28 Paul was not so lucky: Ibid.; Petschek, Reminiscences, 19.
28 He wandered the halls: V. Petschek, interview.
28 Julius had been: For more on Prague during World War I, see Ivan Šedivý, Češi, České země a Velká válka 1914–1918 [The Czechs, the Czech Lands and the Great War] (Prague:
Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2014).
28 Peace was coming: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 5, EPGC.
28 The Allies had declared: Agnew, The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown,
167–172.
28 Since 1914, Masaryk: Josef Harna, “The Czech Lands During the First World War
(1914–1918),” in Jaroslav Pánek and Oldřich Tůma, eds., A History of the Czech Lands (Prague:
Karolinum Press, 2009), 382–392.
29 Now was the time: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 7, EPGC.
29 “schlmiel” and “won’t listen”: Ibid.; Ibid., item 102.
29 “They are sitting”: Ibid., item 19.
29 “the child is born”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 62, MRC.
29 “Much to Papa’s and Uncle’s surprise”: Ibid., item 68.
29 The staff soon ballooned: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 139, EPGC.
29 “Papa was very surprised”: Ibid., item 7; letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 68, MRC.
30 He missed Martha: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 5, EPGC.
30 “No Mama, no Papa here”: Ibid., item 113.
30 “My dear Burschischi”: Letter, Otto to Viktor, n.d., item 22, MRC.
30 She was not shy: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 130, EPGC. 30 “A thousand and more kisses”: Ibid., item 7.
30 Living conditions: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 46, MRC; letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 129, EPGC; Ibid., item 25.
30 Otto’s brothers: Letter, Paul to Martha, September 3, 1917, item 132, EPGC.
30 Periodic strikes and riots: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 50, MRC; letter, Otto to
Martha, n.d., item 25, EPGC.
30 “I finally concluded”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 120, EPGC.
31 “Rip up the letter”: Letter, Otto to Martha, c. September 1917, item 25, MRC.
31 An anxious Otto: Many letters were written back and forth between Otto and Martha during her convalescence in the Semmering; E.g. letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 5, MRC; Ibid., item 23; Ibid., item 27; letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 10, EPGC; Ibid., n.d., item 27.
31 “was so wet and humid”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 16, EPGC.
32 For help, Otto turned: Penerova, “The House,” 2; Pavel Vlček, Encyklopedie architektů, stavitelů, zedníků a kameníků v Čechách [Encyclopedia of Architects, Builders,
Bricklayers and Stonecutters in Bohemia] (Prague: Academia, 2004), 67–70.
32 a self-made Bohemian country boy: Jan Štětka, “Stavitel velké Prahy,” [Builder of
Great Prague], Dotyk: České podnikatelské nebe [Focus: Heaven Czech Entrepreneurs], 2015: 2,
13.
32 Blecha started by planning: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 62, EPGC; Ibid., item 23.
32 The furnace: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 62, EPGC.
32 “I’m having the garage”: Ibid.
32 “Now that the wall”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 101, EPGC.
32 “very imprudent”: Ibid., item 56. 32 He walked her: Ibid., item 62.
33 “Please arrange through Mama”: Ibid., item 181.
33 “Hold me or I am going to jump”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 59, MRC.
33 “Bubeneč has been finished”: Ibid., item 44; letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 117,
EPGC.
33 “What is the difference”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 147, EPGC.
33 “high hopes for peace”: Letter, Otto to Martha, c. October 1918, item 143, EPGC.
33 the Czech campaign: Ibid.
34 The proclamation, written by Masaryk: Harna, “The Czech Lands during the First
World War,” 391–392. Masaryk met with Wilson personally in the White House on June 19,
1918. See Karel Pacner, Osudové okamžiky Československa [Crucial Moments of
Czechoslovakia] (Prague: Brána, 2012), 62–66.
34 The inclusion of Slovakia: Nor does it appear that Otto later made any significant financial commitments in Slovak territory after it was incorporated into the newly formed state of Czechoslovakia, despite doing so elsewhere across central Europe.
34 Catholic, fervently so: Karen Henderson, Slovakia: The Escape from Invisibility
(London and New York: Routledge, 2002), 7.
34 The contrast was equally dramatic: Petr Brod, Kateřina Čapková, and Michal Frankl,
“Czechoslovakia,” YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, December 13, 2010, http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Czechoslovakia.
34 But the languages: Harna, “The Czech Lands during the First World War,” 383–384;
Karel Čapek, Talks with T. G. Masaryk, trans. Michael Henry Heim (North Haven, CT: Catbird
Press, 1995), 31. 34 Joining with his neighbors: Harna, “The Czech Lands during the First World War,”
383–384.
34 a young Czech journalist: Zbyněk Zeman and Antonín Klimek, The Life of Edvard
Beneš, 1884–1948: Czechoslovakia in Peace and War (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1997), 21–
33.
34 The Americans and the French: Margaret MacMillan, Paris 1919: Six Months That
Changed the World (New York: Random House, 2001), 231–233.
34 Germany, Hungary, and Austria: Agnew, The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian
Crown, 190; Eduard Kubů and Jaroslav Pátek, eds., Mýtus a realita hospodářské vyspělosti
Československa mezi světovými válkami [The Myth and Reality of the Czechoslovak Economic
Level Between the World Wars] (Prague: Karolinum, 2000).
34 The Petschek family holdings: Jitka Balcarová, “Finanční elity německých nacionálních peněžních ústavů a jejich aktivity v tzv. regionálních svazech Němců v českých zemích
[Financial Elites of German National Monetary Institutes and Their Activites in the Regional
Unions of Germans in the Czech Lands],” in Eduard Kubů and Jiří Šouša, eds., Finanční elity v
českých zemích (Československu) 19. a 20. Století [Financial Elites in Czech Lands in the 19th and 20th Century] (Prague: Dokořan, 2008), 191–226.
34 the single largest holders: “United Continental Corporation: History and Background,” undated, PFA, 20; Tereza Škoulová, “Petschek Palace,” Soffa 20: 23. For assessments of Czech economic might during the period, see, e.g., Kubů and Pátek, Mýtus a realita hospodářské vyspělosti Československa mezi světovými válkami [The Myth and Reality of the Czechoslovak
Economic Level between the World Wars]; and Alice Teichova, The Czechoslovak Economy
1918–1980 (London and New York: Routledge Revivals, 1988). 35 His father’s health faded: Krejčová and Vlček, Lives for Ransom, 362.
35 mischpoche: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 31, MRC.
35 “didn’t realize that young people”: Ibid., item 66.
35 Otto won places: Ibid.
35 were loyal veterans: Petschek, Reminiscences, 19.
35 To the great amusement: Ibid., 58.
35 But the new country: Krejčová and Vlček, Lives for Ransom, 381 (inventorying Kramář materials); Jorg Guido Hulsmann, Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism (Auburn, AL: Ludwig
Von Mises Institute, 2007), 289n100; Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview; and “The History of the Petschek and Gellert Family,” March 1946, PFA, 2, 7, 18, which notes that the family loyalty to Bohemia transcended regimes.
36 When there was a run: “History of the Petschek and Gellert Families,” March 1946,
PFA, 16.
36 Shield of the Nation: Shield of the Nation 2, no. 22 (December 1, 1921): 3.
36 Another conservative publication: “World Coal Disaster,” Čech, A Political Catholic
Weekly Magazine, November 5, 1920.
36 The anti-Semitism was not confined: Hillel Kieval, The Making of Czech Jewry:
National Conflict and Jewish Society in Bohemia, 1870–1918 (New York and Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press, 1988), 185–186; Rothkirchen, The Jews of Bohemia and Moravia, 27–
28; Michal Frankl and Miloslav Szabó, Budování státu bez antisemitismu? Násilí, diskurz loajality a vznik Československa [Building a State Without Anti-Semitism? Violence, Discourse of Loyalty and the Origin of Czechoslovakia] (Prague: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2015). 36 “most serious ideological antagonist”: Tomáš Masaryk, Constructive Sociological
Theory, eds. Alan Woolfolk and Jonathan B. Timber (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction
Publishers, 1994), 6.
36 “mir viln Beneš”: My mother, whose religious family always said grace after meals, recalled this jest.
36 the anti-Semitic press claimed: “Otto Petschek—pražský Rothschild,” Moravská orlice,
January 12, 1941.
36 Both were Enlightenment thinkers: Zeman and Klimek, The Life of Edvard Beneš, 11;
P. Goldmann, telephone interview, October 20, 2017.
036 Beneš dined with the magnate: Penerova, “The House,” 20.
37 He even encouraged: “History of the Petschek and Gellert Families,” March 1946, PFA,
22.
37 By 1920: Eva, Ina, and Rita Petschek’s birth certificates can be found in box 502/2, SOA.
37 By 1923: Zahradník, “ Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 3.
2 The King of Coal
39 She was firmly opposed: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author; Klainer, telephone interview, October 23, 2017; Hoag, interview.
39 a twenty-four-page letter: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 130, EPGC.
39 He was not known for apologizing: Letter, Otto to Isidor, n.d., item 17, MRC. Otto wrote to his father, “Some claim that I’m stubborn, some claim that I never can be convinced, some claim I never admit to be wrong, some claim this, someclaim that and so on.” Otto’s apologies to Martha can be found in, e.g. letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 56, MRC.
40 reconstructing the sprawling, wild gardens: Penerova, “The House,” 3-4.
40 strolls through the great gardens: Examples of Otto’s garden strolls can be found in the following: E.g., letter, Otto to Martha, August 7, 1912, item 47, MRC. Otto’s collection of architecture books spans the centuries, and much of it remains intact in the Villa Petschek. He had several important books on the baroque: Robert Dohme’s authoritative Barock und Rococo and one by Friedrich Ohmann, a prominent fin de siècle Prague architect and professor at the
Academy of Applied Arts, who designed the Music Theater in Prague-Karlín, an insurance company building, a bank, and a coffeehouse.
40 For assistance, he turned: Späth’s firm had renowned customers worldwide. For the history of the Späth nursery, see L. Späth, ed., Späth-Buch, 1720–1920. Geschichte und
Erzeugnisse der Späth’schen Baumschule [Späth Book, 1720–1930: History and Products of the
Späth Nursery] (Berlin: Mosse, 1920). See also box 464, SOA.
40 It was gradually cleared: Penerova, “The House,” 3–5.
40 The laborers: Boxes 291–293 and 464, SOA. 41 a young Prague-based landscape architect: Penerova, “The House,” 3; letter, Otto to
Martha, n.d., item 176, EPGC.
41 But to Viky: Hoag, interview.
41 germophobic after Martha’s health scare: Hoag, interview; Klainer and P. Goldmann, interview, March 25, 2015. Otto and Martha were concerned about Viktor’s health; they did not allow him to shake hands with the nurses in the sanatorium and forced him to wear gloves.
Details can be found in the following: letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 45, EPGC.
41 He was clever: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 160, EPGC.
41 It became an instant: Hoag, interview; Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by Marc
Robinson, date unknown.
41 Otto pushed him: I. Petschek, interview; Viktor’s school reports can be found in box
414, SOA.
41 Latin at four: V. Petschek, interview.
41 But the harder: Barbara Kafka and Doris Kafka, granddaughters of Otto and Martha
Petschek, interview by the author, Washington, DC, March 20, 2015.
41 Otto brought him along: Hoag, interview.
41 The sociable boy: I. Petschek, V. Petschek, and E. Petschek Goldmann, interviews by
Marc Robinson.
42 Otto intended to be: Penerova, “The House,” 2.
42 For his architect: Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence; Zdeněk Lukeš,
Splátka dluhu: Praha a její německy hovořící architekti její německy hovořící architekti 1900–
1938 [Debt Payment: Prague and Her German-Speaking Architects, 1900–1938] (Prague: Fraktály, 2002), 182–185. See also documentation relating to the planning of the villa in box 14,
ČNB.
42 Czech-born, German-speaking: Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence.
42 massive Renaissance fortress: Ibid.
42 Otto had novel ideas: Ibid. It is important to note, as Ebel and Vágnerová do, that although “to some degree we can only speculate” about how much Otto shaped the building’s design, “we know about his changes to the completed structure, when finished parts had to be torn down and new ones built, according to his demands.”
42 He was used to dealing: Spielmann built a house for the Picek brothers on Charles
Square in Prague, a villa for Hans Budischowski in Třebíč, and several other residences. He worked for the Petschek family multiple times, designing their new banking house and also villas for Otto’s brothers. See Jana Stará, “Kroměřížský rodák—Architekt Max Spielmann,” [Kroměříž
Native—Architect Max Spielmann], Židé a Morava: sborník z konference konané v Muzeu
Kroměřížska 5. listopadu 2008 [Jews and Moravia: Proceedings of the Conference Held at the
Museum of Kroměříž on November 5, 2008], 2009, 89–103.
42 Spielmann rolled out: Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181 [House no. 181, Department of
Construction], AP6.
43 Yet Otto approved them: Boxes 493/2 and 512, SOA; box 14, ČNB; Odbor výstavby -
Dům č. 181 [House no. 181, Department of Construction], AP6; Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,”
[History of the House], 6.
43 “FLOWING”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 76, EPGC.
43 The palace’s construction: Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” 6; Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto
Petschek’s Residence. For permission to start building, see boxes 493/1 and 493/2, SOA. 43 Surveyors, engineers, foremen: See photos held in the Museum of Prague, Historical
Collections Department.
43 Otto walked among the laborers: Penerova, “The House,” 5.
43 To workers making: Ibid. For costs and wages in postwar Czechoslovakia, see Zdeněk
Kárník, České země v éře první republiky (1918–1938) [Czech Lands in the First Republic Era
(1918–1938)] (Prague: Libri, 2003); and Roman Vondra, Peníze v moderních českých dějinách
[Money in Modern Czech History] (Prague: Academia, 2012).
43 The men seemed: Penerova, “The House,” 5.
43 their amiability was proof: Eva Petschek Goldmann described a number of lectures that
Otto would deliver to Viky in this regard; the boy tuned out, but his younger sister “loved to listen” to the dinner-table conversation: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
44 To Otto, Czechoslovakia: Ibid.
44 For all his reading: An entire department of the Petschek bank was dedicated to charitable giving. Details are from “The History of the Petschek and Gellert Families,” March
1946, PFA, 19–23.
44 foothold of roughly 10 percent: For parliamentary breakdowns in the First
Czechoslovak Republic, see Kárník, České země v éře první republiky [Czech Lands in the First
Republic Era (1918–1938)], 123–126, 370–382.
44 called herself a Socialist: Petschek, Reminiscences, 293–294. Otto’s ire was recounted to the author by Eva Petschek Goldmann.
44 He bristled: Prague City Hall, reference no. III-38533/29, October 3, 1929, Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181 [House no. 181, Department of Construction], AP6; boxes 493/1 and
493/2, SOA. 45 They seemed to accept him: Penerova, “The House,” 5.
45 no whiff of Communism: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
45 While on Fischer’s property: Ibid.; Details regarding Otto’s purchase of the tree and the blooming of the garden are from Penerova, “The House,” 4. Eva Petschek Goldmann also recalled the arrival of some of the trees and the blooming of the bluebells.
46 The three twins: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
47 Word made its way: Ibid.; Penerova, “The House,” 5.
47 rode the tram to the Bubeneč: The stop is now called Špejchar.
47 Otto felt the gaze: Otto’s self-imposed pressure and other details regarding his mindset towards the construction of the villa is from Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
48 Otto had approved: Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 6; boxes 493/1 and 493/2, SOA.
48 a new breed of flower: Richard G. Hawke, “A Comparative Study of Cultivated Asters,”
Plant Evaluation Notes 36 (Chicago Botanic Garden, 2013), 11.
048 Otto confronted Spielmann: I first heard the essence of this story from John Ordway, the interim chargé d’affaires at the US embassy in Prague in 2010, and it has also survived among the Petschek descendants; details were corroborated by, e.g., P. Goldmann, interview,
October 23, 2017. It was also repeatedly shared with me by today’s Watchers of Prague during my time in that city. It is, I believe, reflected in the dramatic change in the deflection of the palace at this time and corroborated in part by the existence of models of the palace; see
Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 15.
49 The ashen-faced architect: John Ordway, “Villa Petschek—the American
Ambassador’s Residence in Prague,” unpublished manuscript, June 8, 2011, updated December 30, 2015, 7. The author questions whether the breaking of the model might be an apocryphal story, and indeed it might; I credit it as authentic for the reasons set forth in the preceding note.
49 doubling the curvature: Box 14, ČNB; Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the
House], 8; Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence.
49 Otto proposed: Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence; Martin Ebel and Karel
Ksandr, “Srovnání nesrovnatelného: Vila Petschek versus vila Tugendhat čili architekt pod diktátem stavebníka versus stavebník pod diktátem architekta,” [Comparing the Incomparable:
Villa Petschek versus Villa Tugendhat], Dějiny staveb: Sborník příspěvků z konference Dějiny staveb 2013 [History of Buildings: Proceedings of the Conference on Building History 2013],
305–312.
49 plans had to be drawn: Box 14, ČNB; Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the
House], 8.
50 little visible progress: Ibid., 7–8.
50 the harried Spielmann: Ibid., 7; Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181 [House no. 181,
Department of Construction], AP6.
50 the municipal building inspector: Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence. “It was impossible to see into the site over the high outer wall, and city building officials did not become aware of the unapproved changes until early November of 1925.”
50 an immediate order: Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 7–8.
50 “performed without an official permit”: Boxes 386, 493/1 and 493/2, SOA.
50 “immediately apply for approval”: Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House],
7–8; AP6, Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181 [House no. 181, Department of Construction], AP6. 50 “Building is continuous in the Bubeneč”: “Bankhaus Petschek,” Štít národa 6, no. 18
(November 1, 1925): 4.
50 The matter wended its way: The correspondence is in Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181
[House no. 181, Department of Construction], AP6.
50 furnished the correct plans: Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 7–8;
Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181 [House no. 181, Department of Construction], AP6.
50 “I refused”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., EPGC (this letter was not assigned an item number in the collection).
51 Support for the Communists: See Agnew, The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian
Crown, 186–187.
51 thirteen out of every hundred: Dieter Nohlen and Philip Stover, Elections in Europe: A
Data Handbook (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, 2010), 479, 484; For a history of the political situation in Czechoslovakia in the 1920s, see Kárník, České země v éře první republiky (1918–
1938) [Czech Lands in the First Republic Era (1918–1938)].
51 “[E]ither I don’t love someone at all, or I do madly!”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 129, EPGC.
51 the modernizing alterations: Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence. Ebel and
Vágnerová argue that “Spielmann was willing to design according to Otto Petschek’s desires only to a certain extent” and quit when Otto’s plans differed too greatly from his vision.
However, I contend that the fact that the architect worked on other Petschek projects makes it more likely that Otto fired him and allowed the other work to continue out of guilt or largesse, or that the parting of the ways was mutual.
51 Spielmann’s signature appeared: Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” 11. 51 hideous Beaux-Arts mansion: This mansion would become the Russian embassy and was so badly designed that the occupants found it uninhabitable, eventually moving out and using it only for parties. Its history was described to me in 2011 by the then-Russian ambassador to the Czech Republic, Sergey Kiselev, and his wife, Tatiana.
51 a conductor at last: The Petschek family believes that Otto played a leading role in the design of the palace even while Spielmann was on the project, and certainly after. Details are from Eva Petschek Goldmann, “The Otto Petschek Compound,” 1; Klainer, interview,
November 2, 2017.
51 the general contracting firm: Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 11.
52 his son, Josef: Štětka, “Stavitel velké Prahy,” [Builder of Great Prague], Dotyk: České podnikatelské nebe [Focus: The Heaven of Czech Entrepreneurs], 12.
52 scour every inch: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
52 his enormous sample books: Ibid.
52 “trashy literature exchange”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 5, MRC.
52 Barock und Rococo Architectur: Otto’s secretary typed up many reference sheets of architectural works that he wished to inspire his new villa; these can still be found in the library of the Villa Petschek. Otto relied on Barock und Rococo Architectur above all other works.
53 lists of notes and inspirations: These lists can still be found in the Zinc Room of the
Villa Petschek. Unless otherwise specified, all descriptions of Otto’s architectural notes and sketches derive from the originals still held in the Villa Petschek.
53 Otto had slashed hundreds: The missing pages were a great mystery to me until I found the documentation of Otto’s desires in the Villa Petschek. The pages listed there are the ones that are missing: he ripped them out and sent them to the architect. Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto
Petschek’s Residence.
53 Here was the basis: E.g., for the library, Otto cited Chateau de la Loire by Walters
Bucher; English Homes, period 4, volume 1; and the aforementioned Barock und Rococo, among others. For the cartouches, he referred the reader to Les anciens chateaux, Chateau de
Villarceaux, series 6; Les Trianons; and L’architecture et la décorations aux XVIII et XIX siècles by Louis Dimier. The complete collection can be found in the Zinc Room of the Villa Petschek.
53 jumping-off points: Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence. Ebel and
Vágnerová note that the architectural samples marked in Otto’s notes bear little relationship to what was actually produced; I saw this, too, when I compared.
53 The City of Prague: Prague City Hall, reference no. 21244-III/27, October 26, 1927,
Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181 [House no. 181, Department of Construction], AP6; Zahradník,
“Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 11.
53 the half-built palace: See photos held in the Museum of Prague, Historical Collections
Department.
53 why he tore out: For more on Otto’s moodiness and willingness to tear down parts of the villa when he disapproved, see Kratochvíl, Bankéři, 244–246. Details about the fortune-teller come from, e.g., Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author; and Lucy Barnard Briggs, wife of Ellis O. Briggs, U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia, 1949–1952, interview by Patricia
Squire, October 16, 1989, The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs
Oral History Program Foreign Service Spouse Series, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
53 the mad builders of Prague: For more on Emperor Rudolf, see Jaroslav Pánek, “The
Czech Estates in the Habsburg Monarchy,” in Pánek and Tůma, A History of the Czech Lands, 209–222. For Count Wallenstein, see Jiří Mikulec, “Baroque Absolutism,” in Pánek and Tůma, A
History of the Czech Lands, 237–238, 240. For Count Humprecht Jan Czernin and his palace, see
“Czernin Palace,” Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, http://www.mzv.cz/jnp/en/about_the_ministry/location_and_contacts/czernin_palace/czernin_pal ace_cerninsky_palac_1.html.
53 He lashed out angrily: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
54 “you don’t treat me like an adult”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 130, EPGC.
Although this letter is undated and may be from an earlier period, it indicates that this was a recurring theme in their disputes, and its tone is consistent with later ones.
54 movable components: Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 15.
54 fear Otto’s temper: E.g., V. Petschek, I. Petschek, and E. Petschek Goldmann, interviews by Marc Robinson.
54 a musical guessing game: Eva Petschek Goldmann, unpublished manuscript, July 1985,
4.
54 a particular target: E.g., I. Petschek, interview; Ina referred to her older brother as a
“crown prince,” and he was held to an impossible standard by his overbearing father. Further details are from Goldmann and Klainer, interview, March 25, 2015.
54 “The Hund again has an omission”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 109, EPGC.
54 “only taking responsibility”: Letter, Otto to Martha, January 1927, item 66, MRC.
54 a series of tutors: Details regarding Viky’s education and relationship with Otto are from V. Petschek, interview.
55 Viky standing on a chair: Ibid. Unless otherwise specified, all details regarding Otto’s efforts to control Viky are from this interview. 55 “Römer! Mitbürger! Freunde!”: Ibid.
55 “Rogue, blackguard”: These exchanges are jotted in the margins of Viky’s copy of a biography in English of Queen Victoria (Lytton Strachey, Queen Victoria [London, UK: Chatto
& Windus, 1922]); he evidently recorded them as part of his English practice. This copy is still held in the library of the Villa Petschek.
55 berated the three grown men: I. Petschek and V. Petschek, interview; Petschek,
Reminiscences, 28; letter, Otto to Martha, January 1927, item 66, MRC.
55 shouting matches with Otto: Petschek, Reminiscences, 28; V. Petschek, interview.
55 “Ottolini”: Petschek, Reminiscences, 28.
55 an obscure politician: Volker Ullrich, Hitler: Ascent, 1889–1939, trans. Jefferson Chase
(New York: Knopf, 2016), 189, 200. The prohibition on Hitler speaking in public was lifted in
March 1927.
55 He ripped out planned rooms: Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence;
Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 11; Prague City Hall, reference no. 21244-
III/27, Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181 [House no. 181, Department of Construction], AP6; box
512, SOA.
55 two entrances: Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence.
56 the Bauhaus modernists: Otto’s library, which can still be found in the Villa Petschek, contains numerous items highlighting twentieth-century developments in architecture, including the Bauhaus. In particular, he seems to have studied Frank Lloyd Wright; his library includes a rare oversized German volume that was the first extended scholarly treatment of Wright’s work, and which compiled about a hundred of the actual full-sized working blueprints for Wright projects. This was intended for architects to study and implement Wright’s modern innovations, including opening up interiors to light and outdoor space. The pages are well worn.
56 an Olympic-sized swimming pool: Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence; box 14, ČNB; boxes 386 and 493/1, SOA.
56 The pool grew in length: Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence.
56 run 160 feet: Box 493/1, SOA.
56 killing forty-six people: Josef Hrubeš and Eva Hrubešová, Pražské katastrofy [Prague
Disasters] (Prague: Petrklíč, 2010), 79–87.
56 A protracted negotiation: Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 11–12.
56 Otto had torn it down: For the claim of three times, see “Otto Petschek—pražský
Rothschild,” Moravská orlice, January 12, 1941. For six times, see A. Jacobson, “The
Czechoslovakian Rothschilds Prepare to Migrate to America,” Forward, August 22, 1938.
56 A second story: Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence; Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 12; Prague City Hall, reference no. III-1835/29, January 18,
1929, Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181 [House no. 181, Department of Construction], AP6.
57 put his stamp : Eva Petschek Goldmann, “The Otto Petschek Compound,” 1.
57 He and his agents: Ibid.; Penerova, “The House,” 2; Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
57 His host offered to sell: Penerova, “The House,” 14; Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto
Petschek’s Residence. The story is borne out by the unusual dimensions of the room: the ceiling is lower than any other of the formal rooms’, and the floor higher. The only other similar customization is the niche above the formal staircase, expressly molded to exactly fit and display the extraordinary tapestry, down to installing special blinds in the window on the staircase to protect it from fading.
57 lying on its side on a railcar: Unindexed collection, no. 138 and 139, ČNB; Eva
Škvárová, “Nabytkářská firma Emil Gerstel Prague a její spolupráce s architekty,” [The
Upholstery Firm Emil Gerstel Prague and Its Collaboration with Architects], 2015; Eduard
Kubů, “‘Gerstel’—Symbol zámožnosti a nábytkářské kvality: Emil Gerstel (1870–1919),
Friedrich Gerstel (1896–1967),” [Gerstel—A Symbol of Furniture Quality: Emil Gerstel (1870–
1919), Friedrich Gerstel (1896–1967)], in Drahomír Jančík and Barbora Štolleová, eds., Pivo, zbraně i tvarůžky: Podnikatelé meziválečného Československa ve víru konjunktur a krizí [Beer,
Guns, and Cheese: Entrepreneurs of Interwar Czechoslovakia in the Whirl of Conjunctures and
Crises] (Prague: Maxdorf, 2014), 148–172.
57 Martha, always nervous: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
57 Otto, alarmed: E.g., letter, Martha to Camilla, May 30, 1928, item 184, EPGC.
57 her eyesight flickered: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 76, EPGC.
58 he was back at the palace: E.g., letter, Martha to Camilla, June 9, 1928, item 187,
EPGC. Martha wrote, from her sickbed in Semmering, that “Otto is in Prague at the moment and leaves for Paris from there”—perhaps to pick up more decorations for the house.
59 the risk of his extravagance: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 10, EPGC.
59 she was too soft on him: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author. Eva felt this strongly, and others felt that she could be a pushover as well. The correspondence, however, makes it clear that she resisted, often mightily, before yielding.
59 she had never cared very much about the possessions: E.g., letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 54, EPGC. 59 “I told you so”: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
59 ask them for the money: Petschek, Reminiscences, 56; Gellert, interview, February 10,
2015.
59 the genial Paul: Eric Petschek, interview; Petschek, Reminiscences, 53-54.
59 Fritz, whose unattractive: “Posedlosti — Krajinou krásných vil a neviditelných ostřelovačů,” [Obsession—Landscape of Beautiful Villas and Invisible Snipers], November 8,
2009, http://usedlosti.ctrnactka.net/pos18.htm.
59 Uncle Julius was there: Gellert, interview, February 10, 2015.
60 “schlmiel”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 7, EPGC.
60 a working-class woman: I. Petschek, interview; Petschek, Reminiscences, 19. Eric
Petschek remembers his father, Paul’s, desires being thwarted by Isidor and Camilla, but Ina later claimed that it was Otto; perhaps the three united against the second-born son.
60 and treated Walter: Otto went so far as to tell the much-younger Viktor to, as Otto’s successor, get used to giving Walter orders, though Walter was fifteen years his senior: V.
Petschek, interview.
60 under Czech law: Gellert, interview, December 18, 2015.
60 The family business had split: Petschek, Reminiscences, 31; I. Petschek, interview; V.
Petschek, interview.
60 the other Petscheks: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author; and Gellert, interview, December 18, 2015.
60 equal shares: Gellert, interview, December 18, 2015; Petschek, Reminiscences, 56.
60 Otto fought back: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author; Klainer and P.
Goldmann, telephone interview, November 2, 2017. 3 Palace Neverending
61 Otto walked up the steps: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
61 piled high with books: Ibid.
61 If he simply stopped: Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 12; Prague
City Hall,reference no. III-1835/29,January 18, 1929, Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181 [House no.
181, Department of Construction], AP6; boxes 493/1 and 493/2, SOA.
61 a massive dining table: Boxes 6 and 7, ČNB.
62 allow diners to recline: Boxes 138 and 139, ČNB.
62 Exact copies of other: Penerova, “The House,” 5.
62 precisely duplicated: This china collection can still be found in the Villa Petschek.
62 a crew of masons: Penerova, “The House,” 7.
63 the deep walls of the pool: Ordway, “Villa Petschek,” 21.The initial approval to build the pool had been issued in 1927. See box 386, SOA.
63 By October 1929: Details of the villa’s progress by 1929 are from Ebel and Vágnerová,
Otto Petschek’s Residence; Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 12–16; and
Prague City Hall, reference no. III-1835/29, January 1929, Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181 [House no. 181, Department of Construction], AP6.
63 already oxidizing green: Pictures of the Villa Petschek from the time period, Museum of
Prague, Historical Collections Department.
63 oxen eyes: Penerova, “The House,” 2. Drawings in Otto’s hand still remain in the Villa
Petschek. 63 to open an office: Petschek, Reminiscences, 130; “The History of the Petschek and
Gellert Families,” March 1946, PFA, 19; “United Continental Corporation: History and
Background,” n.d., PFA, 31.
64 the already shaky: For histories of the Czechoslovak economy in the late 1920s and
1930s, see Kárník, České země v éře první republiky. (1918–1938) [Czech Lands in the First
Republic Era (1918–1938)]; Kratochvíl, Bankéři [Bankers]; and Kubů and Šouša, Finanční elity v českých zemích (Československu) 19. a 20. Století [Financial Elites in Czech Lands in the 19th and 20th Century].
64 managed to dodge: “United Continental Corporation: History and Background,” n.d.,
PFA, 33; Robert Goldmann, husband of Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author, New
York City, March 31, 2016.
64 Otto struggled with his mines: See Kratochvíl, Bankéři [Bankers], 259–296.
64 The Czechoslovak Communist Party was led: Karel Kaplan, Kronika komunistického
Československa: Klement Gottwald a Rudolf Slánský [Chronical of Communist Czechoslovakia:
Klement Gottwald and Rudolf Slánský] (Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2009).
64 the labor actions targeting Otto: The Communist Party formed the “Red Unions,” which then organized the strikes, most notably the big strike in 1932 in Most. During the action, two workers were shot, which led to further unrest. During the Communist era in
Czechoslovakia, this event gained mythic proportions. See Lubomír Vebr, Mostecká stávka 1932
[Most Strike 1932] (Prague: Státní nakladatelství politické literatury, 1955); and Marie Čutková, ed., Mostecké drama: Svědectví novinářů, spisovatelů a pokrokové veřejnosti o velké mostecké stávce roku 1932 [Drama of Most: Testimonies of the Journalists, Writers and Progressive Public about the Great Strike of Most in 1932] (Prague: Mladá fronta, 1972). 64 “You say that we are under command of Moscow”: Klement Gottwald, Klement
Gottwald v roce 1929: Některé projevy a články [Klement Gottwald in 1929: Selected Speeches and Articles] (Prague: Svoboda, 1950), 118–135.
65 Some irritated creditors: For the documentation of the complaints and lawsuits of Jan
Koška and Copex Expeditieberief, see boxes 272 and 348, SOA.
65 the world outside his walls: Kubů and Pátek, Mýtus a realita hospodářské vyspělosti
Československa mezi světovými válkami. [The Myth and Reality of the Czechoslovak Economic
Level between the World Wars]. Czechoslovak protectionism in foreign trade similarly did not help boost the Czech economy.
65 the greatest of the Viennese: Richhild Moessner and William A. Allen, “Banking Crises and the International Monetary System in the Great Depression and Now,” Bank for
International Settlements Working Papers (2010): 2.
65 the crisis weighed: In the fall of 1931, Otto resigned from the board. Fritz Weber, Vor dem großen Krach. Österreichs Banken in der Zwischenkriegszeit am Beispiel der Credit-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe [Before the Big Crash: Austria’s Banks in the Interwar Period, Using the Example of the Credit Institute for Commerce and Industry] (Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2016),
471.
65 the United States called: “History of Petschek & Co.,” August 11, 1942, PFA, 5–6.
65 “The biggest Czechoslovak capitalist”: National Assembly of the Czechoslovak
Republic, Chamber of Deputies, 128th meeting, June 18, 1931, Digital Library of the Czech
Parliament, http://www.psp.cz/eknih/1929ns/ps/stenprot/128schuz/s128006.htm.
65 Maryčka Magdonova: “Maryčka Magdonova” was written by Petr Bezruč. The story of the Petschek daughters comes from I. Petschek, interview. 66 increased Nazi representation: Ullrich, Hitler: Ascent, 232.
66 He abandoned Berlin: Petschek, Reminiscences, 53–54; V. Petschek, interview.
66 He was a leading sponsor: Otto was also on the board of trustees at the Czech Museum for Industrial Art. See “History of the Petschek-Gellert Family,” November 13, 1945, box 8,
Yarrow Papers, Eisenhower Library.
66 too German: For more, see Čapková, Czechs, Germans, Jews?, 90–91.
66 the harder he worked: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
66 studies of Fascism: Among these were seminal works expressing the Nazi ideology, such as Guenther’s Rassenkunde des juedischen Volkes [Race Anthropology of the Jewish
People], as well as volumes attacking it, such as Hegemann’s Entlarvte Geschichte, a polemic against Fascism and Nazi attempts to rewrite history by claiming historical figures as antecedents of their movement. It would become a focus of the book burning of 1933 in Berlin. Among
Otto’s many books on economics and finance were American Banking Methods and English
Banking Methods by Leonard le Marchant Minty, The Financial Crisis of France and The
Economic War by George Peel, and Taussig’s Principles of Economics, volumes 1 and 2.
66 a man of sixty-five: V. Petschek, interview; Viktor’s description of his father, and evidence that Martha aged with him, is also confirmed in photos, EPGC and MRC.
67 “Now you will get mad”: Letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 166, EPGC.
67 “Don’t scold me!”: Ibid., item 54.
67 One place that he refused to scrimp: Penerova, “The House,” 6.
67 thousand-stream shower: Ibid.
67 detailed written instructions: The instructions can still be found in the Villa Petschek. 67 moving into the palace: Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 17–18;
Prague City Hall, reference no. 49881/30, December 29, 1930, Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181
[House no. 181, Department of Construction], AP6; boxes 329/1, SOA; Penerova, “The House,”
8.
68 June 1931: Penerova, “The House,” 8.
68 Otto proudly led them: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
68 Martha had made her peace: E.g., letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 176, EPGC.
68 crossed the lush green oval: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author; Eva was kind enough to recall her moving-in experience, still traumatic eighty years later. Her children remarked to me after she died how precise her recollection of her childhood had been. Other of these details are drawn from V. Petschek, I. Petschek, and Eva Petschek Goldmann, interviews by Marc Robinson.
69 hosted elegant dinners: All details, unless otherwise specified, regarding Otto and
Martha’s dinner parties are from Penerova, “The House,” 9, 12, 13–14, 20.
69 ecru silk panels: Eva Petschek Goldmann, unpublished manuscript, July 1985, 2.
69 his treasures: Ordway, “Villa Petschek,” 8. The Meissen remains in the vitrine in the
Damenzimmer.
70 would grow accustomed: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
70 butlers served them: Eva Petschek Goldmann, unpublished manuscript, July 1985, 3.
70 the giant basement pool: Ordway, “Villa Petschek,” 22–23; Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
70 “would have killed me”: V. Petschek, interview.
70 a small, simple chamber: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author. 70 tapping out the beat: Ibid.
71 Otto’s forbidding mien: P. Goldmann and Klainer, interview by the author, New York
City, March 25, 2015; Ruth Stein, niece of Otto and Martha Petschek, interview by the author,
Washington, DC, February 8, 2015.
71 “It’s relaxing”: Stein, interview.
71 vacation to the Netherlands: E.g., letter, Otto to Martha, c. 1931, item 194, EPGC;
Ibid., item 193; and Ibid., item 170.
71 He escorted them to the beach: Letter, Otto to Martha, c. 1931, item 193, EPGC; Ibid., item 172; Ibid., item 170.
71 He told them tales: Letter, Otto to Martha, c. 1931, item 174, EPGC.
71 he had to cut it short: Ibid., item 178; Ibid., item 173.
71 sudden swerves of temper: Otto’s intimidating presence was confirmed by nearly every family member whom I spoke to.
71 no fonder of it: Zdeněk Lukeš, architecture critic, interview by the author, Prague,
August 5, 2016; and, e.g., National Assembly of the Czechoslovak Republic, Chamber of
Deputies, 128th meeting, June 18, 1931, Digital Library of the Czech Parliament, http://www.psp.cz/eknih/1929ns/ps/stenprot/128schuz/s128006.htm.
71 $100 million today: This figure is from Penerova, “The House,” 8; this conversion was done using an historical conversion chart, together with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI inflation calculator: Juergen Schneider, Oskar Schwarzer, and Markus Denzel, Währungen der
Welt II. Europäische und nordamerikanische Devisenkurse (1914–1951) [Currency of the World
II: European and North American Exchange Rates (1914–1951)] (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner
Verlag, 1997), 346–347. 71 a moment of resurgent nationalism: Otto’s style was not indebted to a particular national tradition; rather, it was an expression of his own eclectic tastes, drawing on a mix of different historical influences. Such constructions established members of the Jewish community as economic and cultural forces in their own right: Zdeněk Lukeš, interview by the author; As
Frederic Bedoire points out, it was a commonly expressed desire of Jewish entrepreneurs to construct a freestanding villa that “catered to the need for freedom and independence, a desire to be visible and identified in the city, but also a place where one could withdraw into almost complete seclusion.” Frederic Bedoire, The Jewish Contribution to Modern Architecture, 1830–
1930 (Stockholm: KTAV Publishing House, 2004), 229.
71 boarding school in England: Hoag, interview.
71 overnight with friends: Details regarding Martha’s maternal anxiety can be found in, e.g., letter, Otto to Martha, n.d., item 159, EPGC. Otto offhandedly mentions that Viky “was very silent and depressed,” before hastening to add, “But you shouldn’t imagine too much depression.”
72 cut him deeply: This irritation is reflected in the correspondence with Martha about
Viky’s course of action; e.g., letter, Otto to Martha, c. 1930, item 154, EPGC.
72 Otto would accompany him: Ibid.
72 never to set foot: V. Petschek, interview. According to Marc Robinson’s interview notes,
Viktor wanted to be British—perhaps another way of distancing himself from his father.
72 his daily stresses: This section and those that follow are based upon Otto’s medical records, which, remarkably, still exist in the PFA.
72 his groans were heard: Professor Dr. Herrnheiser, “Results of the X-ray examination of
Otto Petschek,” September 8, 1931, PFA. 72 They found nothing life threatening: The doctors found colitis and an irregularly shaped heart valve, but nothing more urgent. Ibid., November 26, 1931, PFA.
73 same violent, thrusting pain: Ibid.
73 again moved to the hospital: For Otto’s additional health records, see box 414, SOA.
73 The tall, balding, silent Czech: Penerova, “The House,” 15, 16; Jan Hájek and Miroslav
Hájek, great-nephews of Adolf Pokorný, interview by Mikuláš Pešta, Prague, November 15,
2017.
73 skilled, long-fingered hands: Penerova, “The House,” 15, 17.
73 a one-room hospital: Ibid., 11.
73 sensation returned: Professor Dr. Herrnheiser, “Results of the X-ray examination of
Otto Petschek,” November 26, 1931, PFA.
73 Otto came to occupy: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author; box 414, SOA.
74 Otto dismissed such talks: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
74 a series of unusual contraptions: Ebel and Vágnerová, Otto Petschek’s Residence;
Penerova, “The House,” 12.
74 Dr. Gustav Zander: Megan Garber, “Going to the Gym Today? Thank This 19th
Century Orthopedist,” Atlantic, January 2, 2013.
74 first recorded private use: “Vila jako Zámek,” [Villa as the Chateau], Residence
Magazín, Bydlení jako v pohádce [Living Like a Fairytale], n.d., 84–88.
74 Zander Room: A switchboard in the villa still contains the notation.
74 Industrial production: Agnew, The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, 191.
74 Social unrest was spreading: Ibid., 191–193. 74 Almost a million: 6,993,000 working people, according to the census in 1930. See Zora
Pryor, “Czechoslovak Economic Development in the Interwar Period,” in Victor S. Mamatey and Radomír V. Luža, eds., A History of the Czechoslovak Republic 1918–1948 (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1973), 188–215.
74 “The Czech government”: Čutková, Mostecké drama [Drama of Most], 43.
75 guarded the core freedoms: Agnew, The Czech and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown,
198.
75 Masaryk had returned the favor: “Petschek & Co.,” Knihy znovunalezené [Books
Discovered Once Again], September 6, 2016, http://knihyznovunalezene.eu/en/vlastnici/petschek.html.
75 Masaryk’s deputy: P. Goldmann, interview, October 23, 2017.
75 “Little Entente”: Agnew, The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, 189–190,
193–194; Harna, “First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938),” 402.
75 outnumbering the troops: William Manchester, The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative
History of America, 1932–1972 (Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown, 1974), 6.
75 promptly banned the party: Zeman and Klimek, The Life of Edvard Beneš, 118.
75 ask Otto for a loan: Penerova, “The House,” 20; “History of the Petschek and Gellert
Families,” March 1946, PFA, 17.
75 Beneš encouraged Petschek support: Ibid., 22.
75 Otto was asked to represent Czechoslovakia: “Report concerning the choice of the
Czechoslovak member of the Administration Board of the High Commissariat for Refugees by the League of Nations,” November 10, 1933, box 926, 3. Společnost národů [The League of
Nations], II. politická sekce [Political Section], Archiv Ministerstva zahraničních věcí [Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs], Prague (henceforth MFA); Kateřina Čapková and Michal
Frankl, Nejisté útočiště: Československo a uprchlíci před nacismem 1933-1938 [Uncertain
Sanctuary: Czechoslovakia and the Refugees from Nazism 1933-1938], (Prague: Paseka, 2008),
84.
75 the Nazi Party had become the largest: See, e.g., Ian Kershaw, Hitler: 1889–1936
Hubris (New York: Norton, 1998), 497-591.
75 Jews and liberals were taking flight: Mark Mazower, Dark Continent: Europe’s
Twentieth Century (New York: Knopf, 1999), 43, 56–57.
76 The Nazis had called for a boycott: Ullrich, Hitler: Ascent, 441–445.
76 The floodwaters of Nazism: Eva Petschek Goldmann recalled that Fraulein Fürst departed earlier in the 1930s; Penerova seems to place it later in the decade. I believe this to be one of the occasions on which Penerova is inaccurate, but due to the uncertainty I have placed this event in a freestanding section and not assigned it a precise date.
76 one of the first basement rooms: Penerova, “The House,” 11.
76 Fürst had never been a warm person: Penerova puts it diplomatically: Fürst “can’t be remembered as a beloved member of staff.” See Penerova, “The House,” 20; Eva Petschek
Goldmann, interview by the author; and P. Goldmann, interview, November 2, 2017.
77 back to Würzburg: Penerova, “The House,” 11, 20.
77 Martha explained: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author; Penerova, “The
House,” 11, 20.
77 When Otto could go to his bank: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author. 77 He remained fundamentally optimistic: Penerova, “The House,” 20. Penerova surmised that “maybe [Otto] believed that . . . great capital will be always connected with a certain exceptional position of safety.”
77 He seems to have believed: Indeed, the business did not feel threatened or begin taking serious measures to deal with the German regime’s anti-Semitism until October 1936. See
“United Continental Corporation: History and Background,” PFA, 40.
77 Not all the Petscheks: Gellert, interview, February 10, 2015; Petschek, Reminiscences,
75–77; Penerova, “The House,” 20–21.
77 Some began taking steps: R. Goldmann, interview.
77 Otto did not think: There is no indication that Otto took any such measures. Penerova,
“The House,” 20.
77 Instead, Otto’s daily routine: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author. Eva and the rest of the children had occasion to observe the routine, though they were under strict orders not to disturb it.
77 Otto did not permit vehicles: Penerova, “The House,” 22A.
77 Little did Otto imagine: B. Kafka and D. Kafka, interview, March 20, 2015.
77 Otto fired off: A packet of Otto’s dictations, likely left behind by accident, survives in the Villa Petschek.
78 In the afternoon: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by Marc Robinson.
78 Otto even created a Golfzimmer: The name of the room is still on an old switchboard in the basement.
78 he felt much better: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author; box 414, SOA. 78 “He already looks like an Englishman”: Letter, Otto to Martha, c. 1930, item 161,
EPGC.
78 apprentice in a bank: V. Petschek, interview; Hoag, interview.
78 The younger children: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author; Eva Petschek
Goldmann, unpublished manuscript, July 1985, 2; Ordway, “Villa Petschek,” 9.
78 They had inherited : Photos of Eva, Ina, and Rita wearing a variety of costumes can be found in the EPGC.
78 He acquired a rare: Penerova, “The House,” 28.
79 treyf (nonkosher food) cooking: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author; P.
Goldmann and Klainer, interview, March 25, 2015.
79 a hundred red poinsettias: Penerova, “The House,” 9.
79 Pokorný and his wife helped: Ibid., 15.
79 Mrs. Pokorný operated the switchboard: Ibid.
79 Asperin von Sternberg: Rita Petschek, daughter of Otto and Martha Petschek, interview by Marc Robinson, date unknown.
79 the bank’s health: “United Continental Corporation: History and Background,” undated,
PFA, 35. There were severe strains in the early 1930s, but they were resolved.
79 an uptick: Kubů and Pátek, Mýtus a realita hospodářské vyspělosti Československa mezi světovými válkami [The Myth and Reality of the Czechoslovak Economic Level between the
World Wars], 408–412.
79 That spring, Martha and her sister: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by Marc
Robinson.
79 Martha was a bit anxious: Ibid; Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author. 80 He had barred Eva: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by Marc Robinson.
80 He consulted remotely: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
80 He decided to make: Ibid; Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by Marc Robinson; box
414, SOA.
80 Otto was rushed off: Otto’s death notice can be found in box 502/2, SOA.
80 The Hitlerians had responded: Barbara Jelavich, Modern Austria: Empire and
Republic, 1815–1986 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 201–202.
81 At the hospital: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author.
81 The steadfast Pokorný: Penerova discussed Pokorný’s presence; see Penerova, “The
House,” 18. However, the information is otherwise slightly off.
81 his heart stopped beating: Otto’s death notice can be found in box 502/2, SOA; contemporaneous articles discussing his death can be found in box 314/1, SOA.
81 “[N]o stairs to the basement”: Prague City Hall, reference no. 379264/34, August 11,
1934, Odbor výstavby - Dům č. 181 [House no. 181, Department of Construction], AP6;
Zahradník, “Dějiny domu,” [History of the House], 19.
4 The Final Child
82 “The Petscheks are gone!”: Quotations and the other details in this chapter are based on my conversations with my mother over many years. Other sources are noted where relevant. I am grateful to Denisa Vinanska of Sobrance for her many exchanges with me regarding the history of the town. To corroborate my mother’s recollections of Sobrance, I relied upon Lýdia Gačková et al., Dejiny Sobraniec [History of Sobrance], ed. Peter Kónya and Martin Molnár (Prešov:
Vydavateľstvo Prešovskej univerzity v Prešove pre mestský úrad v Sobranciach, 2013).
85 some folded papers: American Embassy Application; for a list of materials required for immigration to the United States pre-1939, see “Documents Required for Immigration to the
United States,” Memory & Action: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Magazine,
Spring 2016, 5. The original visa application forms can be found in US Department of State,
“Admission of Aliens into the United States: Supplement A of the Consular Regulations Notes to
Section 361; Revised to January 1, 1936” (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing
Office, 1935), 146.
89 “A wife of noble character”: Proverbs 31:10–20 (New International Version).
5 An Artist of War
101 The black diplomatic Mercedes pulled away: For the time and destination of the vehicle, see cable from the German Minister in Czechoslovakia (Eisenlohr) and the Military
Attache of the German Legation in Czechoslovakia (Toussaint) to the German Foreign Ministry and the war Ministry, Prague, May 21, 1938, 9:30 p.m., Documents on German Foreign Policy,
1918–1945. From the Archives of the German Foreign Ministry (DGFP), series D, vol. 2
(Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1949), no. 182: 309–311; and
Andor Hencke, Augenzeuge einer Tragödie. Diplomatenjahre in Prag, 1936–1939 [Eyewitness of a Tragedy: Diplomatic Years in Prague, 1936–1939] (Munich: Fides Verlagsgesellschaft,
1977), 90–92. Germany maintained a legation (Gesandtschaft) in Prague. Although they were nearly identical in function to embassies, legations were established in smaller countries such as
Czechoslovakia. This distinction was abolished after World War II. For the make of Toussaint’s official car, see memo by Eisenlohr, February 9, 1937, Gesandtschaft Prag [Legation in Prague]
(RAV Prag 6), Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amts [Political Archive of the Foreign
Office], Berlin (henceforth PAdAA).
101 forty-seven years old and square jawed: Toussaint was born on May 2, 1891, in
Egglkofen, Bavaria. See his personnel file, Personalbogen, Rudolf Toussaint
Offizierspersonalakten [Officers’ Personnel Files] (henceforth OP) 61643, Bayerisches
Hauptstaatsarchiv [Bavarian State Archives], Munich (henceforth BayHStA). This description is based on photos of Toussaint from the late 1930s, shared by Alexander Toussaint, his grandson:
Toussaint Family Archive (TFA). Additional details about Toussaint’s appearance are drawn from a lengthy interview with Alexander, conducted by the author in Prague on August 7–8, 2016. That conversation incorporated information from numerous other talks with him in 2015 and 2016; all are collectively cited here as “Alexander Toussaint, interviews.”
101 The chauffeur conveyed: Alexandr Štorch, Plán velké Prahy [Map of Greater Prague],
[map], 1:19,000, (Prague: A. Štorch Syn, 1939).
101 many owned by the famous Petschek clan: Krejčová and Vlček, Lives for Ransom,
366.
101 Limousines were waiting: For the timing and activity of the Petscheks’ departure, I drew upon Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by the author; and Gellert, interview by the author, February 10, 2015; and B. Kafka and D. Kafka, interview by the author, Washington,
DC, October 16, 2015.
101 the man in the backseat: Alexander Toussaint, interviews. The scenario is based upon the timing of Toussaint's travel and the Petscheks departure in May 1938.
102 He had trained as an artist: Toussaint defense, War Crimes Trial, October 25, 1948,
Prague, LS 804/48, box 881, SOA.
102 the regime that he served: Alexander Toussaint, interviews. At his trial, Toussaint also claimed, “As an old German family, [we] were totally against membership [in the NSDAP].”
See Toussaint defense, War Crimes Trial, October 25, 1948, Prague, LS 804/48, box 881, SOA.
102 hurtling toward conflict: I drew upon the definitive English-language overview of the
May Crisis and other events of 1938: Igor Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler: The
Diplomacy of Edvard Beneš in the 1930s (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 148–157.
Among other sources, one that stands out is Detlef Brandes, Die Sudetendeutschen im Krisenjahr
1938 [The Sudeten Germans in the Crisis Year 1938]. Munich: Oldenbourg, 2008.
102 To try to defuse it: Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 90. 102 Toussaint hated: Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
102 He had survived: Toussaint was a decorated veteran. Details on his career in the military are drawn from his personnel file: Personalbogen, Rudolf Toussaint OP 61643, BayHStA. The death toll of the First World War changed Europe’s demographic composition. As an officer,
Toussaint saw this carnage firsthand, and many of his men perished in the conflict. For a military history of the First World War, including the battles reflected in Toussaint’s military records, see
John Keegan, The First World War (London, UK: Vintage, 2000).
102 Toussaint knew that the Czechs: Letter, Toussaint to supervisor in Berlin, March 26,
1938, RH 2/2934, 35–36, Bundesarchiv Militärarchiv [Federal Archives—Military Archives],
Freiburg im Breisgau (henceforth BA MA).
102 fighting their way out: Tomáš Masaryk, The Making of a State, trans. Henry Wickham
Steed (New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1927), 177.
102 Today’s Czech military: Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 144–145; and Detlef Brandes, Die Sudetendeutschen im Krisenjahr 1938 [The Sudeten Germans in the
Crisis Year 1938] (Munich: Oldenbourg, 2009).
102 If the Czechs: Peter Hoffmann, History of the German Resistance, 1933–1945, trans.
Richard Barry (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1996), 51.
102 Toussaint hoped to: An August 17, 1938, memo from the British military attaché in
Prague records Toussaint saying that he had always hoped for a peaceful resolution of the
Sudeten question. See memo, Newton (British Legation, Prague) to Viscount Halifax, August 17,
1938, in E. L. Woodward, Rohan Butler, and Margaret Lambert, eds., Documents on British
Foreign Policy, 1919–1939 (DBFP), Series 3, vol. 2, no. 675, 1938 (London, UK: His Majesty’s
Stationery Office, 1949), 144. 103 contacted him frequently: Memo, Newton to Halifax, November 1, 1938, DBFP, Series
3, vol. 3, no. 253-255.
103 after invading Austria: Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 126–130.
103 Toussaint was born: Rudolf Toussaint personnel file, Personalbogen 6/371, BA MA; and Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
103 But his transfer application: The army’s Topographical Office reports that his sample drawings “lack the eye for and understanding of the sharpness and cleanness necessary for cartographic drawings.” See “Topographisches Büro to Bayerisches Ministerium für Militärische
Angelegenheiten,” May 17, 1919, OP 61643 (49), BayHStA.
103 In 1936, Toussaint was serving: Memo from the Foreign Office, October 13, 1936,
RAV Prag 6, PAdAA; memo of the General Staff, October 10, 1936, Rudolf Toussaint personnel file, Personalbogen 6/371, BA MA.
104 But he seems to have assumed: His military record shows that his evaluating officers characterized him as extremely competent and dependable. See Rudolf Toussaint’s personnel file, Personalbogen 6/371, BA MA.
104 There was another advantage: Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
104 For years, he had warily watched: Ibid; and Toussaint defense, War Crimes Trial,
October 25, 1948, Prague, LS 804/48, box 881, SOA.
104 Like other who had come up through the ranks: At his trial, Toussaint stated, “I was never a member of NSDAP, I always refused as well as my wife and son and anyone from my family. We, as an old German family were totally against being members. My wife was also not a member of NSV [National Socialist Women’s Association]. I was also twice reminded by the provincial commander about it and he recommended to me that I become a member.” See Toussaint defense, War Crimes Trial, October 25, 1948, Prague, LS 804/48. k. č. 881, SOA.
Toussaint criticized Hitler’s itching for war in Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 148.
104 Her brother had: Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
104 He announced to his startled parents: Ibid.
104 the German legation notified their hosts: The German Foreign Office expressed its intention to send Toussaint to the Prague posting in November in a memo to the German legation in Prague on October 8, 1936; see RAV Prag 6, PAdAA.
104 Toussaint was met with: Internal memo, German Legation, Prague, November 9, 1936,
RAV Prag 6, PAdAA.
104 When the government organized: Letter, Toussaint to supervisor (name illegible),
November 25, 1937, RH 2/2934 (28) BA MA.
105 In February 1937: An article first appeared in Večerní České slovo on February 5, 1937.
The legation’s reaction is recorded in memo by Eisenlohr, February 9, 1937, RAV Prag 6
PAdAA.
105 The following October: The newspaper Baseler Nationale Zeitung published a similar article on October 5, 1937. The legation’s reaction to this article can be found in memo by
Eisenlohr, October 12, 1937, RAV Prag 6, PAdAA.
105 The police interviewed: Ibid.
105 he had fallen in love: Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
105 He worked out a compromise: Memo, German embassy in Prague to German Foreign
Ministry, April 22, 1938, RAV Prag 6, PAdAA.
105 “situation was too complex”: Cable, Toussaint to supervisor, November 5, 1937, RH
2/2934 (20), BA MA. 105 Privately, Berlin instructed Toussaint: In February 1938, the German minister in
Prague, Eisenlohr, met with Beneš and assured him that Germany had only peaceful intentions.
Beneš replied that he was willing to negotiate but only on his terms. If Hitler did not like them,
Beneš “did not care.” See Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 122.
105 On February 20: Ibid.
106 Ehrenwort: Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 125–126.
106 “according to information”: Memo by the deputy head of the Political Department in the German Foreign Ministry (Bismarck), Berlin, March 16, 1938, DGFP, series D, vol. 2
(1937–1945) (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1949), no. 85: 169.
106 “knew nothing of such preparations”: Ibid.
106 his assertion was proven correct: Ibid.
106 This was what he had been working for: Toussaint thought that an undisturbed continuance of developments in Czechoslovakia would strengthen the German hand. See letter,
Toussaint to supervisor, March 18, 1938, RH 2/2934 (33–34) BA MA.
106 The SdP’s demand: “Karlsbader Programm Henleins,” [Henlein’s Karlsbad Program], in Herder-Institut, ed., Dokumente und Materialien zur ostmitteleuropäischen Geschichte.
Themenmodul “Erste Tschechoslowakische Republik,” [Documents and Materials on Eastern
Central European History. Theme module “First Czechoslovak Republic”], ed. Mirek Němec, https://www.herder-institut.de/resolve/qid/660.html.
107 “One people, one empire, one leader!”: The majority of Sudeten Germans reacted with enthusiasm to the annexation of Austria. Among SdP members, the conviction soon spread that the annexation of the Sudetenland by the German empire was to be expected. Members greeted each other with the salute and “Heil Hitler” and demonstrated their ethnic affiliation by wearing white stockings. See Brandes, Die Sudetendeutschen [The Sudeten Germans], 312–315.
107 On May 19: To piece together Toussaint’s experiences during the May Crisis, I drew upon Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 143-157; Jodl diary entry, August 24,
1938, Defense Document Books, Alfred Jodl, JO 14, Records of the Office of the US Chief
Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Record Group (henceforth RG) 238, National
Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD (henceforth NARA); and Affidavit of
Infantry General Rudolf Toussaint, April 3, 1946, Defense Document Books, Alfred Jodl, JO 62,
Records of the Office of the US Chief Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, RG 238,
NARA.
107 Backed by intelligence reports: Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 152.
The intelligence reports would soon turn out to be erroneous.
107 On the twentieth: Ibid., 144; Zdeněk Beneš and Václav Kural, eds., Facing History: The
Evolution of Czech-German Relations in the Czech Provinces, 1848–1948 (Prague: Gallery for the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, 2002), 145.
107 Overnight, placards were pasted: Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 87.
107 he called his contact: Cable, Eisenlohr and Toussaint to the German Foreign Ministry and the War Ministry, May 21, 1938, DGFP, series D, vol. 2, no. 182: 309–310; Hencke,
Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 90.
107 But when Toussaint headed to the legation: Ibid.
107 “for the restoration”: Cable, Eisenlohr and Toussaint to the German Foreign Ministry and the War Ministry, May 21, 1938, DGFP, series D, vol. 2, no. 182: 310.
107 “provisionally concerned”: Ibid. 107 troops appeared to be mobilizing: Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler,
144–145.
108 At six p.m.: Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 91.
108 The name meant “tailor”: For more on General Krejčí, see Jiří Fidler, At the Head of the Army: The Chief of the Armed Forces 1919–1939 (Prague: Naše vojsko, 2005), 51–57, 132; and Pavel Šrámek and Martin Ráboň, eds., Army General Ludvík Krejčí in Documents and
Photographs (Brno: Society of Friends of the Czechoslovak Fortifications, 2000), 95.
108 Toussaint described: Cable, Eisenlohr and Toussaint to the German Foreign Ministry and the War Ministry, May 21, 1938, DGFP, series D, vol. 2, no. 182: 309–311; Hencke,
Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 90–92.
108 “irrefutable proof”: Ibid.
109 No one knew for sure: Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 148–157.
109 At 10:50 p.m., they cabled: Cable, Eisenlohr and Toussaint to German Foreign
Ministry, May 21, 1938, DGFP, series D, vol. 2, no. 183: 311.
109 By the end of the day on Sunday: Göring had telephoned Hitler and relayed his assurances repeatedly, as did Baron von Neurath. Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and
Hitler, 126.
109 Red Defense: The Red Defense and other destabilizing forces in the First Republic are named in the following: cable, Eisenlohr to Foreign Office and Ministry of War, no. 161, May
23, 1938, Büro des Staatssekretär [Office of the State Secretary] R 29765, PAdAA.
109 Toussaint and Hitler: Cable, Newton to Halifax, November 1, 1938, DBFP, series 3, vol. 3, 253–255.
109 To Hitler: Ullrich, Hitler: Ascent, 1889–1939, 417. 109 “brown-eyed”: Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
109 As tensions rose: As the British military attaché in Prague wrote to London in late 1938,
“Colonel Toussaint has frequently been in personal touch with the Führer.” See cable, Mr.
Newton (Prague) to Viscount Halifax (London), November 1, 1938, DBFP, series 3, vol. 3, no.
286: 253–255.
109 On Monday, May 23: Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 101.
110 The ceremony would be held: For the context of the funeral that was held in Cheb, including the demographics and political leanings of the town, see Brandes, Die
Sudetendeutschen [The Sudeten Germans], 157–158; Heribert Sturm, Eger: Geschichte einer
Reichsstadt [Eger: History of an Imperial City] (Augsburg: Kraft, 1951), vol. 1: 228.
110 The slightest miscalculation: A photograph of the funeral procession, with Toussaint just out of frame, appeared on the front page of the May 27, 1938, edition of The Baltimore Sun, beneath the headline, FUNERAL THAT BROUGHT EUROPE TO THE VERGE OF WAR.
110 Toussaint and his colleagues protested: Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 101.
110 He was ordered: Vlastimil Klíma, 1938: Měli jsme kapitulovat? [1938: Should We Have
Surrendered?], eds. Robert Kvaček, Josef Tomeš, and Richard Vašek (Prague: NLN-
Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 2012), 21.
111 Toussaint maintained a military salute: Photo: Berliner Verlag/Archive (ČTK
Fotobanka: Third Reich-Sudetenland Crisis 1938).
111 He placed first one wreath: G. E. R. Gedye, “Fiery Talks Mark Sudetens’ Funeral,”
New York Times, May 26, 1938.
111 “It is not my intention to smash”: Emphasis added. Keitel, Generalfeldmarshall Keitel.
Verbrecher oder Offizier? Erinnerungen, Briefe, Dokumente des Chefs OKW [General Fieldmarshall Keitel: Criminal or Officer? Memories, Letters, and Documents from the Head of the OKW], ed. Walter Görlitz (Göttingen: Musterschmidt Verlag, 1961), 183; William L. Shirer,
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1960), 365.
111 “It is my unalterable decision to smash”: Emphasis added. Letter, Hitler and Keitel to von Brauchitsch, Raeder, Göring, May 20, 1938, States Exhibit no. 69, Nuremberg Trial
Proceedings, vol. 3, Eleventh Day, December 3, 1945, items 11, 16 English version, The Avalon
Project At the Yale Law School: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/12-03-45.asp.
111 “The situation here”: Letter, Toussaint to superior in Berlin, June 1, 1938, RH 2/2934
(45) BA MA.
112 “Negotiations between the government”: Letter, Toussaint to superior in Berlin,
August 17, 1938, RH 2/2934 (47–52), BA MA.
112 Henlein and Frank had instructions: Letter, Toussaint to general, August 17, 1938, RH
2/2934 (47–52), BA MA. See also Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 185.
112 “We must always demand”: Report by Henlein, March 28, 1938, DGFP, series D, vol.
2, no. 107: 197. See also Ruth Bondy, “Elder of the Jews”: Jakob Edelstein of Theresienstadt
(New York: Grove Press, 1989), 81; and Radomír Luža, The Transfer of the Sudeten Germans: A
Study of Czech-German Relations, 1933–1962 (New York: New York University Press, 1964),
114.
112 there would be conflict: In mid-August, 1938, Rudolf Toussaint met with his British military attaché counterpart, H. C. T. Stronge, for a remarkably frank, and prescient, conversation. Toussaint told Stronge that he “had always hoped for a possible peaceful solution of the Sudeten question.” But at the moment, however, “it was hard to see a ray of light.”
Stronge asked Toussaint whether a full Czech cession of Sudetenland autonomy to Germany would satisfy the Nazis. Toussaint replied that he “could not candidly say yes.” Stronge then asked Toussaint if all-out war was the only solution that he foresaw. Toussaint exclaimed, “No, at all events not a European war.” Yet he told Stronge that a local war was inevitable if a settlement was not achieved. Toward the end of the meeting, Toussaint told Stronge that
“Germans in common with other peoples desired only to live in peace but they seemed destined to have to fight for the mere ‘Lebensraum’ which was necessary to enable them to feed their people and to live in decency.”
Unnerved, Stronge reminded Toussaint that “He knew as well as I did that once war was let loose no one could foretell as to who might ultimately be fighting who.” Toussaint agreed and changed the subject. See cable, Mr. Newton, British Legation in Prague, to Halifax, August 23,
1938, DBFP, series 3, vol. 2, no. 675, 143-146.
112 “as to how these states”: Letter, Toussaint to superior, August 17, 1938, RH 2/2932
(47–51), BA MA.
112 envoys from each of the three countries secretly suggested: Lukes, Czechoslovakia
Between Stalin and Hitler, 173–189; Letter, Toussaint to supervisor, August 17, 1938, RH 2/
2934 (47–51), BA MA.
112 In a desperate bid: Shirer, Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, 383.
113 Henlein contrived: Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 188.
113 Jodl confided that Hitler: Just prior to his conference with Toussaint, Jodl wrote a top- secret memo to Hitler outlining the military’s strategy for Case Green. Jodl explained to Hilter that he and his colleagues intended to use an “incident” in Czechoslovakia as pretext for military intervention. However, in the event of an invasion, Germans living in Czechoslovakia, like
Toussaint, would be placed at risk from German bombing. The German Foreign Office had questioned whether Germans, government workers and otherwise, should be recalled to safer territory before the planned provocation. Jodl argued that this would shatter the illusion. He wrote, “The question raised by the Foreign Office as to whether all Germans should be called back in time from prospective enemy territories must in no way lead to the conspicuous departure from Czechoslovakia of any German subjects before the incident. Even a warning of the diplomatic representatives in Prague is impossible before the first air attack, although the consequences could be very grave in the event of their becoming victims of such an attack.” The
Führer approved Jodl’s plan; Germans in Czcehoslovakia would not be notified of an impending attack. In the shadow of war, Toussaint and his colleagues at the Embassy would remain in the dark.
See “Case Green, August 24–31, 1938,” Defense Document Books, JO 14, Records of the Office of the US Chief Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, RG 238, NARA.
113 Jodl wanted a candid assessment: Diary of General Jodl, translation of doc. no. 1700-
PS, September 7, 1938, microfilm T84, roll 268, frame 180 (51) NARA.
113 “judge[d] the Czech situation”: All quotations from Toussaint’s September 7, 1938, conference with Jodl in Berlin are from Ibid.
113 Once back at the legation: Andor Hencke was the first counselor to the German legation in Prague at the time. His memoir, though it must be treated carefully, is indispensable for describing the atmosphere in the German embassy in Prague from 1937 through 1939. See
Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness]. 113 “Hitler has established”: Ibid., 148. Further details of Hencke’s and Toussaint’s actions are also drawn from Hencke’s account.
114 “like helpless wild-fowl”: Hitler, “The Final Speech of the Fuehrer at the Nuremberg
Party Days,” speech on the Sudeten Germans, September 12, 1938, published in the Freiburger
Zeitung 135, no. 249 (September 13, 1938): 1.
114 “completely broken”: Friedrich-Carl Hanesse, statement under oath, November 28,
1949, Toussaint War Crimes Trial, Abt. IV OP 61643, BayHStA.
114 Now Germany faced: Most top generals believed that Germany was ill equipped for an early strike against the Czechs and advised Hitler to that effect. See, e.g., Hoffmann, History of the German Resistance, 1933–45, 49–98.
114 The Führer’s rantings: Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 147; Lukes, Czechoslovakia
Between Stalin and Hitler, 211–213.
114 The next day, Toussaint informed: Cable, Toussaint and Hencke to Wehrmacht High
Command (OKW) Attachegruppe, no. 356, September 13, 1938, Büro des Staatssekretär [Office of the State Secretary] R 29.767, PAdAA .
114 “We want to return to the Reich”: “Special Announcement of the German News
Agency: Henlein’s Proclamation to the Sudeten Germans demanding return to the Reich,”
DGFP, series D, vol. 2, no. 490: 802.
114 In response, the Czechs dissolved: Brandes, Die Sudetendeutschen [The Sudeten
Germans], 281.
114 The legation was flooded: Details on activities in the German embassy in Prague after
Hitler’s speech on September 12, 1938, can be found in Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 153. 115 “Spreading of the news”: Cable, Toussaint and Hencke to the OKW, September 17,
1938, DGFP, series 2, vol. 2, no. 515: 824.
115 he was more determined than ever: Toussaint reportedly told a friend, “And now more than ever I will do everything I can for an agreement between Germany and Czechoslovakia.”
See Friedrich-Carl Hanesse, statement under oath, November 28, 1949, OP 61643, BayHStA.
115 Their reaction to Hitler’s: Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 211–212.
115 On September 14: Ibid., 215.
115 the first meeting between Chamberlain and Hitler: This account of the meeting at
Berchtesgaden is based on Ibid., 216–218.
115 Nor did they receive: Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 151–167.
115 Toussaint and his colleagues: Ibid., 154.
116 “Thanks, excellently”: Jodl diary entry, September 22, 1938, Alfred Jodl, doc. JO 13,
Records of the Office of the US Chief Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Defense
Document Books, RG 238, NARA.
116 Jodl hurriedly explained: There were several phone calls between the OKW in Berlin and Toussaint in Prague during this September time frame. The following account of the call between Jodl and Toussaint reflects an effort to reconcile the following sources: Jodl diary entry,
September 22, 1938, Defense Document Books, Alfred Jodl, doc. JO 13, Records of the Office of the US Chief Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, RG 238, NARA; Toussaint’s affidavit, which corroborates it; and Hencke’s account of a phone call taking place some time in mid-September between Keitel and Toussaint. Keitel’s memoir also reports directing Jodl to call
Toussaint in late September during the Godesberg negotiations. Keitel, Erinnerungen [Memories], 192. See also Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 154–155 (describing call but apparently misattributing it to Keitel instead of Jodl).
117 The Sudetenland would no longer: Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler,
234; Ullrich, Hitler, 737.
117 Jodl was clearly disappointed: Hencke noted that Toussaint perceived disappointment from Berlin. See Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 155.
117 Toussaint sought out Hencke to debrief: Ibid., 154–155.
117 His and Hencke’s warning: Cable, Toussaint and Hencke to OKW Attachegruppe, no.
427, September 23, 1938, Büro des Staatssekretär [Office of the State Secretary] R 29.768,
PAdAA; Ullrich, Hitler, 738–739.
117 “dead silence”: Paul Otto Schmidt, Hitler’s Interpreter: The Memoirs of Paul Schmidt, ed. Alan Sutton (Font Hill Media, 2016), Kindle, 113. Quoted in Ullrich, Hitler, 738.
118 Hitler assured : Further details of the terms appear in Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between
Stalin and Hitler, 238–239; and Ullrich, Hitler, 739.
118 Chamberlain, burned: Ibid.
118 “If peace breaks”: Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 169.
118 “[a]ll attachés said the incidents”: Cable, Toussaint and Hencke to OKW
Attachegruppe, no. 443, September 24, 1938, Büro des Staatssekretär [Office of the State
Secretary] R 29.768, PAdAA.
118 He learned through his Wehrmacht network: Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 171,
181.
119 The diplomat, though known: Ibid., 183. 119 “It’s not a question of Czechoslovakia”: Quoted in Thomas Childers, The Third Reich:
A History of Nazi Germany (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2017), 409.
119 “itinerant professor”: Ibid. On Hitler’s disdain for Wilson, see also Shirer, Rise and
Fall of the Third Reich, 898.
119 By now it was unofficially known: Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 179–184.
Hencke’s barber, whom he visited on September 27, 1938, kept his shop in the Alcron Hotel.
120 “Calm in Prague”: Cable, Toussaint and Hencke to OKW, September 27, 1938, DGFP, series D, vol. 2, no. 646: 976.
120 On this calculus: Toussaint did, in fairness, note in the cable that the Czech numbers may be exaggerated. Cable, Toussaint and Hencke to OKW, September 27, 1938, no. 481, Büro des Staatssekretär [Office of the State Secretary] R 29.768, PAdAA.
120 The ranks of the career Wehrmacht: Jodl diary entry, September 7, 1938, microfilm
T84, roll 268, frame 13-198, frame 180, NARA.
120 In Berlin: The details of the Fuehrer’s disappointment are drawn from Lukes,
Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 245; and Ullrich, Ascent, 745.
120 Most troubling: Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 245.
121 “There is no way”: Ibid.
121 The next morning broke: Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 184.
121 After lunch, the two friends: Ibid.
121 At five p.m.: Ibid., 185.
122 In the middle of the night: Ibid., 186–197.
122 A six a.m. appointment: The appointment was set for six a.m., but due to the time required to draft the demands, it had to be postponed by thirty minutes. Ibid., 186. 122 But the details of the Munich Agreement: Interrogation of Rudolf Toussaint on
November 3, 1947, at Pankrác RG 1329/S/1/187, Vojenský historický archiv [Military History
Archive], henceforth VHA.
122 Even the United States: Lukes, Czechoslovakia Between Stalin and Hitler, 242.
122 it had abandoned: Several Wehrmacht officers, led by General Ludwig Beck, called for the others to resign en masse to prevent the outbreak of war. See Klaus-Jürgen Mueller, “The
German Military Opposition before the Second World War,” in Wolfgang Mommsen and Lothar
Kettenacker, eds., The Fascist Challenge and the Policy of Appeasement (London, UK: George
Allen & Unwin, 1983), 61–75.
123 On March 15, 1939: Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 309.
123 As Toussaint had feared: Cable, Newton to Halifax, November, 1, 1938, DBFP, series
3, vol. 3, no. 378.
123 Before him alone: Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 309.
123 If Toussaint experienced: At least, there is no indication of any in Hencke, who describes the encounter. Ibid.
123 he would be moving east: Rudolf Toussaint personnel file, Personalbogen 6/301107, BA
MA.
124 As Toussaint wound down: It took several months before the German bureaucracy in
Prague was fully installed and the actual structure of the Protectorate was in place. See Brandes,
Die Tschechen unter deutschem Protektorat. Besatzungspolitik, Kollaboration und Widerstand im Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren bis Heydrichs Tod (1939--1942) [The Czechs under the
German Protectorate. Occupation Policies, Collaboration and Resistance in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia until Heydrich’s Death], part 1, (Munich and Vienna: Oldenbourg, 1969)
34-36.
124 The Petscheks’ four-story bank: Cable, Newton to Halifax, March 31, 1939, DBFP, series 3, vol. 4, no. 136.
124 And Otto’s palace: Ibid.; Penerova, “The House,” 22A.
124 the highest value: Krejčová and Vlček, Lives for Ransom, 368–370.
124 The Wehrmacht general would even inherit: Penerova, “The House,” 22A.
124 One night before the Germans: Penerova, “The House,” 23; Marc Robinson, interview by the author, New York City, October 19, 2017.
6 The Most Dangerous Man in the Reich
126 constantly escalating demands: Ian Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography (New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, 2008), 480-484.
127 although he had been pushed out: Details on Laumann's career can be found in Terry C.
Treadwell and Alan C. Wood, German Fighter Aces of World War One (Stroud: Tempus, 2003),
120.
127 Laumann started secretly: Toussaint eventually became aware that it was Laumann who was reporting on him. Toussaint defense, War Crimes Trial, October 25, 1948, Prague, LS
804/48, box 881, SOA.
127 “reactionary”: Confidential report, December 2, 1939, Dienststelle Ribbentrop
[Ribbentrop Section] R 27179, PAdAA.
127 On November 8, 1939: For details on the assassination attempt, see Richard J. Evans,
The Third Reich at War: 1939-1945 How the Nazis Led Germany from Conquest to Disaster
(London: Penguin, 2009), 109–111.
127 “I cannot agree”: Confidential report, December 2, 1939, Dienststelle Ribbentrop
[Ribbentrop Section] R 27179, PAdAA.
127 He rushed off: The statement was reported, and three Germans employed by the embassy and the press office acted as witnesses. Ibid.; Toussaint defense, War Crimes Trial,
October 25, 1948, Prague, LS 804/48, box 881, SOA.
128 Dissenter disappearances: In March 1938, Wilhelm Freiherr von Ketteler, attaché at the embassy in Vienna, disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and his body was later found. Erwin Iserloh, “Ketteler, Wilhelm Emmanuel Freiherr von,” Neue Deutsche Biographie 11
(1977): 556–558, https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/gnd118561723.html#ndbcontent.
128 In Berlin: General Franz Halder noted the affair in his diary. See entry from November
29, 1939, War Journal of Franz Halder (A.G. EUCOM, 1971), 2:58; Toussaint defense, War
Crimes Trial, October 25, 1948, Prague, LS 804/48, box 881, SOA.
128 So he claimed: Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
128 Von Tippelskirch passed his findings: Diary entry from November 29, 1939, War
Journal of Franz Halder, 58.
129 “Don’t say so much”: Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
129 “rumors in Belgrade”: Diary entry from November 29, 1939, War Journal of Franz
Halder, 58.
129 Von Tippelskirch: Keitel, Erinnerungen [Memories], 235.
129 As 1941 began: John Keegan, The Second World War (New York: Penguin, 1989), 180–
196.
130 “I struggle internally against”: Letter, Toussaint to supervising general, May 15, 1940,
RH 2/2922, BA MA.
130 “brown-eyed general”: Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
130 With this new rank came a new assignment: Rudolf Toussaint personnel file,
Personalbogen 6/301107, BA MA.
130 and a new home: Toussaint’s predecessor, Friderici, had occupied the palace with his family before Toussaint’s arrival in the fall of 1941. See Edmund Glaise von Horstenau, Ein
General im Zwielicht: Die Erinnerungen Edmund Glaise von Horstenau [A General in Twilight: The Memories of Edmund Glaise of Horstenau], ed. Peter Broucek (Vienna: Böhlau Verlag
Wien, 1983), 550.
131 She and Toussaint bundled up: Photo, Rudolf and Lilly Toussaint with terrier, c.
October 1941, TFA.
131 “great zeal and energy”: Rolf Toussaint personnel file, Personalbogen 6/71086 BA
MA.
131 Toussaint was alarmed: Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
132 They dueled at chess: Ibid.
132 Pokorný and the staff: Penerova, “The House,” 22-25.
132 “out came the minks”: Ibid., 23. Some misspellings are corrected in text.
134 “The Jew Petschek”: “Otto Petschek—pražský Rothschild,” Moravská orlice, January
12, 1941.
134 he protected their home: Penerova, “The House,” 23.
134 Among the names: Die Sonderfahndungsliste G.B., 1940, Hoover Institution Archives, http://digitalcollections.hoover.org/objects/55425. Viktor’s name is misspelled as “Victor” in this document.
134 Toussaint’s promotion: Rudolf Toussaint’s personnel file, Personalbogen 6/301107, BA
MA.
134 That October: This section describing the meeting at Hitler’s headquarters is based on a detailed report. See Werner Koeppens, “Tuesday, October 7, 1941,” Bundesarchiv [Federal Archives], Berlin, R
6/34a, in Martin Vogt, ed., Herbst 1941 Im “Führerhauptquartier”: Berichte Werner Koeppens an Seinen
Minister Alfred Rosenberg [Autumn 1941 in the “Führer’s Headquarters”: Reports by Werner Koeppens to His Minister Alfred Rosenberg] (Koblenz: Bundesarchiv, 2002), 63–66. The atmosphere in early
October 1941 was reportedly buoyant: Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography, 648–650. 135 Hitler welcomed: Koeppens, “Tuesday, October 7, 1941,” 63–66.
135 A picture window: Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography, 624–626.
135 Hitler was a dedicated vegetarian: Hitler was a dedicated vegetarian and often served his guests the same fare. In Hitler’s “Table Talks” (transcriptions of conversations with his guests that were later published by Henry Picker, a permanent fixture at the Führer’s headquarters), it is said that everyone ate the same vegetarian food from the same pot, unless it was a meat day, in which case guests could opt for a meat dish instead of Hitler’s own vegetarian one. Henry Picker, Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier [Hitler’s
Table Talks at the Fuehrer’s Headquarters] (Munich: Hocke Books, 2014). In interviews, Hitler’s food taster, Margot Wölk, confirmed that he maintained a strict vegetarian diet, though she never mentioned what others might have been served. Roya Nikkah, “Hitler’s Food Taster Speaks of the Fuehrer’s Vegetarian Diet,” Telegraph (Feb 9 2014).
135 “The ransom/hostage system”: Koeppens, “Tuesday, October 7, 1941,” 66.
135 “All Jews in the Protectorate must be removed”: Ibid., 64–65.
136 “After the war”: Ibid., 63–66.
136 his new boss: Heydrich arrived in Prague to assume his new role on September 27, 1941.
For information about Heydrich’s youth and early career, see Robert Gerwarth, Hitler’s
Hangman: The Life of Heydrich (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2011), 14-83.
136 more than two hundred thousand: Louis L. Snyder, Encyclopedia of the Third Reich
(New York: Da Capo Press, 1994), 133, 330.
136 Like many others: Perhaps among the reasons for Heydrich’s distrust of Toussaint was
Toussaint’s relationship with Admiral Canaris, a longtime threat to Heydrich. Whatever the exact reason, Heydrich ordered the Gestapo to conduct an investigation on Toussaint. See note 429 in Jan Björn Potthast, Das jüdische Zentralmuseum der SS in Prag: Gegnerforschung und
Völkermord im Nationalsozialismus [The Jewish Central Museum of the SS in Prague: Enemy
Research and Genocide under National Socialism] (Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 2002), 137,
165. On Heydrich’s rivalry with Canaris, see Gerwarth, Hitler’s Hangman, 272-273.
137 The group decided: Letter, Heydrich to Bormann, October 11, 1941, in doc. 16 in
Miroslav Kárný, ed., Protektorátní politika Reinharda Heydricha [Protectorate Policy of
Reinhard Heydrich] (Prague: Tisková, ediční a propagační služba 1991), 132-136.
137 Any Czechs who were forced: Letter from Horst Böhme, October 15, 1941, in Kárný,
Protektorátní politika Reinharda Heydricha [Protectorate Policy of Reinhard Heydrich], 137.
137 On October 15, 1941: Ibid.
137 In November: Toussaint sent along a report of the meeting on November 13, 1941, to the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, November 25, 1941, 1799 ÚŘP-ST, Národní archiv České republiky, http://www.badatelna.eu/fond/959/reprodukce/?zaznamId=339715&reproId=372871.
Unless otherwise specified, all details from this meeting come from this report.
137 Yet it also flatly stated: Ibid.
138 Heydrich, and Berlin, expected Toussaint: Toussaint allowed his signature to appear on other unsavory documents as well, including an article entitled, “The Wehrmacht in the
Protectorate During the War Years of 1939/40; The Threat to European Peace posed by the
Czechoslovak Republic.” Although Toussaint may not have drafted the full text of this propaganda piece himself, it contains statements related to the duty of the German Wehrmacht to
“make it possible to correct the grotesque impressions of German soldiers that were cultivated here through the lies of Jewish emigrant literature under the protection of the Benes regime.” See
General Major Toussaint, “Die Wehrmacht im Protektorat in den Kriegsjahren 1939/40. Die Bedrohung des europäischen Friedens durch die tschecho-slowakische Republik,” [The
Wehrmacht in the Protectorate During the War Years, 1939–40], Entwurf [Draft], Jahrbuch des
Reichprotektores, Národní archiv České republiky—Ministry of the German state of Bohemia and Moravia (110 AMV), 1940–1945, http://www.badatelna.eu/fond/2199/zaznam/983688.
138 The more muted daylight: Penerova notes Toussaint’s hobby, suggesting that he likely painted in the palace. See Penerova, “The House,” 24.
138 His old Prague colleague: Major Friedrich Möricke was shot down in the Battle of
Britain in 1940. See Hencke, Augenzeuge [Eyewitness], 41; and Chris Goss, Luftwaffe Fighters and Bombers & The Battle of Britain (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000), 306.
138 “ordered to write”: Foreign Broadcast Monitoring Service, Federal Communications
Commission, March 13, 1942, Morgenthau Diary, vol. 508: 164, https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28276963.
138 “The main reason for”: Ibid.
139 Multiple reports: Gerwarth, Hitler’s Hangman, 2, 276. Multiple reports of parachutists were passed up the chain of command in the Protectorate; many can be found in Národní archiv
České republiky [National Archives of the Czech Republic] inv. č. 674 sg 109-4/442, badatelna.
139 “the Jewish question”: Peter Longerich, The Wannsee Conference and the Development of the “Final Solution” (London, UK: Holocaust Educational Trust, 2000), 4.
139 To his attentive: Ibid., 1.
139 Later that spring: Gerwarth, Hitler’s Hangman, 270–271.
140 “Reinhard’s Crime”: Ibid., 270.
140 Toussaint kept: Photo evidence shows a cheerless Toussaint at the concert seated with his wife, Lilly, and Reinhard and Lina Heydrich. "Atentát [Assassination]: Episode 39/44," Heydrich - konečné řešení [Heydrich –Final Solution], directed by V. Křístek (2012; Prague:
Česká televize; 2012).
140 traveling to see Hitler: Gerwarth, Hitler’s Hangman, 277.
140 The next morning: The account of the events on May 27, 1941 is principally drawn from Gerwarth, Hitler’s Hangman, and other sources as noted.
140 Two of the parachutists: Peter Demetz, Prague in Danger: The Years of Occupation,
1939–45: Memories and History, Terror and Resistance, Theater and Jazz, Film and Poetry,
Politics and War (New York; Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008), 169; Gerwarth, Hitler’s Hangman,
10.
140 The Slovak Gabčik: Gerwarth, Hitler’s Hangman, 6; Callum A. MacDonald, The
Killing of SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich (New York: Free Press, 1989), 169-171.
The fact that Gabčík acted first has long been the consensus view. Some have recently argued that Kubiš was the first to engage; here I follow the account presented by Gerwarth.
141 A bicycle and raincoat: Heinz Pannwitz, “Das Attentat auf Heydrich [The Assassination of Heydrich], March 1959,” in Stanislav F. Barton, “Das Attentat auf Reinhard Heydrich vom
27. Mai 1942: Ein Bericht des Kriminalrats Heinz Pannwitz,” [The Assassination of Heydrich on
May 27, 1942: A Report from the Criminal Counsellor Heinz Pannwitz], Vierteljahrshefte für
Zeitgeschichte 33, no. 4 (1985): 682.
142 On learning of the attack: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (henceforth
USHMM), “Lidice,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/lidice.
142 other generals even called him “Lackeitel”: Geoffrey P. Megargee, Inside Hitler's
High Command (Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 2000), 42. 142 “the active intervention”: Sworn statement of Fromm’s chief of staff, Carl Erik
Koehler, February 15, 1949, Toussaint War Crimes Trial documents, TFA. All details about the conversation between Toussaint and Fromm come from Koehler’s statement.
143 spent most of the day : Toussaint defense, War Crimes Trial, October 25, 1948, Prague,
LS 804/48, box 881, SOA.
144 Toussaint was awakened: There are two accounts presented by Toussaint in his postwar trial. According to one statement, he was called at six a.m. the next day, though at another point in his defense he said that it was the night of June 9. I conclude that the call occurred on the morning of the tenth, as that is corroborated by several other witness statements. See Toussaint defense and Toussaint witness, War Crimes Trial, October 25, 1948, Prague, LS 804/48, box
881, SOA.
144 “Sir . . . some very wild rumors”: Toussaint defense, War Crimes Trial, October 25,
1948, Prague, LS 804/48, box 881, SOA.
144 “As the inhabitants of the village”: Jan Richter, “The Lidice massacre after 65 years,”
Radio Prague, August 6, 2007, http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/the-lidice-massacre- after-65-years.
145 Toussaint moved through the day: E.g., Brickenstein statement under oath, February
16, 1949, OP 61643, BayHStA.
145 and made Toussaint sick, too: E.g., Fricke statement under oath, Toussaint Affidavit,
December 31, 1949, OP 61643, BayHStA.
145 He found Frank: René Küpper, Karl Hermann Frank (1898–1946): Politische
Biographie eines Sudetendeutschen Nationalsozialisten [Karl Hermann Frank (1898–1946): Political Biography of a Sudeten-German National Socialist] (Munich: Oldenbourg, 2010), 275-
278.
145 “If you only knew”: Toussaint defense, War Crimes Trial, October 25, 1948, Prague, LS
804/48, box 881, SOA.
145 “You should judge”: Ibid.
145 The SS had commandeered troops: In his war crimes trial, Toussaint insisted that although the officers’ school in Slaný might have been a supplemental garrison, armed forces did not take part in the massacre, unless some individuals decided to take part without reporting it to him. Ibid.
7 Is Prague Burning?
147 Rudolf and Rolf Toussaint were: Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
148 To the east: Keegan, The Second World War, 518–519.
148 An audacious sequence: Frank discussed his plan and consultations with Dönitz in his trial testimony, June 10, 1945, Nuremberg, Germany: International Military Tribunal, vol. 104,
31.04 June 20, 1945, 14 in Donovan Nuremberg Trials Collection, Cornell University Law
Library; for additional detail, see Küpper, Karl Hermann Frank, 390–392.
148 Frank had gone to Germany: Frank consulted with the Dönitz regime on May 3. In an attempt to resolve inner political tensions, they concluded that negotiations were necessary, including declaring Prague an open city. Brandes reports that Frank was in Königgrätz (Hradec
Králové) on the night of May 4 with Schörner and returned to Prague the next morning. See
Brandes, Die Tschechen unter deutschem Protektorat [Czechs under the German Protectorate],
2: 121–122. At 12:45 a.m. on May 5, 1945, Toussaint reported to OKW that the workforce was refusing to carry out further production of armaments and wanted to start producing goods for civil use. See Joachim Schultz-Naumann, The Last Thirty Days: The War Diary of the German
Armed Forces High Command from April to May 1945, trans. D. G. Smith (New York: Madison
Books, 1991), 62.
149 Early on Saturday: Zdeněk Roučka, “Saturday, May 5, 1945,” in Skončeno a podepsáno: drama pražského povstání [Accomplished and Signed: The Drama of the Prague
Uprising] (Plzeň: ZR&T, 2003), np.
149 The Prague Uprising: Unless otherwise specified, details concerning the Prague
Uprising are from Pavel Machotka and Josef Tomeš, eds., Pražské povstání 1945: Svědectví protagonistů [Prague Uprising 1945: Testimony of Protagonists] (Prague: Ústav T. G. Masaryka,
2015), 8–9; Brandes, Die Tschechen unter deutschem Protektorat [Czechs Under the German
Protectorate], 2: 113-146.
150 Toussaint’s instinct: Toussaint and Frank attempted on May 5 and 6 to negotiate with the leaders of the uprising, offering the insurgents the deal that Dönitz had authorized. The
Czechs rejected the terms. The negotiations came to nothing, as the fighting raged late into the night and continued unabated into the next morning. Tens, then hundreds, of bodies lay slumped on both sides of the barricades. See Brandes, Die Tschechen unter deutschem Protektorat
[Czechs under the German Protectorate], 2: 140–141.
150 “to prevent the destruction”: Toussaint defense, War Crimes Trial, October 25, 1948,
Prague, SOA Prague, LS 804/48, box 881.
150 “schlapper Kerl”: Roughly, “spineless idiot.” Hans Gottfried von Watzdorf statement under oath on September 1, 1949, SpkA K 1834, Staatsarchiv Muenchen.
150 As high-ranking as Toussaint was: Brandes, Die Tschechen unter deutschem
Protektorat [Czechs Under the German Protectorate], 2: 120.
150 Bloody Ferdinand: Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
150 “liquidate the uprising without hesitation”: in Roland Kaltenegger,
Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner – Teil II: vom Kommandierenden General zum
Feldmarschall der letzten Stunde, 1943-1973 [Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner – Part II: From
Commanding General to Field Marshal of the Last Hour, 1943-1973] (Würzburg: Flechsig,
2014), 123.
151 “On the order of SS Feldmarschall Schörner”: Cable, Toussaint to subsidiary sector
Beneschau L95, May 5, 1945, British National Archive ULTRA Decryption File, box HW 1/3758, CX/MSS/T541/24. Toussaint then reiterated Schörner’s order the following day (May 6) in another cable to subsidiary sector Beneschau. Both of these ULTRA Decryptions were only available in translation. There is some ambiguity in the language owing to the two versions and the absence of Schörner’s original orders.
151 He dragged his feet: Observers reported that in many areas of Prague, Wehrmacht units showed little resistance to Czech rebels. Brandes, Die Tschechen unter deutschem Protektorat
[Czechs under the German Protectorate], 2: 125.
151 The dispute between the two men: “Minutes of meetings between representatives of the
Czech National Council and their military representatives on the one side and General Toussaint, two officers and headmaster Rudl representing the German side,” Tuesday, May 8, 1945, box 3,
Česká národní rada 1945–1949 [Czech National Council 1945–1949], VHA.
151 Schörner dispatched five divisions: Wehrkreis Prague (Military Area Prague), B-135, microfiche 0129G, 0128, RG 338, NARA. Biographical information on Schörner derives from
Peter Steinkamp, “Generalfeldmarschall Ferdinand Schörner,” in Hitlers militärische Elite
[Hitler’s Military Elite], ed. Gerd R. Ueberschär (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche
Buchgesellschaft, 2011), 507-515.
151 Patton wanted to continue: Forrest C. Pogue, “The Decision To Halt at the Elbe,” in
Command Decisions, ed. Kent Roberts Greenfield (Washington, DC: Center of Military History,
US Army, 1990), 491; Omar N. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story (New York: Henry Holt, 1951), 549; and Igor Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War: American Diplomats and Spies in Postwar
Prague (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2012), 32-54.
151 He dispatched one of his: On May 5, Frank and Toussaint signed a power-of-attorney statement authorizing Ziervogel to deal with American forces. Vollmacht, [Power of Attorney], signed by Frank and Toussaint, May 5, 1945, Německé státní ministerstvo pro Čechy a Moravu
[German State Ministry for Bohemia and Moravia] (110 AMV), Box 109, Národní archiv České republiky, http://www.badatelna.eu/fond/2199/zaznam/984054.
152 Toussaint’s aide: This section is based on a newspaper interview with Rolf Toussaint,
“Gebt meinem Vater die Freiheit wieder,” Deutsche Soldaten Zeitung (DSZ), March 1960; and letter, Rolf Toussaint to Stanislav Auský, October 23, 1977, box 2, Stanislav A. Auský
Collection, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford, CA.
152 “with a white flag”: Rolf Toussaint, “Gebt meinem Vater die Freiheit wieder,” DSZ,
March 1960.
152 “Rolf, you must understand”: Ibid.
153 Toussaint brushed Frank aside: Otakar Machotka, “Vznik České národní rady a její předrevoluční činnost” [The Origin of the Czech National Council and its Pre-Revolutionary
Activities], in Machotka and Tomeš, eds., Pražské povstání 1945 [Prague Uprising 1945], 20; and Otakar Machotka, “Česká národní rada za revoluce” [Czech National Council for
Revolution], in Machotka and Tomeš, eds., Pražské povstání 1945 [Prague Uprising 1945], 36.
153 “Das ganze Nest”: Cable from SS Group Leader and Lieutenant General of Waffen SS
May 5, 1945, in Wolfgang Schumann and Olaf Groehler, eds., Deutschland im Zweiten
Weltkrieg [Germany in the Second World War], vol. 6, Die Zerschlagung des Hitlerfaschismus und die Befreiung des deutschen Volkes (Juni 1944 bis zum 8. Mai 1945) [The Smashing of
Hitler’s Fascism and the Freeing of the German People (June 1944 to May 8, 1945)] (Köln: Pahl-
Rugenstein, 1985), 765. Pückler also reported that he had proposed further bombing attacks to
Toussaint in keeping with Schörner's orders on May 7: cable, Pückler to Heeresgruppe Mitte,
May 7, 1945, in Václav Král and Karel Fremund, eds. Lessons from History: Documents Concerning Nazi Policies for Germanisation and Extermination in Czechoslovakia (Prague:
Orbis, 1961), 162.
154 One of his men brought peculiar news: The details of the meeting between Toussaint,
Meyer-Detring, and Pratt were reconstructed by piecing together information from multiple sources, including “After Action Report, April 28 to May 9, 1945,” box 13260, entry 427, 616-
CAV-0.3, 23rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squad, 16th Armored Division, World War II
Operations Reports, 1941–1948, RG 407, NARA; subsequent accounts in the American press, and secondary sources, principally Roučka, Skončeno a podepsáno [Accomplished and Signed]
[np], who confirms the meeting took place at Toussaint’s residence; Jindřich Pecka, Na demarkační čáře: Americká armáda v Čechách v roce 1945 [On the Demarcation Line: The
American Army in Czech Lands in 1945] (Prague: Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, 1995), 77–
80; Pacner, Osudové okamžiky Československa [Crucial Moments of Czechoslovakia], 246-250; and Bryan J. Dickerson, The Liberators of Pilsen: The U.S. 16th Armored Division in World War
II Czechoslovakia (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2018). Dickerson’s account of the meeting relies exclusively upon the after-action report, which incorrectly identified Toussaint’s rank and other details. Roučka and Pecka corroborate the Americans meeting Toussaint in his residence.
154 Walking next to him: Milwaukee Journal, September 14, 1945, 57.
155 He greeted his guests: “After Action Report,” NARA.
155 Toussaint offered: Ibid.
155 Surely Pokorný served: Penerova notes that he also acted as headwaiter, “The House,”
23.
155 The surrender would: Brandes, Die Tschechen unter deutschem Protektorat [Czechs
Under the German Protectorate], 2: 140. 155 The German requested: Pacner, Osudové okamžiky Československa [Crucial Moments of Czechoslovakia], 246.
155 Then there was the risk: Several of those who testified on behalf of Toussaint at his war-crimes trial credited him with saving Prague. As one witness stated under oath, “What could have happened if there was another man in his position who would not have acted so kind and benevolent in the matter of Prague, one wonders. Prague would have probably been destroyed.
There could have been a lot of suffering, but Prague had been spared it thanks to this man.” See testimony of Rupert von Miller under oath, October 28, 1949, Toussaint War Crimes Trial,
ABT.IV, FA IV-1635-15 OP 61643, BayHStA. See also testimony of Oldwig von Natzmer under oath, August 8, 1949, Toussaint War Crimes Trial, ABT.IV, FA IV-1635-15 OP 61643,
BayHStA.
156 And he told his visitors: “After Action Report,” NARA; and Pecka, Na demarkační
čáře, [On the Demarcation Line], 77–80.
156 At ten the next morning: Toussaint defense, War Crimes Trial, October 25, 1948,
Prague, LS 804/48, box 881, SOA.
157 They had blindfolds: Machotka, “Vznik České národní rady a její předrevoluční
činnost” [The Origin of the Czech National Council and its Pre-Revolutionary Activities], 19.
157 Toussaint, his eyes still covered: Ibid., 21–22.
157 “stood with his adjutant general”: Ibid. The sequencing and description of the negotiations on May 8 is primarily from “Minutes of meetings between representatives of the
Czech National Council and their military representatives on the one side and General Toussaint, two officers and Headmaster Rudl representing the German side,” Tuesday, May 8, 1945, box 3,
Česká národní rada 1945–1949 [Czech National Council 1945–1949], VHA. (Hereafter cited as “Minutes of meetings,” VHA). I also relied upon from the memoir of CNC representative Albert
Pražák, Politika a revoluce: Paměti [Politics and Revolution: Memoirs] (Prague: Academia,
2004), 107–130, reprinted in Machotka and Tomeš, eds., Pražské povstání 1945 [Prague
Uprising 1945]; Roučka, “Tuesday, May 8, 1945,” Skončeno a podepsáno [np]; and John
Toland, The Last 100 Days (New York: Random House, 1966). Toland conducted interviews with participants in the events while they were still relatively recent.
158 “Do you have enough authority”: “Minutes of meetings,” VHA. According to one witness, all generally agreed that a cease-fire was necessary and desirable. Toussaint agreed to give the order, but found thatmany of his military units were out of communication. His order was not heard. Seeing no other option, Toussaint sent von Briesen out to deliver the cease-fire order in person. See Machotka, “Česká národní rada za revoluce” [Czech National Council for
Revolution] 45-49.
159 “I do not have the authorization”: “Die Tätigkeiten des Tschechischen Nationalrates in
Prag zwischen 4. und 9. Mai 1945,” [Protocol of the Czech National Council in Prague, May 4–
9, 1945], MSG 137-3, BA MA.
160 All eyes turned to: Letter, Stanislav Auský to Rolf Toussaint, October 10, 1977, box 2,
Stanislav A. Auský collection, Hoover Institution Archives.
160 “[Your] son was found”: “Minutes of meetings,” VHA.
160 At his signal: Machotka, “Vznik České národní rady a její předrevoluční činnost” [The
Origin of the Czech National Council and its Pre-Revolutionary Activities], 22.
160 blow up the dam: Horst Naude, Erlebnisse und Erkenntnisse als Politischer Beamter im
Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren [Experiences and Insights as a Political Official in the
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia] (Munich: Fides-Verlagsgesellschaft, 1975), 182. 161 And for good measure: Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
161 Toussaint drew his gun: Toussaint defense, War Crimes Trial, October 25, 1948,
Prague, LS 804/48, box 881, SOA; “Gedächtnisprotokoll der Unterhaltung mit General
Toussaint in München,” [Verbatim Protocol of Conversation with General Toussaint in Munich],
March 18, 1965, TFA.
161 Von Briesen’s hand:Toussaint explained that his negotiation with Pückler was a success due to two factors: a threatening display of his gun and assistance from von Briesen. Toussaint defense, War Crimes Trial, October 25, 1948, Prague, LS 804/48, box 881, SOA.
161 But Pückler was not ready: Arthur von Briesen, statement under oath, February 17,
1949, TFA.
161 Toussaint and von Briesen: Ibid.; See also Jindřich Marek, Barikáda z kaštanů: Pražské povstání v květnu 1945 a jeho skuteční hrdinové [Barricades from Chestnuts: The Prague
Uprising in May 1945 and Its True Heroes] (Cheb: Svět křídel, 2005), 204–205.
161 “Ten hours are left”: “Minutes of meetings,” VHA.
162 Kutlvašr agreed: Kutlvašr and Pražák remember that Toussaint was quietly speaking to his son; then he stood by the window and cried. See Stanislav Kokoška, “Prag im Mai 1945: Die
Geschichte eines Aufstandes” [Prague in May 1945: The History of an Uprising] (Doctoral dissertation, Univerzita Karlova, 2009), 212.
162 “A general without”: Toland, The Last 100 Days, 581.
8 “If You’re Going Through Hell, Keep Going”
163 “If You’re Going Through Hell”: This quotation is often incorrectly attributed to
Winston Churchill. Its exact provenance is unclear. “Quotes Falsely Attributed to Winston
Churchill,” The International Churchill Society, https://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/quotes-falsely-attributed/.
163 The Nazi ammunition train: The account of the refugee train from Lübberstedt that was struck by British bombers on May 2, 1945, was a story that I heard from my mother. It is substantiated by Rüdiger Kahrs, “The Evacuation of the Satellite Camp Lübberstedt in Bremen to Ostholstein 1945,” Informationen zur Schleswig-Holsteinischen Zeitgeschichte, no. 36 (1999):
93–96; and further detailed in Barbara Hillman, Volrad Kluge, and Erdwig Kramer, Lw. 2/XI,
Muna Lübberstedt: Zwangsarbeit für den Krieg [Lv. 2/XI – Muna Lübberstedt: Forced Labor for the War] (Bremen: Edition Temmen, 1996), 130–135. The events are also corroborated by a number of the contemporaneous statements collected by the National Committee for Attending
Deportees (DEGOB), https://www.degob.org. See, in particular, statements (known as
“protocols”) numbers 1236, 1453, 1574, 1801, and 1827.
168 Many others had lesser wounds: Geoffrey P. Megargee, ed., The United States
Holocaust Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945 (Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 2009), 1:1, 157–158.
170 The day after that: “May 3–9, 1945,” Diary of the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade,
Brigade Headquarters, catalog no. War Office 171/4321-4, The National Archives of the UK,
Kew, Richmond, Surrey. 170 After some initial food shortages: Union O.S.E., “Report on the Situation of the Jews in
Germany: October/December 1945” (Geneva, 1946), 29–30. This report corroborates my mom’s account of conditions in the British refugee camp.
171 Lübeck had once been: Hillman, Kluge, and Kramer, Lw. 2/XI, Muna Lübberstedt:
Zwangsarbeit für den Krieg [Lv. 2/XI – Muna Lübberstedt: Forced Labor for the War], 130.
9 “He Who Is Master of Bohemia Is Master of Europe”
177 “He Who Is Master”: Attributed to Otto von Bismarck, likely apocryphally, this quotation may be based on Halford Mackinder’s heartland theory, as elaborated in “The
Geographical Pivot of History,” Geographical Journal, vol. 23, no. 4 (April 1904): 421–437 this quotation takes different forms. See, e.g., Suzy Platt, ed., Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of
Quotations Requested from the Congressional Research Service (Washington, DC: Library of
Congress, 1989), 27.
177 Otto Petschek’s palace was in danger: For the danger presented to the house, see
Penerova, “The House,” 24–25, which describes the Soviet predations upon the palace. For
Laurence’s determination to save it, see, e.g., letter, Laurence Steinhardt, U.S. Ambassador to
Czechoslovakia, to Francis Williamson, assistant chief of the Central European Affairs Division,
Department of State, July 28, 1945, box 82, Laurence A. Steinhardt Papers (henceforth
Steinhardt Papers), Library of Congress, Washington, DC (LOC).
177 The newly arrived US ambassador: Details on Laurence’s life before his time as ambassador to Czechoslovakia are from Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 67–80; and Justine
Faure, “Les paradoxes de la diplomatie américaine en Tchécoslovaquie: la mission de l’Ambassadeur Steinhardt à Prague, 1945–1948” [The Paradoxes of American Diplomacy in
Czechoslovakia: Ambassador Steinhardt’s Mission to Prague, 1945–1948], Revue d’histoire diplomatique (Paris: Éditions A. Pedone, 2001), 290–292. An excellent overview of Laurence’s work, and one that has held up well over time, is Walter Ullmann, The United States in Prague,
1945–1948 (Boulder, CO: East European Quarterly, 1978). For evaluations of Lukes, including by some who have a different assessment of Laurence, see Peter Mareš, “History in the Service of a Story: On Igor Lukes’s Book ‘On the Edge of the Cold War,’” Czech Journal of
Contemporary History 4 (2016): 157–176; Jan Koura, Selhání nebo spíš změna amerických priorit? [Failure, or Change of American Priorities?], in Soudobé dějiny, no. 3/4 (2015): 540–
546; and Vít Smetana, “The U.S. ‘Loss’ of Czechoslovakia: On the Edge of Historical Truth,”
Journal of Cold War Studies 17, no. 3 (2015): 220–26.
177 The palace hadn’t looked: The exact date of Laurence’s first glimpse of the Villa
Petschek and his conversation with Pokorný on its premises is unclear. However, we know that it occurred between July 17 and July 20, 1945. The details in this introductory section, including the contents of Laurence and Pokorný’s discussion, are found in “Steinhardt Meeting with Beneš and Clementis,” July 20, 1945, box 65, collection General Secretariat-A (GS-A), 1945–1954
USA, MFA; letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, July 28, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; letter, Steinhardt to Frederick Larson, Chief, Foreign Buildings Operations, Department of State,
September 11, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; letter, Steinhardt to Bohumil Boček, Chief of Staff, Czechoslovak Ministry of National Defense, September 29, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt
Papers, LOC; and letter, Steinhardt to Ballance, September 7, 1948, box 58, Steinhardt Papers,
LOC. That the house was under the control of the Czech military by July 1945 after a brief occupation by Soviet soldiers is established in Krejčová and Vlček, Lives for Ransom, 370.
A Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs memo from more than a year later inaccurately reported that Laurence was prompted to acquire the Villa Petschek after he attended a dinner reception held there in General Patton’s honor. See “Bubenec Villa Lease,” November 5, 1946, box 191,
GS-A, 1945–1954 USA, MFA. But General Patton did not visit Prague until July 26, 1945.
Laurence asked Beneš about the possibility of inhabiting the palace, demonstrating that he had already seen it, six days earlier. Furthermore, Patton did not spend the night in the city; he left for Plzeň at five p.m. See “Itinerary for General Patton’s Visit 27–28 July 1945,” box 47,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
177 He was immediately taken: Letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, July 28, 1945, box 82,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC. Laurence described the palace, in perhaps extreme terms, as the “only desirable house” in Prague.
178 On either side were interior courtyards: Photos of the palace from 1945 through 1948,
Steinhardt Family Archive (SFA).
178 He and his wife were still occupying: Details on Pokorný’s devotion to the palace even after Otto died derive from Laurence’s recommendation that he be kept on after he left. See letter, Steinhardt to Ballance, September 7, 1948, box 58, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; for his appearance and personality: photos of Pokorný from J. Hájek and M. Hájek; further details from
J. Hájek and M. Hájek, interview.
178 the Soviets had seized the building: Penerova, “The House,” 24–25; Dulcie Ann
Steinhardt Sherlock, unpublished memoir, SFA, 107.
178 “some Russian officers": Letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, July 28, 1945, box 82,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC. Perhaps, though, the Soviets did not gain all the silver; some may have been hidden by Pokorný: Eva Petschek Goldmann, interview by Marc Robinson.
178 As the ambassador looked at: Laurence’s dismay at the poor condition of the house and idea to acquire it for the United States government are based on the following: letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, July 28, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; and on my conversations with the
Steinhardt family, who were kind enough to meet with me as a group. They described his feelings for the palace and visceral reactions to Soviet predations: Steinhardt family, interview by the author, Washington, DC, November 16, 2017. 179 He had done the same as a wartime ambassador: Laurence was recognized by at least one authority for his work to aid refugees as a wartime ambassador. See “Visas For Life: The
Righteous and Honorable Diplomats Project,” Institute for the Study of Rescue and Altruism in the Holocaust, http://www.holocaustrescue.com/visas-for-life.html. Others have taken a more critical perspective on his efforts in that period. See, e.g., I. Izzet Bahar, “Turkey and the Rescue of Jews During the Nazi Era: A Reappraisal of Two Cases; German-Jewish Scientists in Turkey
& Turkish Jews in Occupied France,” (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 2012); and Barry Rubin, “Ambassador Laurence A. Steinhardt: The Perils of a Jewish Diplomat, 1940–
1945,” Jewish History 70, no. 3 (1981). Laurence’s family has evidence that he was active in aiding refugees, often endangering himself, pointing out that the work was necessarily secret and that he is no longer with us to tell the full story or respond to critics: Steinhardt family, interviews by the author, Washington, DC, November 13, 2015, and Washington, DC,
November, 6, 2015 (discussing his dismay when children whom he helped escape from the
Soviet Union perished when their ship sank, as well as efforts in Turkey). See also Mordecai
Paldiel, Diplomat Heroes of the Holocaust (Jersey City: KTAV, 2007), 215. Because this work tells the story of Laurence’s ambassadorship to Prague from 1945 to 1948, an extended treatment of these wartime matters is beyond its scope. I gained information about Laurence’s rescue of downed Allied pilots from my Steinhardt family interview, November 16, 2017. For Laurence’s
Russian icon collection, see “Divine Collection of Russian Icons from former Ambassador to
USSR: Sells for $1.3 Million at Bonhams New York,” Bonhams New York, April 11, 2014, https://www.bonhams.com/press_release/16348/.
179 His current apartments downtown: Letter, Steinhardt to Larkin, July 26, 1945, box 46,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC. 179 Known as the Schönborn: On the US embassy’s chancery in Prague, which has not changed locations since Laurence served as ambassador, see U.S. Department of State, “The
U.S. Embassy in the Czech Republic: Schoenborn Palace,” https://cz.usembassy.gov/embassy/prague/schoenborn-palace/.
179 But the interior of the building: Laurence wrote vivid descriptions of the state of the
Schönborn in many of his letters back to Washington. See, e.g., letter, Steinhardt to James
Riddleberger, Chief, Central European Division, Department of State, September 1, 1945, box
82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC. The building’s origins derive from U.S. Department of State, “The
Secretary of State’s Register of Culturally Significant Property,” May 2010, 30-31.
180 Otto’s former law classmate: Reiner Stach, Kafka: The Years of Insight, trans. Shelley
Frisch (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013), 158–159, 193.
180 “camping out in this covered stadium”: Letter, Steinhardt to Paul Alling, Consul
General, U.S. Legation in Morocco, September 19, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
180 He was often the first: Letter, Steinhardt to Rudolph Schoenfeld, Foreign Service
Officer, Department of State, September 19, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC. Laurence and his deputy, John Bruins, understaffed and underfunded, threw themselves into their work. As
Laurence reported, they often put in seventy-hour workweeks, frequently laboring until 1:30 a.m.
See letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, July 28, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
180 In the north: Cable, Robert P. Patterson, Secretary of War, to Department of State,
October 15, 1945, 860F.01/10-1545, box 6576, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59,
NARA.
180 The other expanse: Scholarly works conclude that the exact number of Soviet troops in
Czechoslovakia after World War II is unclear. See, e.g., Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 106. For various reports on the figure, see cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, August 25,
1945; Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers (FRUS), 1945, Europe,
Volume IV, eds. William Slany, John G. Reid, N.O. Sappington, and Douglas W. Houston
(Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1968), 485; 860F.01/8-2545, box
6576, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA; and cable, A. D. Reid, Chief, Liaison
Section, Operations Division, Department of War, to Department of State, September 25, 1945,
860F.01/9-2545, box 6576, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
For a scholarly look at some of the harms inflicted upon the Czech population by the
Soviet troops, see Vít Smetana, “Concessions or Conviction? Czechoslovakia’s Road to the Cold
War and the Soviet Bloc,” in Imposing, Maintaining, and Tearing Apart the Iron Curtain: The
Cold War and East-Central Europe, 1945–1989, ed. Mark Kramer and Vít Smetana (Lanham,
MD: Lexington Books, 2014), 55–86.
181 Communist leaders: Radomír V. Luža, “Czechoslovakia Between Democracy and
Communism,” in Mamatey and Luža, A History of the Czechoslovak Republic 1918–1948, 394;
Many in the government, Communists and otherwise, were loyal to Stalin, whose influence proved to be pervasive. See William I. Hitchcock, The Struggle for Europe: The Turbulent
History of a Divided Continent, 1945–2002 (New York: Doubleday, 2003), 111; See also Lukes,
On the Edge of the Cold War, 37.
181 As Stalin (and Patton): Ibid., 54.
181 “had hoped”: Letter, Steinhardt to Schoenfeld, May 21, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers,
LOC.
181 “crawled to the White House”: in Ullmann, The United States in Prague, 13. Bracketed insertions omitted. 181 it was, apparently, too much to ask: Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 42.
181 Laurence fretted: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, August 18, 1945,
860F.60/8-2045, box 6584, Central Decimal Files, 1945-1949, RG 59, NARA.
181 Laurence knew Stalin personally: Sherlock, unpublished memoir, SFA, 69.
181 Franklin Roosevelt had dispatched: Details regarding Laurence’s diplomatic relationship with Stalin and activities in Moscow can be found in Dennis J. Dunn, Caught
Between Roosevelt and Stalin: America’s Ambassadors to Moscow (Lexington, KY: University
Press of Kentucky, 1998), 97–144; and David Mayers, FDR’s Ambassadors and the Diplomacy of Crisis: From the Rise of Hitler to the End of World War II (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press, 2013), 208-220. Laurence’s prior experiences with Stalin contributed to his advocacy for Patton beating the Soviets to Prague. See Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 76; and letter, Steinhardt to Schoenfeld, May 21, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
181 “hoss-trader”: Steinhardt family, interview by the author, Washington, DC, October 7,
2016.
181 Laurence warned Roosevelt: Dunn, Caught Between Roosevelt and Stalin, 114.
181 “a wealthy, bourgeoisie [sic] Jew”: Ibid., 107.
181 For his part, Stalin detested: Ibid., 119–120; Sherlock, unpublished memoir, SFA, 64–
65. Laurence accurately reported to the State Department that the only way that Stalin would ally with the West would be if Hitler invaded the Soviet Union. See Dunn, Caught Between
Roosevelt and Stalin, 122. I learned the story of the German diplomat’s dog from Sherlock, unpublished memoir, SFA, 65. For more on Laurence’s conclusion that Germany would invade the Soviet Union, see cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, June 19, 1941, FRUS, 1941, General: The Soviet Union, Volume I, ed. Matilda F. Axton et al. (Washington, DC: United
States Government Printing Office, 1959), 150.
182 Laurence told people: Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 76; Dunn, Caught Between
Roosevelt and Stalin, 142-143; and Mayers, FDR’s Ambassadors and the Diplomacy of Crisis,
219-220.
182 “where we have a fighting chance”: Letter, Steinhardt to Riddleberger, September 1,
1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
182 “In the First World War”: Geoffrey Roberts, “Stalin’s Wartime Vision of the Peace,
1939-1945,” in Stalin and Europe: Imitation and Domination, 1928-1953, eds. Timothy Snyder and Ray Brandon (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2014), 249.
182 He went straight to the top: Details on Laurence’s meeting with Czech president
Edvard Beneš derive from Steinhardt talk with Clementis and Beneš, July 20, 1945, box 65, GS-
A, 1945–1954 USA, MFA; and letter, Beneš to Fierlinger, August 9, 1945, box 987/35, Archiv
Kanceláře prezidenta republiky [Archive of the Office of the President of the Republic]
(henceforth AKPR), Prague.
183 tan Packard limousine: Letter, Steinhardt to Bernard Yarrow, attorney, Sullivan &
Cromwell, August 19, 1947, box 83, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; Sherlock, unpublished memoir,
SFA, 109. For a video of Steinhardt driving his car, see “Outtakes—American Embassy in
Prague”; “Rudé právo”; and “Medical Teaching Mission,” in “Czechoslovakia: The Soviet’s
Neighbor,” March of Time, directed by Jean Pages (1946), film ID: 925, USHMM, https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1000860.
183 the largest in the world: Details regarding the architecture of Prague Castle and the surrounding square can be found in Gabriela Dubská et. al., The Story of Prague Castle, trans. Kathleen Hayes (Prague: Prague Castle Administration, 2003); and Charles, Prince of
Schwarzenberg, et al., The Prague Castle and Its Treasures (New York: Vendome, 1994).
183 he had played his hand shrewdly: For a brief and useful overview of Beneš’s activities during the war, see Gerwarth, Hitler’s Hangman, 2–6. His appearance is from multiple photos of
Beneš’ with Laurence from 1945–1948, SFA.
184 The Soviets had two other large Petschek houses: Letter, Steinhardt to Williamson,
July 28, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
184 Beneš knew the property: I. Petschek, interview.
184 “a matter of political wisdom”: Letter, Beneš to Fierlinger, August 9, 1945, box 987/35,
AKPR; also quoted in Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 88.
184 “I would not wish to occupy”: Letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, July 28, 1945, box 82,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
185 Williamson agreed to put things in motion: Letter, Williamson to Steinhardt, August
29, 1945, box 46, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
185 The Soviets had even taken: Cable, Alfred Klieforth, chargé in Czechoslovakia, to
Department of State, June 21, 1945, FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 459–460. Klieforth soon thereafter developed ulcers: letter, Steinhardt to Riddleberger, September 25, 1945, box 82,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
185 Soviet soldiers had stolen a car: Sherlock, unpublished memoir, SFA, 105.
185 the reign of terror: Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia committed up to twenty thousand rapes of Czech women, assaulted locals with great frequency, and lived off the land. Looting and theft were ubiquitous. See, e.g., Smetana, “Concessions or Conviction?”, 66. 185 So Laurence seized on a strategy: For a scholarly overview of the withdrawal of the US
Army from Czechoslovakia and Laurence’s role in it, see Mareš, “History in the Service of a
Story,” 159–166; . Laurence, before he arrived in Prague, had been an early proponent of a cautious troop withdrawal from Czechoslovakia. See letter, Steinhardt to Schoenfeld, May 21,
1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC. Once he took up his post, his State colleague, Francis
Williamson, was involved in the development of a proposed strategy that involved recommending that the Czechs suggest a simultaneous withdrawal of Soviet and US troops to the
Soviets. See letter, Williamson to Steinhardt, July 27, 1945, box 46, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
Although we here discuss Laurence’s role as the point person in Prague for US policy, I know from my own experience that the ideas that an ambassador advances are often the result of a collaborative process with other US officials in D.C. and the embassy. See Williamson to
Steinhardt, July 27, 1945, box 46, Steinhardt Papers, LOC (discussing Williamson’s role).
Laurence’s friendship with General Harmon (he gave the general a key to the villa) is established in Sherlock, unpublished memoir, SFA, 108.
186 Laurence concluded that it was crucial: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State,
August 25, 1945, FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 485; Smetana, “Concessions or
Conviction?,” 6.
186 Laurence suspected that this had been ginned: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of
State, August 18, 1945, 860F.60/8-2045, box 6584, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59,
NARA.
186 To confirm his hunch: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, August 25, 1945,
FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 485. Laurence also met with Masaryk regarding troop withdrawal on August 1, 1945: cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, August 2, 1945,
860F.01/8-245, box 6576, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
186 “Truth Prevails”: In, e.g., Josef Novák, ed., On Masaryk: Texts in English and German,
(Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1988), 190. For more background on T. G. Masaryk, see a three-volume series of essays entitled T. G. Masaryk (1850–1937): Volume 1, Thinker and Politician, ed.
Stanley B. Winters (London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan in association with the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, 1989); Volume 2, Thinker and Critic, ed.
Robert B. Pynsent; Volume 3, Statesman and Cultural Force, ed. Henry Hanak (New York: St.
Martin’s, 1989).
186 “Truth prevails, but it’s a chore”: In, e.g., Matěj Barták, Velká kniha citátů [Great
Book of Quotations] (Prague: Plot, 2010), 226. Jan’s partner wrote a memoir in which she reported that the two planned to marry. See Marcia Davenport, Too Strong for Fantasy (New
York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1967), 420. That the Steinhardts referred to Jan Masaryk as
Johnny is confirmed noted in Sherlock, unpublished memoir, SFA, 122.
186 He told Laurence: Details of Laurence’s meeting with Masaryk can be found in cable,
Steinhardt to Department of State, August 25, 1945, FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 485. For a video of one of Laurence and Jan Masaryk’s meetings, which they concluded with a smoke, see
“Outtakes—American Embassy in Prague,” in “Czechoslovakia: The Soviet’s [sic] Neighbor,”
March of Time, directed by Jean Pages (1946), film ID: 925, USHMM, https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1000860.
187 In August 1945, it finally made its way: Letter, Williamson to Steinhardt, August 29,
1945, box 46, Steinhardt Papers, LOC. Details on the Petschek family’s emigration from
Czechoslovakia derive from: letter, Viktor Petschek to Edgar J. Goodrich, attorney, Guggenheimer, Untermeyer, & Goodrich, October 25, 1945, box 46, Steinhardt Papers, LOC;
Hoag, interview; B. Kafka and D. Kafka, interview, March 20, 2015; B. Kafka and D. Kafka, interview, October 18, 2015; and Goldmann, Wayward Threads, 133. I learned of Viky’s business trials and tribulations from Hoag, interview.
187 His mother and his uncles: Krejčová and Vlček, Lives for Ransom, 363–381; The
Petschek Family Archives contain extensive documentation on the Petscheks’ financial transactions in 1938 and 1939. Hermann Göring, at the time ranked field marshal, signed the final report mandating that the Petschek group return coal property to German ownership. See translation, doc. no. NI-3306, Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, Wohltat to Koerner,
Neumann, Brinkmann, Bylers, Wilhelm, and Flick, December 19, 1938, PFA.
187 “What the Soviets have done”: Letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, July 28, 1945, box 82,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC. Williamson confirms that he passed along Laurence’s concerns to Viky through an intermediary in: letter, Williamson to Steinhardt, August 29, 1945, box 46, Steinhardt
Papers, LOC.
188 Viky’s relationship with his father: Hoag, interview.
188 “On behalf of Mr. Viktor Petschek”: Letter, Hollitscher to Williamson, August 28,
1945, box 46, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
188 “The answer is 100% no”: Quotations from and details regarding Williamson’s interactions with the State Department bureaucrats can be found in: letter, Williamson to
Steinhardt, August 29, 1945, box 46, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
189 The commander of the US troops: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, August 31,
1945, FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 486–487. 189 But he was displaying the same neglect: For an authoritative account of General
Eisenhower’s decision to refrain from liberating Prague from German occupation, see Pogue,
“The Decision To Halt at the Elbe,” 479-92. Most scholars agree that liberating Prague was an important strategic victory for the Soviets, which they subsequently exploited through aggressive propaganda campaigns to sway public opinion. See, e.g., Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War,
32–54.
189 “The sudden withdrawal”: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, August 31, 1945,
FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 486–487.
189 Both Laurence and Acheson: For example, Acheson’s enthusiastic support played a key role in the appointment of Harry Schulman, a Jewish lawyer, as dean of Yale Law in 1954.
SeeE.g., David G. Dalin, Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court: From Brandeis to Kagan
(Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2017), 55. For more on Acheson’s background, see
Robert L. Beisner, Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War (New York: Oxford University Press,
2009).
190 Acheson asked Laurence: Cable, Dean Acheson, Undersecretary of State, to Steinhardt,
September 11, 1945, FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 489–490.
190 On September 14: Unless otherwise specified, all details and quotations from
Laurence’s meeting with Beneš on September 14, 1945 can be found in: cable, Steinhardt to
Department of State, September 14, 1945, FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 490–492.
190 “union of the Slavic peoples”: Geoffrey Roberts, “Stalin’s Wartime Vision of the Peace,
1939-1945,” 249.
191 At the end of September: Cable, Reid to Department of State, September 25, 1945, box
6576, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA. 191 Laurence decided to take matters: Laurence came to the conclusion that the most expedient means of acquiring the Petschek villa would be to pursue renting it from the Czech government in a personal capacity. Laurence also requested a rental allowance for the villa from the Department of State to defray his expenses. See, e.g., letter, Steinhardt to Williamson,
September 25, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
191 Laurence negotiated a lease: Letter, Steinhardt to Larkin, September 11, 1945, box 82,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC. Further details of Laurence’s lease with the Czech government derive from “Lease for Petschek Villa, September 22, 1945,” box 1, Territorial Departments–USA,
MFA; and letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, September 25, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers,
LOC.
192 Laurence had to enlist: Letter, Steinhardt to Peter Zenkl, Lord Mayor of Prague,
September 13, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
192 There were almost twenty leaks: Letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, September 25, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
192 He wrote to the Netherlands and New York: Letter, Steinhardt to Stanley Hornbeck,
United States Ambassador to the Netherlands, September 29, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers,
LOC; receipt, Peter Henderson & Co to L. A. Steinhardt, October 31, 1945, box 48, Steinhardt
Papers, LOC.
192 Laurence put plumbers to work: Letter, Dulcie Ann Steinhardt to Mrs. Henry
Hoffmann, October 29, 1945, SFA.
192 In October, after weeks: Laurence moved into the Petschek villa on October 4, 1945.
See letter, Steinhardt to Schoenfeld, October 4, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
192 a story that is still shared: Ordway, “Villa Petschek,” 4. 193 Laurence ran the US flag: Correspondence, Steinhardt family, to the author, October
11, 2016.
193 On October 11: My account of General Eisenhower’s visit to Prague is based on
“Program for Visit of General Eisenhower to Praha on October 11, 1945,” box 46, Steinhardt
Papers, LOC; cable, Patterson to Department of State, October 15, 1945, 860F.00/10-1545, box
6576, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA; cable, Eisenhower to George Marshall,
Chief of Staff, United States Army, October 17, 1945, FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 498-
499; and photos of Laurence with Dwight Eisenhower in Prague, October 11, 1945, SFA.
193 Eisenhower, the Kansas farm boy: For more on Eisenhower’s personality, see, e.g.,
Stephen E. Ambrose, “Dwight D. Eisenhower,” in Character Above All: Ten Presidents From
FDR to George Bush, ed. Robert A. Wilson (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997).
193 “so he will know”: Letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, September 25, 1945, box 82,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC. The lease, passed through intermediaries, was ultimately transmitted to
Viky’s lawyer, Harry Hollitscher, on October 22, 1945. See letter, Goodrich to Hollitscher,
October 22, 1945, PFA.
193 he was livid: Letter, Petschek to Goodrich, October 25, 1945, box 46, Steinhardt Papers,
LOC.
194 Laurence’s initiative: Cable, Patterson to Department of State, October 15, 1945,
860F.00/10-1545, box 6576, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA; cable, Robert D.
Murphy, United States Political Advisor for Germany, to Department of State, October 17, 1945,
FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 497-498.
194 The capital never seemed to fear: See, e.g., letter, Steinhardt to Riddleberger,
September 1, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC. 194 During deliberations: See cable, Murphy to Department of State, October 11, 1945, box
6576, 860F.01/10-1145, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA; and cable, Murphy to Department of State, October 12, 1945, box 6576, 860F.01/10-1245, Central Decimal Files,
1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
194 That caused the D.C. brass to convulse: “Record of a Meeting of the Secretaries of State,
War, and the Navy,” October 16, 1945, FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 496-497.
194 an absolute final deadline was set: Cable, James Byrnes, Secretary of State, to
Steinhardt, November 2, 1945, FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 506-507.
194 At the end of October: Cable, Patterson to Byrnes, October 26, 1945, FRUS, 1945,
Europe, Volume IV, 502 n91.
195 “As you know”: Cable, Byrnes to Steinhardt, November 2, 1945, FRUS, 1945, Europe,
Volume IV, 506-507. In the original cable, the shorthand ZECHO is used to denote
Czechoslovak or Czechoslovakia.
10 Lush Life
196 The day was cold: Prague online weather archive, November 8, 1945, http://www.in- pocasi.cz/archiv/archiv.php?historie=08-11-1945&stanice_kraj=0&klima_kraj=0.
196 Laurence was planning: All details and quotations regarding Laurence’s meeting with
Beneš are from: cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, November 8, 1945, FRUS, 1945,
Europe, Volume IV, 507-508.
196 decoded blue papers: The memos that Laurence received from the State Department at the Czech embassy during his ambassadorship, currently held in RG 59, NARA, were printed on blue paper.
197 “I have received your message”: Cable, Byrnes to Steinhardt, November 9, 1945,
FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 508.
197 Laurence was too delighted: Laurence took no measures to protect other Czechoslovak citizens—those who, in vast numbers, were targeted by the Czechoslovaks because of their
German nationality. The Czech government believed (with some justification) that its German population had encouraged Hitler’s predations of 1938 and 1939 and supported, or at least failed to object to, the establishment of the Protectorate, and so shared some of the blame for the country’s suffering. From 1945-1948, therefore, the Czechoslovak government launched a series of forcible evacuations and expulsions of Czechoslovak Germans, who found themselves with their property confiscated, forced to undergo loyalty tests, stripped of citizenship, and, finally, rounded up and sent to camps before being deported to Allied-occupied Germany. See Norman
Naimark, Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth Century Europe (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 2002). Already laboring under Patton’s failure to liberate Prague, a concerned Laurence felt that he could not afford to stand in the way of this juggernaut, and that expulsion was a critical means of helping the Czech people heal from the trauma of the war (letter, Steinhardt to Williamson,
October 20, 1945, box 82, Laurence A. Steinhardt Papers, LOC). He believed that Westerners, including many of his friends in the State Department, who criticized the Czechoslovak Sudeten policy as a violation of human rights were both ill-informed and giving cover to former Nazis and their sympathizers. After receiving assurances from Beneš that those transferred would receive “good treatment”, he wrote Williamson that “these same Germans” now being deported were “torturing and murdering these same Czechs” doing the deporting just a few short years ago. (Cable, Steinhardt to State, August 2, 1945, FRUS, 1945, Europe, Volume IV, 481-482; cable, Steinhardt to Williamson, October 20, 1945, box 82, Laurence A. Steinhardt Papers,
LOC.) He further dismissed reports in American newspapers of “mass deportations” as “typical newspaper exaggeration,” brought on by ignorant journalists who knew nothing of the atrocities wrought by the Sudeten Germans during the war (letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, October 20,
1945, box 82, Laurence A. Steinhardt Papers, LOC). Annoyed at a flood of requests from
Americans requesting information on their Sudeten friends and relatives, complained, “there is not the slightest doubt but that many of these Sudeten Germans who have relatives and friends in the United States maltreated their Czech compatriots during the nearly seven years of occupation” (letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, May 1, 1946, box 95, Laurence A. Steinhardt
Papers, LOC). Laurence remained firm in his conviction that the expulsions were of the utmost importance to the people of Czechoslovakia throughout his tenure in Prague.
198 “I was, of course, very much astonished”: Letter, Williamson to Steinhardt, November
21, 1945, box 46, Steinhardt Papers, LOC. Viky wrote his response in late October (letter, Viktor Petschek to Goodrich, October 25, 1945, box 46, Steinhardt Papers, LOC), but the message was not forwarded to Laurence through Williamson at the State Department until late November.
198 Laurence was infuriated: Laurence wrote to Williamson, “I quite agree with you that
Petschek’s letter is rather petulant and indicates an amazing ignorance of developments in
Czechoslovakia.” See letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, December 17, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt
Papers, LOC.
198 So he didn’t write back: Laurence would not write back to Williamson at the State
Department, or to a lawyer of the firm representing Viky, until December 17, 1945. See letter,
Steinhardt to Williamson, December 17, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; and letter,
Steinhardt to Goodrich, December 17, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC. Williamson’s letter to Laurence, which contained Viky’s response, was sent from Washington, D.C., on November
21, 1945, via airmail. See letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, November 21, 1945, box 46,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC. Although it is not clear exactly when Laurence would have received the letter, other messages sent from D.C. via airmail in 1945 reached the ambassador in Prague as soon as one day after they were mailed. See, e.g., letter, Williamson to Steinhardt, July 27, 1945, box 46, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; and Laurence’s response one day later: letter, Steinhardt to
Williamson, July 28, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC. Hence the conclusion that Laurence failed to respond to Viky’s message for nearly one month.
198 In the frenzy: For details on Laurence’s hectic pace during November and December
1945, see, e.g., letter, Steinhardt to George Allen, Chief, Near Eastern Division, Department of
State, December 18, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
199 Among those distractions: Cecilia Sternberg, The Journey: An Autobiography (New
York: Dial, 1977). Sternberg’s memoir was indispensable in detailing Cecilia and Leopold Sternberg’s background (pages 56–61, in particular), as well as Cecilia and Laurence’s relationship. Unless otherwise specified, all information about the Sternbergs, and quotations attributed to them, their associates, and to Laurence while in their presence, can be found in The
Journey.
199 She and the count invited him: Letter, Sternberg to Steinhardt, September 10, 1945, box 94, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; letter, Steinhardt to Sternberg, September 11, 1945, box 82,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC; invitation to hunt, September 21, 1945, box 95, Steinhardt Papers,
LOC; and Sternberg, The Journey, 31.
The quotations and details regarding Laurence’s participation in the hunt and lunch with the
Sternbergs in autumn 1945, unless otherwise specified, can be found in Sternberg, The Journey, 31–39.
Other details on attire were gleaned from photos of Laurence and other guests at the hunt in the SFA, and Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 96.
203 The two colleagues: Křen et al., Rozloučení s americkou armádou v Plzni 20. 11. 1945. Zleva genmjr. Harmon, velvyslanec Steinhardt a ministr Masaryk [Plzeň, Nov. 20th, 1945. Farewell to the U.S.
Army. From the left Mj. Gen. Harmon, Ambassador Steinhardt, and Minister Masaryk], 1945, in
Američané a západní Čechy 1945: Unikátní fotografie [Americans in West Bohemia 1945: Exclusive
Pictures], ed. Zdeněk Roučka (Plzeň: ZR & T, 2000).
203 The waves of soldiers: I relied upon Lukes’s description of the event in On the Edge of the Cold War (pages 110–111), as well as on photos in the SFA.
203 he couldn’t ignore the specter: See, e.g., cable, Steinhardt to Department of State,
August 25, 1945, 860F.00/8-2545, box 6569, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA. 204 “General Harmon”: David Vaughan, “November 1945: Homeward Bound,” Radio
Prague, August 11, 2008, http://www.radio.cz/en/section/archives/november-1945-homeward- bound.
204 the painfully cold winter: Walter Birge, They Broke the Mold: The Memoirs of Walter
Birge. Edited by Virginia N. Birge. (Great Britain: Paul Mould Publishing, 2012), 298.
204 He had installed them snugly: Letter, Dulcie Ann Steinhardt to Mrs. Henry Hoffman,
October 29, 1945, SFA.
205 The three breakfasted together: Photos of Laurence with Dulcie and Dulcie Ann in the
Petschek villa dining room from October 1945 through September 1948, SFA.
205 She wore fur at all times: Steinhardt family, interview, December 22, 2015; photos of
Dulcie Steinhardt, SFA.
205 Laurence’s warmth and humor: Details regarding Laurence and Dulcie’s marriage are in Sherlock, unpublished memoir, SFA, 23, 25, 108–109.
205 She was lovely: A description of Dulcie Ann can be found in Sternberg, The Journey, 28; photos of Dulcie Ann from 1945–1948, SFA.
206 With the diplomatic mission still understaffed: Sherlock, unpublished memoir, SFA,
108. Unless otherwise specified, further information about Dulcie Ann’s diplomatic adventures comes from her memoir.
206 longer and more painful lists of Jewish Americans’: Letter, Steinhardt to Williamson,
July 28, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
206 She was attending a diplomatic dinner: The story of Dulcie Ann’s confrontation with
Valerian Zorin comes from Sherlock, unpublished memoir, SFA, 107–108. 206 After serving as a liaison: On Valerian Zorin’s role in Prague after the war, see Lukes,
On the Edge of the Cold War, 192-193.
207 “He was still in the prime of life”: Sternberg, The Journey, 27.
207 “Your Excellency”: Letter, Sternberg to Steinhardt, September 10, 1945, box 94,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC; and Sternberg, The Journey, 26–27.
207 She became an important source: Letter, Steinhardt to Norris B. Chipman, First
Secretary, American Embassy Paris, July 9, 1948, box 90, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
207 “gathered together like cattle”: Sternberg, The Journey, 35.
208 “could not have cared less”: Ibid., 28.
208 “heart-to-heart woman’s talk”: Ibid.
208 “Do tell me”: Ibid.
208 Communists had muscled their way: See Karel Kaplan, Protistátní bezpečnost 1945–
1948. Historie vzniku a působení StB jako mocenského nástroje KSČ [Counter-State Security
1945–1948: History of the Establishment and Operation of the StB as Power Tools of the KSC]
(Prague: Plus, 2015).
208 If Laurence and Cecilia’s affair: Laurence and Cecilia’s affair was indeed recorded by
Czech secret-police agents, who learned of the relationship between the two at least as early at
1946. See Laurence Steinhardt file, inventory no. 302-223-4, Archiv bezpečnostních složek
[Security Service Archive] (henceforth ABS), Prague
209 how he carried on his affair: Laurence, Dulcie, Cecilia, and Leopold often attended the same receptions and parties. See Sternberg, The Journey, 30–31.
209 two of the most feared lawyers: Laurence made it his business to be on good terms with the Dulles brothers, including because they were powers in the New York legal and foreign- relations communities where his roots lay. For an excellent biography of the Dulles brothers, see
Stephen Kinzer, The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War
(New York: Times Books, 2013).
209 “Godless terrorism”: Gary B. Nash et al., The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society, Concise Edition, Combined Volume, 7th ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Hall,
2011), 786.
209 The Dulleses’ emissary to Laurence: Bernard Yarrow’s biographical information can be found in Yarrow Papers, finding aid, Eisenhower Library, https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/finding_aids/pdf/Yarrow_Bernard_Papers.pdf; and Scott Benarde, Stars of David: Rock ’n’ roll’s Jewish Stories (Lebanon, NH: Brandeis
University Press, 2003), 57-58 (also discussing his son, Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary).
For his appearance, see photo in Richard Smith, The OSS: The Secret History of America’s First
Central Intelligence Agency (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1972), 159.
209 Yarrow arrived in Prague: Slavomír Michálek, “Compensation for Nationalized
American Property in Czechoslovakia,” in The Phoney Peace: Power and Culture in Central
Europe, 1945–49, ed. Robert B. Pynsent (London, UK: School of Slavonic and East European
Studies, University College London, 2000), 163.
209 The visitor explained: The substance of Laurence and Yarrow’s meetings and conversations in December 1945 can be found in Yarrow’s and Steinhardt’s respective letters to
John Foster Dulles. See letter, Yarrow to Foster Dulles, December 26, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt
Papers, LOC; and letter, Steinhardt to Foster Dulles, December 26, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt
Papers, LOC. 210 “the country is still living”: Letter, Yarrow to Foster Dulles, December 26, 1945, box
82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
210 “Your property was taken over”: This quotation appears in a letter that Edgar
Goodrich, who served as an intermediary between Viky and Laurence, wrote to Viky, explaining
Laurence’s stance on the villa. See letter, Goodrich to Petschek, January 21, 1946, box 49,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
Laurence himself wrote to Goodrich, outlining his own position, on December 17, 1945
(letter, Steinhardt to Goodrich, December 17, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC). The text of
Goodrich’s letter to Viky is a near-verbatim paraphrase of this note.
211 He even invited: Ambassador’s residence dinner book, 1945–1948, SFA, 13.
211 “I was informed”: Letter, Yarrow to Foster Dulles, December 26, 1945, box 82,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
211 “The Ambassador suggested”: Ibid.
211 the ambassador felt confident: See, e.g., letter, Steinhardt to George Van Slyke,
Editorial Department, The Sun, December 17, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
211 “the Communists will be lucky”: Letter, Steinhardt to Foster Dulles, December 26,
1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
11 Small Salvations
212 The quarter-mile: See, e.g., letter, Steinhardt to John Browning, Personal Assistant,
September 29, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; receipt, Peter Henderson & Co., florists, to
Steinhardt, October 31, 1945, box 48, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
213 especially tall flagpole: Author correspondence with Steinhardt family, October 11,
2016.
213 But the political leanings: Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 132-134.
213 “Unquestionably there is”: Letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, May 1, 1946, box 95,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
213 Gottwald’s goal: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, May 27, 1946, FRUS, 1946,
Eastern Europe, The Soviet Union, Volume VI, eds. Roger P. Churchill and William Slany
(Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1969), 199-200. For Laurence’s belief that an outright Communist majority was extremely unlikely, see letter, Steinhardt to
Williamson, April 26, 1946, box 95, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
214 “the influence of western”: Letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, May 1, 1946, box 95,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC; for Laurence’s election prediction to Department of State, see cable,
Steinhardt to Department of State, May 15, 1946, 860F.00/5-1546, box 6570, Central Decimal
Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
214 “initiate further action”: Letter, Yarrow to Steinhardt, May 23, 1946, box 50,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC. 214 On election day: Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 134; George F. Bogardus, interview by Charles Stuart Kennedy, April 10, 1996, Association for Diplomatic Studies and
Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project (ADST), LOC (henceforth Bogardus, interview).
214 The bureau oversaw: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, February 25, 1946,
860F.00/2-2546, box 6570, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
214 Its warden: All biographical information on Václav Nosek can be found in Jitka
Klementová, Václav Nosek (Prague: Práce, 1987), 50–66.
214 Now he was on hand: Bogardus, interview.
214 Finally, Nosek: Photo, Steinhardt with Nosek, in Hlas osvobozených 22, May 31, 1946.
214 The Communists would have: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, May 29, 1946,
860F.00/5-2946, box 6570, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA; Jiři Kocian,
“Czechoslovakia Between Two Totalitarian Systems,” in Pánek and Tůma, A History of the
Czech Lands, 484.
215 “They would come at him”: Bogardus, interview.
215 “would be controlled”: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, May 15, 1946,
860F.00/5-1546, box 6570, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
215 The actual count: Cable, John H. Bruins, counselor, US Embassy in Prague, to
Department of State, June 4, 1946, 860F.00/6-446, box 6570, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949,
RG 59, NARA.
215 “[I]n spite”: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, May 27, 1946, FRUS, 1946,
Eastern Europe, The Soviet Union, Volume VI, 199-200.
215 “I find no disposition”: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, June 3, 1946,
860F.00/6-346, box 6570, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA. 216 “of common sense”: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, July 3, 1946, FRUS,
1946, Eastern Europe, The Soviet Union, Volume VI, 204-205.
216 Gottwald and his colleagues agreed: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, July 3,
1946, 860F.00/7-346, box 6584, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
216 “I have every reason”: Letter, Steinhardt to Foster Dulles, July 23, 1946, box 7, Yarrow
Papers, Eisenhower Library.
216 “drive a hard bargain”: Letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, July 29, 1946, box 95,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
216 He reoriented US policy: See, e.g., ibid.
216 No sooner did Foreign Minister Masaryk: Letter, Steinhardt to Foster Dulles, July 23,
1946, box 7, Yarrow Papers, Eisenhower Library.
216 “smug self-satisfaction”: Letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, August 29, 1946, box 95,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
216 The roof began to spring more leaks: On the leaky roof and the backed-up sewage pipes, see letter, Steinhardt to Janecka [sic], April 14, 1947, box 83, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
(The addressee appears to be a typo, and should read “Janeček.”) For the panes of glass falling out of the greenhouse windows, see letter, Steinhardt to Boček, September 26, 1946, box 89,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
216 Laurence’s point of contact: Petschek Lease Agreement between Laurence Steinhardt and the Czech Ministry of Defense, September 22, 1945, box 1, Territorial Departments—
Standard, MFA. 216 But his minister: “Minutes of a meeting held on November 5, 1946, at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs about a lease of a building in Bubeneč to Ambassador Steinhardt,” box 191, GS-
A, 1945-1954 USA, MFA.
217 “[T]he important consideration”: Letter, Steinhardt to Boček, September 26, 1946, box
89, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
217 “the palace originally served”: Letter, Ministry of National Defense to the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, August 7, 1946, box 1, Territorial Departments—Standard, MFA.
217 he sent off a September note: “Minutes of a meeting help on November 5, 1946,” box
191, GS-A, 1945–1954 USA, MFA.
217 He was notified: Letter, City of Prague Department for the Administration of National
Property to Steinhardt, January 8, 1947, box 53, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
218 A city official: The substance of the conversation between Dr. Janeček and Laurence, and the ultimate terms of their agreement, are described in ibid.; and letter, City of Prague,
Department for National Administration of Property to Steinhardt, November 29, 1946, box 50,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
218 “could not be replaced”: Letter, Steinhardt to Boček, September 26, 1946, box 89,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
218 But Janeček, too, eventually: Letter, Steinhardt to Janecka [sic], April 14, 1947, box 53,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
218 “It has been my practice”: Letter, Steinhardt to National Property Administration, May
7, 1947, box 49, Steinhardt Papers, LOC. This memo is dated May 7, 1946, but that is incorrect, as is clear from the letter’s context, which shows that it was actually written on May 7, 1947. 218 Laurence finally went ahead: Letter, City of Prague Department for the Administration of National Property to Steinhardt, January 8, 1947, box 53, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
218 A neighbor insisted: For details on Laurence’s dispute with his neighbor, see, e.g., letter,
Jan Borkovec to Steinhardt, November 30, 1945, box 89, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; for his difficulties regarding the legal status of his furniture, see the materials held in box 49, Majetek cizí v ČSR—USA [Foreign Property in ČSR—USA], Legal Department, MFA; and for the
National Museum’s claim to the palace’s artwork, see Krejčová and Vlček, Lives for Ransom,
379.
219 “beautiful and extremely comfortable”: Letter, Steinhardt to Therese Rosenblatt, his sister, November 14, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
219 “its opulence and extreme gaudiness”: Sternberg, The Journey, 26.
219 “interfering with [his] proper duties”: Letter, Steinhardt to National Property
Administration, May 7, 1947, box 49, Steinhardt Papers, LOC. (Incorrectly dated; see prior note.)
219 But he never seems to have considered: There is no indication in the thousands of pages of Laurence’s personal letters, family memoirs, and other documents, that he ever considered abandoning his quest to live in, and ultimately purchase, the Petschek villa.
219 “this little mother has claws”: Stach, Kafka: The Early Years, 23.
219 Nor can Laurence have relished: Laurence praised Pokorný’s loyalty to the house and strongly recommends that he be kept on by his successor in the following: letter, Steinhardt to
Ballance, September 7, 1948, box 58, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
219 he found a solution: Letter, Steinhardt to Larkin, November 4, 1946, box 92, Steinhardt
Papers, LOC. For a scholarly explanation of the debts owed to the United States by the Czech government that Steinhardt sought to leverage as credit to purchase the Villa Petschek, see
Michalek, “Compensation for Nationalized American Property in Czechoslovakia,” 162-170. and
Vít Smetana, “Le développement de la situation internationale de la Tchécoslovaquie (1945–
1948)” [The Development of the International Situation of Czechoslovakia (1945–1948)] in La
Tchécoslovaquie—sismographe de l’Europe au XXe siècle [Czechoslovakia: Seismograph of
Europe in the 20th Century], ed. Antoine Marès (Paris: Institut d’études slaves, 2009), 155-156.
220 They understood each other: For background on Miloslav Niederle, see Jindřich
Dejmek, Diplomacie Československa, Díl II. Biografický slovník československých diplomatů
(1918–1992) [Diplomacy of Czechoslovakia, Part 2. Biographical Dictionary of Czechoslovak
Diplomats (1918–1992)] (Prague: Academia, 2013), 171–172.
220 Niederle was personally sympathetic: Letter, Steinhardt to Foster Dulles, October 21,
1947, box 84, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
220 In early 1947, Niederle: For Laurence’s aversion to the Czech efforts to exclude the
Petscheks from compensation, and his pushback against those efforts, see “Memorandum
Dictated by Mr. Yarrow,” March 3, 1947, box 8, Yarrow Papers, Eisenhower Library; and Faure,
“Les paradoxes de la diplomatie américaine en Tchécoslovaquie,” [The Paradoxes of American
Diplomacy in Czechoslovakia,” 302-303. For Niederle’s deal with the Swiss government, see
Miroslav Niederle, “Foreign Claims on Czechs: Compensation Plans,” Financial Times, March
14, 1947.
220 “great obstacles”: Yarrow’s letter is transmitted to Foster Dulles in: letter, Riddleberger to Foster Dulles, May 21, 1947, PFA.
220 On May 31, 1947: Letter, P. S. Cooney, Assistant Chief, Division of Communications and Records, Department of State, to Foster Dulles, May 31, 1947, PFA. 221 Having acquired the palace: Letter, Steinhardt to Riddleberger, June 12, 1947, box 95,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
221 Marshall offered Europe: See, e.g., Benn Steil, The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold
War (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018).
221 He feared that infusions: See, e.g., letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, July 29, 1946, box
95, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, August 29, 1946, box 95,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC; letter, Riddleberger to Steinhardt, October 3, 1946, box 50, Steinhardt
Papers, LOC; letter, Steinhardt to Riddleberger, June 12, 1947, box 95, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; and letter, Steinhardt to George Bogardus, Foreign Service Officer, US Embassy Prague, July 3,
1947, box 95, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
221 he wondered if the Soviets: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, July 3, 1947,
840.50 RECOVERY/7-347, box 5719, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
221 Laurence was pleased: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, July 4, 1947, 840.50
RECOVERY/7-447, box 5719, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA; “Czechs for
Marshall Plan,” New York Times, July 2, 1947.
221 Stalin had commanded: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, July 4, 1947, 840.50
RECOVERY/7-447, box 5719, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
221 The Czechs appeared before Stalin: “Record of I. V. Stalin’s Conversation with the
Czechoslovak Government Delegation on the Issue of Their Position Regarding the Marshall
Plan and the Prospects for Economic Cooperation with the USSR,” July 9, 1947, History and
Public Policy Program Digital Archive, Vostochnaia Evropa, ed. G. P. Murashko et al., 1:672–
675 (APRE, f. 45, op, 1, d. 393, 1. 101–05), http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/134379. 221 “Both Stalin and Molotov”: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, July 10, 1947,
FRUS, 1947, The British Commonwealth, Europe, Volume III, ed. Ralph E. Goodwin et al.
(Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1972), 319–320.
222 the Czech cabinet was already meeting: Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 173.
222 “[H]e is now in a position”: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, July 10, 1947,
840.50 RECOVERY/7-1047, box 5720, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
222 But, to Laurence’s disappointment: Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 173–174.
222 “All Slavic states”: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, July 11, 1947, 840.5
RECOVERY/7-1147, box 5720, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
222 Beneš, Laurence later learned: Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 173.
223 “[T]he political situation here”: Letter, Steinhardt to Foster Dulles, October 21, 1947, box 84, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
223 “The election campaign”: Ibid.
223 He reported to Washington: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, October 6, 1947,
FRUS, 1947, Eastern Europe, The Soviet Union, Volume IV, eds. Roger P. Churchill and
William Slany (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1972), 235.
224 Laurence once again predicted: In autumn 1947, at a dinner in the palace, Laurence told a visiting group of senators and congressmen that the Communists would not receive more than 30 percent of the vote “in the absence of intimidation.” See “Visit by Smith-Mundt Group to Czechoslovakia,” September 24, 1947, box 1, vol. 2, Visit of the Smith-Mundt Group to
Germany, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria, Smith-Mundt Group
Collection, National Security Archive, Washington, DC (NSA). 224 “with Anglo-Saxon support”: in Gerhard Wettig, Stalin and the Cold War in Europe:
The Emergence and Development of East-West Conflict, 1939–1953 (Lanham, MD: Rowman &
Littlefield, 2008), 110.
224 as Laurence was returning: United States Lines Company receipt for Steinhardt,
February 4, 1948 (for a ticket on February 11, 1948), box 59, Steinhardt Papers, LOC. Laurence had traveled back to the United States to undergo an operation to remove kidney stones.
Bedridden in the hospital, he anxiously waited through his doctor-mandated recovery period, writing to his family and friends that he was eager to return to post. Many of these letters are held in box 84 of Laurence’s personal papers at the LOC.
224 When he was forty-eight hours: Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 191.
224 lies and slander: Letter, Steinhardt to Williamson, April 26, 1946, box 95, Steinhardt
Papers, LOC; Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 176–178, 190.
224 Then Interior Minister Nosek: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, February 20,
1948, 860F.00/2-2048, box 6572, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
224 At the cabinet meeting: For a firsthand account of the February 1948 Communist coup d’état, including the cabinet meeting of February 17, see Hubert Ripka, Czechoslovakia
Enslaved: The Story of the Communist Coup D’Etat (London, UK: Gollancz, 1950).
For a scholarly treatment, see Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 190–198. Unless otherwise specified, details of the coup derive from these pages.
224 Laurence rushed back: Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 192. There is some scholarly disagreement about when Laurence actually landed in Prague, but a close look at his writings from the time pinpoints his arrival to February 19. See cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, February 20, 1948, box 6572, Central Decimal
Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA, in which Steinhardt mentions that Valerian Zorin arrived
“yesterday” (February 19); and letter, Steinhardt to Harold Vedeler, Central European Division,
Department of State, April 1, 1948, box 94, Steinhardt Papers, LOC, where he clarifies that both he and Zorin had returned “on the same day.”
224 His embassy staff had alarming news: Bogardus, interview; letter, Steinhardt to
Vedeler, April 1, 1948, box 94, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
225 The ostensible reason: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, February 20, 1948,
860F.00/2-2048, box 6572, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1948, RG 59, NARA.
225 Stalin wanted ground control: Jiří Pernes, “The Establishment and First Crisis of the
Communist Regime,” in Pánek and Tůma, A History of the Czech Lands, 494–495.
225 “reactionary agents”: Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 192.
225 “the situation is messed up”: in Ullmann, The United States in Prague, 147.
225 “Should the [socialists]”: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, February 21, 1948,
860F.00/2-2148, box 6572, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
225 Laurence reported developments: State Department records held in RG 59, NARA, show that between February 20 and February 25, 1948, Steinhardt sent more than fifteen cables to Washington, D.C.
226 “action committees”: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, February 23, 1948,
860F.00/2-2348, box 6572, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
226 “There were far fewer”: Birge, They Broke the Mold, 319.
226 “the embassy receptionist”: Ibid.
226 “positively grim”: Ibid. 226 They would be the first: See, e.g., the other escape missions recounted in Birge, They
Broke the Mold; and Louise Armstrong, interview by Charles Stuart Kennedy, January 13, 2000,
ADST, LOC.
226 He made the short trip: Sternberg, The Journey, 26.
227 “seemed to have aged”: Ibid., 40. All quotations and details from Laurence’s meeting with the Sternbergs after the coup can be found in Sternberg, The Journey, 40–41.
228 On February 24, Laurence’s hopes: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, February
24, 1948, 860F.00/2-2448, box 6572, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA.
228 On the twenty-fifth, Laurence learned: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State,
February 25, 1948, 860F.00/2-2548, box 6572, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59,
NARA.
228 “had been subjected”: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, February 27, 1948,
FRUS, 1948, Eastern Europe, The Soviet Union, Volume IV, eds. Rogers P. Churchill, William
Slany, and Herbert A. Fine (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1974),
741–742.
228 “There was no evidence that Beneš”: Ibid.
228 Laurence cabled all this information: Ibid.
229 “because of a quarrel”: Neville Chamberlain, September 27, 1938, broadcast, in Peter
Neville, Hitler and Appeasement: The British Attempt to Prevent the Second World War,
(London, UK: Hambledon Continuum, 2006), 107.
229 Marshall even declined: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, February 26, 1948,
FRUS, 1948, Eastern Europe, The Soviet Union, Volume IV, 738–739. 229 Laurence’s recommendation that America punish: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of
State, February 28, 1948, FRUS, 1948, Eastern Europe, The Soviet Union, Volume IV, 742; cable, General Lucius D. Clay, Commanding General, United States Forces in Europe and
Military Governor for Germany, to Steinhardt, March 2, 1948, FRUS, 1948, Eastern Europe, The
Soviet Union, Volume IV, 742.
229 A request to declassify: On Embassy Prague’s earlier appeal to declassify the Soviet requests that the US Army not liberate Prague, and partial permission, see letter, Bruins to
Steinhardt, January 23, 1948, box 56, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; letter, Steinhardt to Williamson,
January 28, 1948, box 84, Steinhardt Papers, LOC; Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 44.
229 Marshall, when asked by journalists: Ibid., 198.
229 “with a loud thud”: Cable, Jefferson Caffery, U.S. Ambassador to France, to
Department of State, February 22, 1948, 860F.00/2-2448, box 6572, Central Decimal Files,
1945–1949, RG 59, NARA; also quoted in Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 195.
229 A stream of cables: E.g., cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, February 28, 1948,
FRUS, 1948, Eastern Europe, The Soviet Union, Volume IV, 742; and cable, Steinhardt to
Department of State, February 25, 1948, 860F.00/2-2548, box 6572, Central Decimal Files,
1945–1949, RG 59, NARA. For more on anti-American sentiment in Czechoslovakia, see Justine
Faure, “L’antiaméricanisme en Tchécoslovaquie, 1945–1989,” in L'Antiaméricanisme: Anti-
Americanism at Home and Abroad, ed. Sylvie Mathé (Aix-en-Provence: Publications de l'Université de Provence, 2000), 83–98.
229 Laurence again worked around the clock: Letter, Steinhardt to Vedeler, March 23,
1948, box 94, Steinhardt Papers, LOC. 229 Masaryk came to the palace: Sherlock, unpublished memoir, SFA, 122. All details regarding Laurence and Masaryk’s last lunch together come from Dulcie Ann’s memoir.
230 “delightful, witty”: Ibid.
230 Many believe that: See, e.g., Lubomír Boháč, “Kauza Masaryk v průběhu let” [The Case of Masaryk Over the Years] in Jan Masaryk—Úvahy o jeho smrti [Jan Masaryk—Reflections on
His Death] (Prague: XYZ, 2010), 70–71.
230 His body: Albion Ross, “News Is Delayed: Czech Cabinet Holds Up Reports on the
Foreign Minister Six Hours,” New York Times, March 11, 1948.
230 The Watchers of Prague believed: Boháč, “Kauza Masaryk v průběhu let,” [The Case of Masaryk Over the Years], 70–71.
230 “the bitter criticism”: Cable, Steinhardt to Department of State, March 10, 1948, FRUS,
1948, Eastern Europe, The Soviet Union, Volume IV, 743–744.
230 “to run down”: Letter, Steinhardt to Vedeler, April 7, 1948, 860F.00/4-748, box 6573,
Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA. In the days that followed Masaryk’s death,
Laurence found that he was unable to rid himself of gnawing suspicions that perhaps something more sinister had taken his friend. He wrote one month later, “While I was at first disposed to accept the suicide story, I am less convinced than I was at the time of his death . . . I cannot escape the feeling that the repeated rumors of murder might have some basis.”
231 “The February storm”: Protocol of the Session of the Constituent Assembly, March 10,
1948, http://www.psp.cz/eknih/1946uns/stenprot/094schuz/s094002.htm.
231 “Slavs have come together”: Protocol of the Session of the Constituent Assembly, April
29, 1948, http://www.psp.cz/eknih/1946uns/stenprot/109schuz/s109004.htm.
231 Beneš joined Masaryk in death: Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 199. 231 “[T]he past three weeks”: Letter, Steinhardt to William Rosenblatt, his brother-in-law,
March 19, 1948, box 93, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
231 “What has taken place”: Letter, Steinhardt to William Diamond, American Mission for
Aid to Greece, April 20, 1948, box 90, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
231 One concerned General Toussaint: Letter, Steinhardt to Colonel Joseph A. “Mike”
Michela, June 17, 1948, box 58, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
232 “return to the United States”: Letter, American Embassy Prague to the Czechoslovak
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 1, 1948, box 193, GS-A, 1945–1954 USA, MFA.
232 The German was found guilty: Judgment on behalf of the Republic, acknowledged after completion of the main trial on 25 and 26 October 1948, LS 804/48, box 881, SOA.
232 One by one: Pacner, Osudové okamžiky Československa [Crucial Moments of
Czechoslovakia], 257.
232 “What are you doing here?”: Alexander Toussaint, interviews.
233 Laurence decided: Letter, Steinhardt to Bruins, March 31, 1948, box 58, Steinhardt
Papers, LOC.
233 The new foreign minister: Background on Clementis is from Josette Baer, “Spirits that
I’ve cited . . .” Vladimir Clementis (1902–1952): The Political Biography of a Czechoslovak
Communist (Stuttgart: Ibidem-Verlag, 2017).
233 Laurence was even closer: For background on Heidrich, see “Special to the New York
Times: Arnost Heidrich, Ex-Czech Aide, 78,” New York Times, February 13, 1968; for the
Americans’ productive relationship with him, see Birge, They Broke the Mold, 351.
233 “was more successful”: Cable, Steinhardt to Vedeler, April 7, 1948, 860F.00/4-748, box
6573, Central Decimal Files, 1945–1949, RG 59, NARA. 233 The United States still held: Letter, Foster Dulles to Steinhardt, June 15, 1948, box 8,
Yarrow Papers, Eisenhower Library; Michálek, “Compensation for Nationalized American
Property in Czechoslovakia,” 170.
233 In May, the Czechoslovak government: Letter, Steinhardt to Department of State, May
26, 1948, PFA. For the diplomatic correspondence between Laurence and the Czechs over June and July with respect to the villa, see box 39, GS-A, 1945-1954 USA, MFA.
234 On July 19, Laurence signed: “Contract between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Czechoslovak Republic for the conveyance of certain real property and movables to the ownership of United States of America,” July 19, 1948, box 39,
GS-A, 1945-1954 USA, MFA.
234 The price was not cheap: Letter, Emil A. Kekich, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim,
American Embassy Prague, to Steinhardt, July 28, 1948, box 56, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
234 “wooden money”: Sherlock, unpublished memoir, SFA, 107.
234 “The ambassador’s residence”: “Life Visits U.S. Embassy in Prague,” Life, November
15, 1948.
235 “I like to be able”: Ibid.
235 Viky was shocked: Hoag, interview.
235 “the Czech State promises”: Letter, Hollitscher to Yarrow, July 2, 1948, PFA.
235 “unless the Department considered”: This quotation and all details from the meeting that determined the fate of the Petschek villa derive from Department of State Memorandum of
Conversation, Participants Steinhardt, Yarrow, Vedeler, Williamson, Donaldson, Oliver, and
Taylor, July 21, 1948, PFA. 236 Dulles was a famously unsentimental: See, e.g., Kinzer, The Brothers, 101–103, 114–
134, 147–151, 156–160, 285, 287–289, 292–295.
236 “Adolf has an intense sense”: Letter, Steinhardt to Ballance, September 7, 1948, box 58,
Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
236 Operation Flying Fiancée: All quotations and details on Laurence’s last adventure in
Prague can be found in Birge, They Broke the Mold, 341–350. The incident is also described in
Lukes, On the Edge of the Cold War, 212–214. I am grateful to Professor Lukes for discussing the incident with me (on October 26, 2016 in Boston), as well as for pointing me to Walter
Birge’s memoir. On the incredulity of Laurence’s threat to bomb the airport,
Birge later wrote, “To a reader nowadays, this bravado and seemingly incredible threat by
Ambassador Steinhardt seems utterly fantastic. I was there and I can vouch that those were Mr.
Steinhardt’s words.” Birge, They Broke the Mold, 345.
12 “Never, Never, Never Give In”
241 “Never, Never, Never Give In”: This quotation is an abbreviated version of a line from a speech that Winston Churchill delivered in October 1941. The original can be found in
Winston S. Churchill, The Unrelenting Struggle: War Speeches by the Right Hon. Winston S.
Churchill (London: Cassell, 1942), 274–276.
242 Fewer Jewish men than women: For an account of the shifting demographics of Jews in the Czech lands after World War II, including the discrepancy between men and women, see
Láníček, Jan. “After the Whirlwind: Jewish Absence in Postwar Czechoslovakia.” Journal of
Contemporary History 52, no. 2 (2017): 278–296.
242 “Let women be placed”: H. Gordon Skilling, T. G. Masaryk: Against the Current,
1882–1914 (Hampshire, UK: The Macmillan Press, 1994), 128.
244 There were signs: Moshe Schiff, nephew of Frieda Grünfeld, later Frieda Eisen, telephone interview by the author, September 14, 2017.
246 But the Czechoslovak authorities: Jan Láníček, “Postwar Czech-Jewish Leadership and the Issue of Jewish Emigration from Czechoslovakia (1945-1950),” in Postwar Jewish
Displacement and Rebirth, 1945-1967, eds. Françoise S. Ouzan and Manfred Gerstenfeld
(Boston: Brill, 2014), 91.
246 It was thronged: See, e.g., photo of the long line outside the United States Information
Service in “Life Visits U.S. Embassy in Prague,” Life, November 15, 1948.
247 her heart beat faster: Visiting the US embassy after the Communist coup would have been a terrifying experience. As Laurence wrote, the Czech public was warned “that mere social contact with members of the Embassy staff will be the basis for charges of espionage and that association with Westerners is ‘anti-State.’” See letter, Steinhardt to Jake, March 31, 1948, box
95, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
247 The embassy was being watched: For an overview of Communist intelligence efforts directed toward the US embassy, its staff, and their associates, see Lukes, On the Edge of the
Cold War, 203–231.
247 an immigrant visa: For an immigrant visa similar to the one that Frieda would have had to fill out, see US Department of State, Admission of Aliens into the United States: Supplement A of the Consular Regulations Notes to Section 361, Revised to January 1, 1936 (Washington, DC:
Government Printing Office, 1935), 146.
247 The list of documents: For the list of requirements to immigrate to the United States at the time, including the oversubscribed Czech immigration quota, see Eliot B. Coulter, “Visa
Work of the Department of State and the Foreign Service,” Department of State Bulletin,
October 1949, 6-14.
247 “But what about the special quota?”: The Displaced Persons Act, passed on June 25,
1948, authorized visas to be issued to 205,000 displaced persons, including two thousand of those who originated in Czechoslovakia. However, Czech immigrants had to have already fled the country in order to qualify for the quota at the time of its enactment. See Coulter, “Visa
Work,” 10. Laurence himself was displeased with this provision, calling it “idiotic.” See letter,
Steinhardt to Parry, September 13, 1948, box 58, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
248 Beinish. Alive?: Jozef Grünfeld was repatriated on August 24, 1948. Zločiny komunizmu na Slovensku 1948–1989 [Crimes of Communism in Slovakia 1948–1989] (Prešov: Vydateľstvo
Michala Vaška, 2001), CD-ROM. 250 only viable exit option: For an overview of the warm relations between Israel and
Czechoslovakia at the time, see Ehud Avriel, “Prague and Jerusalem: The Era of Friendship,” in
The Jews of Czechoslovakia: Historical Studies and Surveys, vol. 3, eds. Avigdor Dagan,
Gertrude Hirshcler, and Lewis Weiner (Philadelphia and New York: Jewish Publication Society of America and Society for the History of Czechoslovak Jews, 1984), 551–567; and Karel
Kaplan, Jiří Dufek, and Vladimír Šlosár, Československo a Izrael v letech 1947-1953
[Czechoslovakia and Israel in the Years 1947-1953] (Prague: Doplněk, 1993).
251 In July: Peter Meyer et al., The Jews in the Soviet Satellites (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse
University Press, 1953), 146.
251 They had company: Ibid., 150
252 Despite the Israeli ambassador’s bold prediction: Láníček, “Postwar Czech-Jewish
Leadership,” 91–95.
252 That fall the arrests: See, e.g., “President of the Zionist Organization of Czechoslovakia
Reported Arrested,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, September 9, 1948.
252 Even more frightening: Moshe Schiff, interview.
253 Twenty thousand Jews would be allowed: Kaplan et al., Československo a Izrael v letech 1947–1953 [Czechoslovakia and Israel in the Years 1947–1953], 22–39.
253 “used”: Moshe Schiff, interview.
254 The travel papers: Berta and her family traveled under the name of her husband, Schiff.
The family traveled from Bratislava to Bari aboard the Gallia, from April 10, 1949, to April 13,
1949. See RG 48 017 425 214 07, microfilm, collection 425 Židovské organizace [Jewish organizations], USHMM, Washington, DC. 254 The visa program was approaching: Láníček, “Postwar Czech-Jewish Leadership,”
91–96; Meyer et al., The Jews in the Soviet Satellites, 150.
254 bourgeois country: Ilya Ehrenburg, “Answer to a Letter,” Jewish Life, June 1949, 27.
Ehrenburg’s original writing was published in Russian on September 21, 1948 in the communist daily newspaper, Pravda. For a scholarly contextualization of the article, see Naomi Blank,
“Redefining the Jewish Question from Lenin to Gorbachev: Terminology or Ideology?” in Jews and Jewish Life in Russia and the Soviet Union, ed. Yaacov Ro’i (Portland: Frank Cass, 1995),
51-66.
255 They would embark for Romania: RG 48 017 425 09, microfilm, collection 425,
Židovské organizace [Jewish organizations], USHMM.
255 There were openly anti-Semitic slurs: Meyer et al., The Jews in the Soviet Satellites,
98–112, 122–190.
13 Nothing Crushes Freedom Like a Tank
259 Nothing Crushes Freedom: Shirley expressed variations of this sentiment to multiple journalists; I have adapted it here. See Richard Bassett, "Taking shelter in a riot with Shirley
Temple," Times (of London), October 30, 1989; Ruthe Stein, “Czechs’ Favorite Diplomat:
Success didn’t spoil Shirley Temple Black,” San Francisco Chronicle, October 16, 1991; and
Jack Anderson and Dale Van Atta, “Shirley Temple Black—Our Woman in Czechoslovakia,”
Washington Post, April 28, 1991.
259 The Palace: Shirley’s published memoir about her experiences in Prague in August
1968, “Prague Diary,” McCall’s, 1969, was the most important source for this chapter. In some instances, I have altered the tense of quotations from “Prague Diary” from present to past to improve the flow of the text. The time, the vehicle, and other details from Shirley’s trip to the palace on August 20, 1968, are in her forthcoming autobiography, chapter 1. It was generously made available to me by her family. Because the manuscript has not yet been fully paginated, it is cited throughout by chapter, rather than by specific page. Julian M. Niemczyk, Air Attaché in
Prague from 1967 through 1969, also discussed Shirley’s meal at the ambassador’s residence in an interview by Charles Stuart Kennedy, December 16, 1991, ADST, LOC.
259 behind a local driver: For the description of Shirley’s driver, see Black, “Prague Diary,”
94. That the same man chauffeured her on August 20 is established by Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 2.
259 she wore a sober navy dress: See photo and accompanying story in Lidová demokracie,
24, no. 231 (August 21, 1968): 1.
259 She began acting in films: “Cinema: Peewee’s Progress,” Time, April 27, 1936. 259 her hair: Photos of Shirley Temple Black as she looked in 1968 exist in many newspapers, as well as in Black, “Prague Diary.” On Shirley’s trademark fifty-six curls, see
Christy Khoshaba, “Shirley Temple Black: 10 Things to Know about Curly Top,” Los Angeles
Times, February 12, 2014.
259 “could melt an audience”: James O. Jackson, “Sounds, Sights of a Country Being
Crushed,” Evening Star, August 22, 1968.
259 William Randolph Hearst had often hosted: Joe Crea, “At San Simeon, Hearst Offered
Kingly Hospitality,” Baltimore Sun, January 27, 1991.
259 but there was nothing: Family of Shirley Temple Black, interview by the author,
Woodside, CA, August 7–14, 2017.
260 She was intrigued: “Přijetí u ministra dr. Vlčka,” Lidová demokracie, August 21, 1968.
260 Later that afternoon: There are multiple accounts of Shirley’s intended meeting with
Alexander Dubček on August 20, 1968. See, e.g., Craig R. Whitney, “Prague Journal: Shirley
Temple Black Unpacks a Bag of Memories,” New York Times, September 11, 1989; “Přijetí u ministra dr. Vlčka,” Lidová demokracie, August 21, 1989; Black, “Prague Diary,” 75; and Bill
McKenzie, “A Conversation with Shirley Temple Black,” Ripon Forum, December 1990, 5–6.
260 It was too much: Black family, interview by the author, Woodside, CA, August 7–14,
2017.
260 US ambassador Jacob Beam: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 1. Jacob
Beam’s calendar held in Princeton confirms that he was at post in Prague on August 20, 1968.
See “Appointments: August 15, 1968–Tuesday, August 20,” box 1, Jacob D. Beam Papers,
Princeton University Library, Princeton, NJ. 260 He had enjoyed a front-row seat: For background on Beam, see his autobiography:
Jacob D. Beam, Multiple Exposure: An American Ambassador’s Unique Perspective on East-
West Issues (New York: Norton, 1978).
260 she was restless: I learned of Shirley’s remarkable drive from interviews with her family
(in particular, Black family interview by the author, Woodside, CA, May 8–11, 2017) and by reading her published autobiography: Shirley Temple Black, Child Star: An Autobiography
(New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1988). For Shirley’s volunteer activities that brought her to Prague in 1968, see Richard Trubo, Courage: The Story of the Mighty Effort to
End the Devastating Effects of Multiple Sclerosis (Chicago, IL: Ivan R. Dee, 2001), 143–145.
261 They were no more aware: Although intelligence gathered by US agencies during July
1968 plainly showed that Warsaw Pact nations had made the necessary preparations for a military invasion of Czechoslovakia, analysts wavered over whether such an invasion was imminent—in part because the Soviet leadership itself had not yet made up its mind. When a
Soviet Special Forces battalion landed at, and took hold of, the Prague airport at midnight
Central European Time, President Johnson and his top aides – including Jacob Beam, the US
Ambassador to Prague – were caught by surprise. See Beam, Multiple Exposure, 189, 192;
Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum and the Central Intelligence Agency's
Historical Collections Division, Strategic Warning and the Role of Intelligence: Lessons Learned from the 1968 Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia (Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency,
2011); and Cynthia M. Grabo, “Soviet Deception in the Czechoslovak Crisis: A Study in
Perspective,” Studies in Intelligence (CIA), Spring 1970: 19-34.
261 penetrated the Iron Curtain: See, e.g., Stephen A. Smith, ed., The Oxford Handbook on the History of Communism (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2014). 261 To be sure: Agnew, The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, 240.
261 Stalin-era hard-liners: Dean Vuletic, "Popular Culture," in Smith, The Oxford
Handbook, 575.
262 A series of Czech films: This artistic movement that swept through Czechoslovakia is known as the Czechoslovak New Wave. For more, see David Cook, A History of Narrative Film,
4th ed. (New York: Norton, 2004), 624–636.
262 official Communist writers’ conference: Jaromír Navrátil, ed., The Prague Spring
1968: National Security Archive Cold War Readers (New York: Central European University
Press, 2006), 5. For helpful background, see also Jerome Karabel, “The Revolt of The
Intellectuals: The Origins of the Prague Spring and the Politics of Reform
Communism,”(Working Papers Series No. 20-90, Institute for Research on Labor and
Employment, University of California, Berkeley, 1990)..
262 Dubček was just eighteen: Biographical information on Alexander Dubček can be found in his autobiography: Alexander Dubček, Hope Dies Last: The Autobiography of Alexander
Dubcek, ed. and trans. Jiří Hochman (New York: Kodansha America, 1993).
262 He wanted to reform Communism: For a useful study of the political forces at play in
Prague in 1968, see Kieran Williams, The Prague Spring and its Aftermath: Czechoslovak
Politics, 1968–1970 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997). For a take on the
Soviet thinking during the upheaval, see Kieran Williams, “The Russian View(s) of the Prague
Spring,” Journal of Cold War Studies 14, no. 2 (2012), 128–141.
262 “Socialism with a Human Face”: Commonly referred to as “socialism with a human face,” Dubček’s proposed government action plan, which was formally adopted by the Czech
Communist party in April 1968, can be found in Navrátil, The Prague Spring 1968, 92–95. 262 “The apex of hope”: Niemczyk, interview.
263 “[T]he television reporter”: Kenneth N. Skoug Jr., Commercial/Economic Officer in
Prague, 1967–1969, interview by Charles Stuart Kennedy, August 22, 2000, ADST, LOC
[emphasis added]. Skoug further details the documentary on the Petscheks in his book chronicling the Prague Spring and US embassy activity during the period. See Kenneth N. Skoug
Jr., Czechoslovakia’s Lost Fight for Freedom, 1967–1969: An American Embassy Perspective
(Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999), 67–68.
263 the man perhaps most responsible: Details on the life on Adolf Pokorný after his service to Laurence ended in 1948, and his death, were derived from J. Hájek and M. Hájek, interview.
263 Viky came from the States: Hoag, interview.
263 like the roses: I learned details of the flowers from Penerova, “The House,” 4-5.
264 “charmed out of [her] boots”: For this quotation, as well as details on the timing of
Shirley’s return to her hotel room after her meeting and its results, see Black, “Prague Diary,”
75. Further details from Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 1. That the meeting occurred on the campus of Charles University is from Anne Edwards, Shirley Temple: American Princess
(New York: William Morrow, 1988), 264.
264 “Your meeting with Mr. Dubcek”: Whitney, “Prague Journal.”
264 “bleak stone wall”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 75.
264 packed with geologists: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 1.
264 She did not complain: Ibid.
264 “as those things do”: Whitney, “Prague Journal.”
264 Droste chocolate pastilles: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 1. 264 “seemed very good indeed”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 75; see this also for Shirley’s bedtime routine on August 20, 1968.
265 “it was an appointment”: Ibid.
265 A few years before: Black family, interview by the author, Woodside, CA, June 28–July
1, 2016.
265 “airport”: Whitney, “Prague Journal.”
265 “Whatever it was”: For this and all other quotations and further details regarding what
Shirley heard and thought throughout the very early hours of August 21, 1968, see Black,
“Prague Diary,” 75.
266 “Awake, madame!”: Ibid. That it was her guide who thumped at the door is established in “Shirley Temple Black Unlucky in Yellow Boots,” Washington Daily News, August 22, 1968.
The guide’s physical description derives from a photo, Shirley Temple Black with her guide,
August 20, 1989, Black Family Archive (BFA).
266 Shirley ducked: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 2.
266 stepping into a pair of yellow boots: “Shirley Temple Black Unlucky in Yellow Boots,”
Washington Daily News; Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 2.
266 Shirley exited room 21 and headed upstairs: Whitney, “Prague Journal.”
266 “Great green tanks, grimy and oily”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 75.
266 “Personnel carriers rolled”: Ibid.
267 “disbelief and confusion”: Ibid.
267 A new horror: For further descriptions of the response of the Czechoslovaks, see Skoug, interview; and cable, Jacob Beam, U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia, to Department of State, August 21, 1968, Prague 03044, box 1, entry 5193, lot file 70D19, Czechoslovak Crisis Files,
1968, Office of the Executive Secretariat, RG 59, NARA.
267 “Then a small knot”: Ibid.
267 “A block away”: Ibid.
267 all that she needed to: Shirley said of that moment, and of her footwear, “It’s the first time I have been so close to gunfire. I think these yellow boots are unlucky.” See “Shirley
Temple Black Unlucky in Yellow Boots,” Washington Daily News.
267 “While tanks continued”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 91.
267 Bits and pieces of information: Ibid. Using Shirley’s own writing, together with context provided by journalistic accounts, I have reconstructed the morning of August 21, 1968. See
Alan Levy, So Many Heroes (Sagaponack, NY: Second Chance Press, 1980); Peter Rehak,
“Undated Occupation,” Associated Press Collections Online, August, 30, 1989; Clyde
Farnsworth, “People of Prague Scream Defiance at the Tanks,” New York Times, August 22,
1968; Robert Littell, ed., The Czech Black Book (New York: Praeger, 1969). I also consulted US government materials in the Czechoslovak Crisis Files, 1968, Office of the Executive Secretariat,
RG 59, NARA; and US government–intercepted radio broadcasts (captured and recorded by the
Foreign Broadcast Information Service [FBIS], an open-source intelligence arm of the US government).
267 The broadcasters explained: Black, “Prague Diary,” 91.
267 Dubček was in party headquarters: Czechoslovakia Crisis Chronology, box 1, entry
5193, lot file 70D19, Czechoslovak Crisis Files, 1968, Office of the Executive Secretariat, RG
59, NARA. For firsthand accounts of Dubček’s kidnapping, see Dubček, Hope Dies Last, 180– 186; and Zdeněk Mlynář, Night Frost in Prague: The End of Humane Socialism (London, UK:
C. Hurst & Co., 1980), 176–187.
268 The American embassy warned: Cable, Beam to Department of State, August 21, 1968,
Prague 03053, box 1, entry 5193, lot file 70D19, Czechoslovak Crisis Files, 1968, Office of the
Executive Secretariat, RG 59, NARA.
268 “Chambermaids, busboys, and guests”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 91.
268 “Military units are approaching”: “Troops Near Prague Radio,” August 21, 1968,
Prague Domestic Service in Czech, Daily Report (FBIS-FRB-68-164), FBIS; Czechoslovakia
Crisis Chronology, box 1, entry 5193, lot file 70D19, Czechoslovak Crisis Files, 1968, Office of the Executive Secretariat, RG 59, NARA.
268 just a five-minute walk: For a map of Prague as it was in 1968, see Farnsworth, “People of Prague Scream Defiance at the Tanks.”
268 “Crowds of citizens”: "Soviet Troops in Prague," Prague ČTK International Service in
English, Daily Report (FBIS-FRB-68-164), August 21, 1968, FBIS.
268 Some youths had barricaded: Rehak, “Undated Occupation.”
269 “Russian tanks by the scores”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 75.
269 “one overriding impression”: Ibid., 91.
269 Two tanks attempted: Rehak, “Undated Occupation.”
269 a single Czech: Black, “Prague Diary,” 75.
269 Five tanks caught fire: Levy, So Many Heroes, 233.
269 “Soviet troops were trying”: “Fighting Reported,” Prague ČTK International Service in
English (Prague), Daily Report (FBIS-FRB-68-164), August 21, 1968, FBIS.
269 Two apartment houses: Rehak, “Undated Occupation”; Levy, So Many Heroes, 234. 269 “Nine ambulances wailed”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 75; “1215 Situation Report,”
Prague ČTK International Service in English (Prague), Daily Report (FBIS-FRB-68-164),
August 21, 1968, FBIS.
269 “People fled before the shooting”: “Fighting Reported,” Prague ČTK International
Service in English (Prague), Daily Report (FBIS-FRB-68-164), August 21, 1968, FBIS.
269 Miraculously, the radio: Levy, So Many Heroes, 251.
270 “Twenty badly wounded persons”: “Care for Wounded,” Prague ČTK International
Service in English (Prague), Daily Report (FBIS-FRB-68-164), August 21, 1968, FBIS. A little more than an hour after the battle outside the radio building ceased, Ambassador Jacob Beam dispatched embassy officers to quietly survey the scene. Beam reported back to Washington that they saw “devastation reminiscent of World War Two.” See cable, Beam to Department of State,
August 21, 1968, Prague 03064, box 1, entry 5193, lot file 70D19, Czechoslovak Crisis Files,
1968, RG 59, NARA.
270 “What’s going on?”: All quotations and details, unless otherwise specified, regarding
Shirley’s interaction with the “long-haired young girl” in the Alcron can be found in Black,
“Prague Diary,” 91.
270 Soon a crowd: Ruth Dorf, wife of geologist trapped with Shirley in the Alcron,
"Impressions of Czechoslovakia Accumulated After a Week of Travel," unpublished manuscript,
BFA, 3; "To Serve a Healthy World," BFA.
270 The German writer: "To Serve a Healthy World," BFA.
270 “Sparkle, Shirley, sparkle”: Black, Child Star, 20; Rosalind Shaffer, “The Private Life of Shirley Temple, Wonder Child of the Screen,” Chicago Tribune, September 9, 1934.
270 “A large cardboard sign”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 91. 271 “as he presented”: Ibid.
271 “A heavyset man”: Ibid.
271 “One boy”: Ibid.
271 “the talk got around”: Ibid.
271 The hotel switchboard: Littell, The Czech Black Book, 18.
271 Not that he would be unduly worried: For Charlie’s measured reaction to hearing that his wife was trapped in the invasion, see “Shirley Temple Caught in Prague by Invasion,” New
York Times, August 21, 1968. For Charlie’s background, see Shirley’s own description of him in
Black, Child Star, 449–455.
271 the rest of her family: On Shirley’s close relationship with her parents, see Ibid., 479–
487.
272 “If you look through”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 91–93.
272 “old and tend to worry”: “Shirley Temple Black Wakens to Sound of Prague Firing,”
Washington Post, August 22, 1968.
272 She passed along Charlie’s contact: Dorf, "Impressions of Czechoslovakia," BFA, 3-4.
272 They came to inquire: Black, “Prague Diary,” 93.
272 “Things are deteriorating”: Ibid.
272 “No”: Ibid.
273 a getaway hidden in a hay truck: Timothy Kenny, "Czech leaders rigid, slow to accept reforms," USA Today, October 16, 1989.
273 “They are strangers”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 93.
273 “German, really?”: Ibid.
273 The dwindling food supply: Ibid. 273 A message came through: Ibid., 94; Dorf, “Impressions of Czechoslovakia,” BFA, 5;
This communication between the US embassy and American citizens in Prague regarding a proposed bus evacuation is confirmed in the following: cable, Beam to Department of State,
August 22, 1968, Prague 03077, box 1, entry 5193, lot file 70D19, Czechoslovak Crisis Files,
1968, Office of the Executive Secretariat, RG 59, NARA.
273 citizens were reminded: Cable, Beam to Department of State, August 21, 1968, Prague
03053, box 1, entry 5193, lot file 70D19, Czechoslovak Crisis Files, 1968, Office of the
Executive Secretariat, RG 59, NARA.
273 The radio was still broadcasting: Although the building of Radio Prague was ultimately occupied by Russian troops, the radio employees—refusing to be defeated—found a “secret location” from which to broadcast. See Levy, So Many Heroes, 251.
273 “[A] short time ago”: Czechoslovak Crisis Chronology, August 21, 1968, box 1, entry
5193, lot file 70D19, Czechoslovak Crisis Files, 1968, RG 59, NARA.
273 “A woman nearby”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 93.
274 shaken a clenched hand in anger: Bassett, “Taking shelter in a riot.”
274 “Look”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 93.
274 Instead of eating: Ibid., 94.
274 She chose the sensible: Photo of Shirley climbing into her escape car on August 23,
1968, BFA; David Brinkley and Garrick Utley, “Invasion/Americans/Border,” NBC Evening
News, NBC, August 23, 1968, Vanderbilt Television News Archive.
274 “For a long time”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 94.
274 “I must go”: Unless otherwise specified, all quotations and details regarding Shirley’s escape from the Alcron to the US embassy can be found in Black, “Prague Diary,” 94. 274 “The shooting has different sounds”: Jackson, “Sounds, Sights.”
275 Someone was constantly singing: Ibid.
275 “to give the fraternal Czechoslovak people”: Navrátil, The Prague Spring 1968, 456.
276 She took the maid’s: “Americans Flee—Shirley in the Lead,” San Francisco Chronicle,
August 23, 1968.
276 A picture of his widow: Edwards, Shirley Temple, 266.
277 burning its files: Theodore E. Russell, interview by Charles Stuart Kennedy, February
22, 2000, ADST, LOC.
277 Larry Modisett: Black, “Prague Diary,” 94; “Americans Safe, Tell of Turmoil,
Tragedy,” Los Angeles Times, August 23, 1968.
278 They would head west: Cable, Beam to Department of State, August 22, 1968, Prague
03077, box 1, entry 5193, lot file 70D19, Czechoslovak Crisis Files, 1968, Office of the
Executive Secretariat, RG 59, NARA.
278 “snaked past many”: All quotations and details, unless otherwise specified, on Shirley’s convoy from the US embassy through her safe arrival in West Germany can be found in Black,
“Prague Diary,” 94–95.
278 Behind her was a jeepload: Frances Moffat, “Shirley Black Tells of Prague Escape,”
San Francisco Chronicle, December 17, 1968.
279 She didn’t look: “Shirley’s Brush with Russ Tank,” San Francisco Chronicle, August
24, 1968.
279 one hundred vehicles: “Americans Safe, Tell of Turmoil,” Los Angeles Times, August
23, 1968.
279 Americans, Canadians, Brits: Niemczyk, interview. 279 scenic highway: Skoug, Czechoslovakia's Lost Fight for Freedom, 149.
281 she emerged: “Americans Flee—Shirley in the Lead,” San Francisco Chronicle, August
23, 1968. Shirley’s name, and the names of many other American citizens who escaped Prague that August in the convoy, were dutifully recorded by the American embassy. She appears as
“26. Shirley Temple Black.” See cable, Beam to Department of State, August 23, 1968, Prague
03116, box 1, entry 5193, lot file 70D19, Czechoslovak Crisis Files, 1968, Office of the
Executive Secretariat, RG 59, NARA.
281 “still clutching the eight red carnations”: Black, “Prague Diary,” 95.
282 “What did you see?”: Brinkley and Utley, “Invasion/Americans/Border.”
14 A Revolutionary Production
283 She put on traditional Czech garb: “The S.F. Czechs Protest,” San Francisco
Chronicle, August 25, 1968.
283 Her befuddled family: After leaving Prague in 1968, Shirley was a changed woman.
Reflecting on her stay in Prague nearly fifteen years later, she remarked, “The effect that it’s had on my life has been quite profound.” See, e.g., John Askins, “Tempo: Shirley Temple Meets Her
Past,” Chicago Tribune, June 12, 1984. I derived further detail on the influence that her 1968 visit to Prague had on her life from my conversations with her descendants.
283 She told people: Barbara Vancheri, “Shirley Temple Showed Her Outspoken Side in a
Visit to Pittsburgh,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 11, 2014.
283 She was a Republican: Unless otherwise specified, all of Shirley’s biographical information can be found in Patsy G. Hammontree, Shirley Temple Black: A Bio-Bibliography
(Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998), 143–188.
283 earned her an appointment: Caroll Kilpatrick, “Shirley Temple Black Named to U.N.,”
Washington Post, August 30, 1969.
284 “even knew the word”: Uri Friedman, “Shirley Temple: Actress, Ambassador,
Honorary African Chief,” Atlantic, February 11, 2014. For information on how Shirley earned the respect of Henry Kissinger, see Hans J. Massaquoi, “Ghana’s Love Affair with Shirley
Temple Black,” Ebony, March 1976, 114–123.
284 “fresh breeze”: “Shirley Captures the UN,” Washington Post, November 28, 1969. One fellow American delegate remembered that Shirley was always one of the first in the office in the morning. “She really worked. She was good.” See Dan W. Figgins, interview by Jeff
Broadwater, November 20, 1993, ADST, LOC.
284 “Now I understand”: Theodore S. Wilkinson, interview by Charles Stuart Kennedy,
January 11, 1999, ADST, LOC.
284 The no-compromise school: See, e.g., Kinzer, The Brothers, 320–323.
284 She did not think America was perfect: On Shirley’s thoughts on the United States and its role in the world, see, e.g., Viola Osgood, “Shirley Black Sees Moral Decline in US,” Boston
Globe, April 30, 1978.
285 She had been a candidate: Black family, interview by the author, Woodside, CA, May
8–11, 2017.
285 By the time Bush: Eileen Keerdoja with Joe Contreras and Pamela Abramson, “Shirley
Offers Diplomatic Advice,” Newsweek, December 7, 1981. The newly tapped envoys whom
Shirley trained gave her rave reviews. See, e.g., Rockwell A. Schnabel, interview by Charles
Stuart Kennedy, October 17, 1990, ADST, LOC.
285 considered a hardship posting: Russell, interview by Kennedy.
285 “prime, prime property”: Niemczyk, interview.
286 “I said yes”: Dennis Murphy, “Shirley Temple Black Named Ambassador,” NBC News,
September 15, 1989; Other details on Shirley’s phone conversation with President Bush in which she accepted the ambassadorship come from McKenzie, “A Conversation with Shirley Temple
Black,” 5; and Mark Seal, “Shirleyka,” American Way, April 1, 1990, 92.
286 Twenty-one years: The Czech secret-police surveillance on Shirley began the moment that her plane touched down in Prague. The police documented Shirley’s arrival in Prague and at the Petschek villa on the evening of August 11, 1989. Their source relayed that Shirley recognized the villa staff from her sojourn in 1968 and even remembered the butler by name. See record no. 10/89, Shirley Temple Black file (1006042 MV), ABS.For the weather, see Czech
Hydrometeorological Institute, Daily measurement from Prague –Klementinum, August 11,
1989, http://portal.chmi.cz/historicka-data/pocasi/praha-klementinum#.
286 “came as a stranger”: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 1.
286 “a Stalinist backwater”: Joy Billington, “Star Turn in Prague,” Illustrated London News
7102, September 2, 1991.
286 who had invited the Soviets: Navrátil, The Prague Spring 1968, 324–325.
286 Miroslav Štěpán: Štěpán’s own reflections on the Velvet Revolution and background on his life can be found in his memoir: Miroslav Štěpán, Můj život v sametu. Zrada přichází z
Kremlu [My Life in Velvet: Betrayal Comes from the Kremlin] (Prague: Malý princ, 2013).
286 had little affection: Žantovský, Havel, 277–285. For a useful overview of Czech political history in the lead-up to 1989, see Oldřich Tůma, “The Second Consolidation of the
Communist Regime and the Descent into Collapse (1972–1989),” in Pánek and Tůma, A History of the Czech Lands, 569–588.
286 Shirley confronted a thorny problem: As US Embassy Prague cables from autumn
1989 demonstrate, one of Shirley’s primary foreign-policy objectives in Czechoslovakia was to improve relations with the Czech Communist government while utilizing a series of carrots and sticks to improve the government’s human-rights practices: cable, Shirley Temple Black, U.S.
Ambassador to Czechoslovakia, to Department of State, August 23, 1989, Prague 05736, doc. no. C06406518, MDR. See also, e.g., cable, Black to Department of State, October 19, 1989,
Prague 07303, in Vilém Prečan, ed., Prague–Washington–Prague: Reports from the United
States Embassy in Czechoslovakia, November–December 1989 (Prague: Václav Havel Library, 2004), 13–17. I was able to supplement this collection with nearly sixty cables that were declassified and provided to me by the State Department in response to a Mandatory
Declassification Review request that I filed (US Department of State case no. MP-2017-00697, henceforth referred to as MDR).
286 Despite the country’s commitments: For background on Czechoslovakia’s commitments in the Helsinki Accords, see Jonathon Bolton, Worlds of Dissent: Charter 77, The
Plastic People of the Universe, and Czech Culture under Communism (Cambridge, MA, and
London, UK: Harvard University Press, 2012), 24–28. For violations of those commitments as
Shirley took up her post, see, e.g., “U.S. Urges Greater Tolerance of Freedom in
Czechoslovakia,” Reuters, August 21, 1989.
287 “If Prague were Rome or Paris”: Whitney, “Prague Journal.”
287 “I loved her in Bright Eyes”: Dan Rather, The Camera Never Blinks Twice: The Further
Adventures of a Television Journalist (New York: William Morrow, 1994), 175.
287 honorary foreign-service officer: Seal, “Shirleyka,” 96.
287 “But Daddy”: Thomas N. Hull III, Public Affairs Officer in Prague, 1989–1993, interview by Daniel F. Whitman, January 8-9, 2010, ADST, LOC.
287 credentialing date: “Shirley Temple Black Becomes U.S. Envoy to Czechoslovakia,”
Reuters, August 23, 1989.
287 “force in accord”: Cable, Black to Department of State, August 2, 1989, Prague 05232, doc. no. C06406504, MDR.
288 “present within the range”: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 20, 1989,
Prague 08087, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 92. 288 On August 21: Whitney, “Prague Journal”; Clifford (Cliff) G. Bond, Foreign Service
Officer, US Embassy Prague in 1989, interview by the author, Washington, DC, June 28, 2017.
To describe what Shirley saw during the protest of August 21, 1989, I drew principally upon the following sources: cable, Black to Department of State, August 22, 1989, Prague 05726, doc. no.
C0606522, MDR; Oldřich Tůma, Zítra zase tady [Tomorrow Here Again] (Prague: Maxdorf,
1994), 69; Jiří Suk et al., Chronologie zániku komunistického režimu v Československu 1985–
1990 [Chronology of the Demise of the Communist Regime in Czechoslovakia 1985–1990]
(Prague: Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, 1999), 80–81; Padraic Kenney, A Carnival of
Revolution: Central Europe 1989 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002), 267–268; and “Demonstrace, 21. srpen 1989,” [Demonstration, August 21, 1989], video from Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů, https://www.ustrcr.cz/uvod/listopad-1989/audio-video/srpen-1989- audio-video.
288 She was careful: Stein, “Czechs’ Favorite Diplomat,” San Francisco Chronicle; Bond, interview, June 28, 2017. See also Hull, interview by Whitman, for an account of the difficulty in hiring trusted staff.
288 Her tall husband: To describe Shirley’s husband, Charlie Black, I drew upon: Black,
Child Star, 449–455; Black family, interview, by the author, Woodside, CA, May 8–11, 2017; and photos of him from 1989 in the BFA.
288 “It was an oppression”: Ross Larsen, “Three Extraordinary Years for Temple Black,”
Prague Post Magazine, June 30, 1992.
289 "THE BOLSHEVIKS CAME WITH TANKS": Michael Wise, “Prague Riot Police Charge
Protestors on Invasion Anniversary,” Reuters, August 21, 1989.
289 Lest they miss her: Bond, interview, June 28, 2017. 290 A group of protestors resisted passively: Cable, Black to Department of State, August
22, 1989, Prague 05726, doc. no. C0606522, MDR.
290 “political activism [was] growing”: Cable, Black to Department of State, August 30,
1989, Prague 05959, doc. no. C06406529, MDR.
290 On August 22: Shirley Temple Black, “Those Czech Dissidents Were Not Ignored,”
Washington Post, February 16, 1990; Vivian Cadden, “Return to Prague,” McCall’s Magazine,
April 1990, 65–66; Bond, interview, June 28, 2017; “Přála bych vám to nejlepší,” Prostor, June
27, 1992; photos of Shirley Temple Black with Dienstbier and other dissidents, BFA; and Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 9. The exact date of the meeting is debatable, but the weight of the evidence points to August 22.
290 Charter 77, the foremost dissident movement: See, e.g., Bolton, Worlds of Dissent.
290 Dienstbier was silver haired: “A Czech’s Career: An Idealistic Ex-stoker Mourned by the Country He Served,” Economist, January 13, 2011; Judy Dempsey, “Jiri Dienstbier, Czech
Dissident, Is Dead at 73,” New York Times, January 8, 2011.
291 They wondered: Alexandr Vondra, “Discussion on the Velvet Revolution,” panel with
Clifford Bond and Michele Bond, the American Center in Prague, August 2015.
291 “It was an opportunity”: Ibid.
291 Dienstbier and the others implored Shirley: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 9.
291 “a lot of emotion”: Seal, “Shirleyka,” 93.
291 the Czechs wanted change: ); Robert J. Guttman, "Interview: Shirley Temple Black",
Europe no. 309 (September 1991): 32. 291 Shirley sensed that change: Shirley told reporters after the Velvet Revolution that she had known that change would come to Czechoslovakia but was surprised by the speed with which it swept the nation. See, e.g., “Czeching It Out,” Los Angeles Daily News, May 16, 1990.
Shirley also told a Czech reporter, “The first few weeks I traveled around across Czechoslovakia, walked around Prague, I felt that something would happen, but I didn’t think it would be so fast .
. . I’m glad I was wrong.” See “Sloboda je najväčší dar,” [Freedom Is the Greatest Gift],
Národná obroda, July 10, 1992. Cables sent in mid-to-late August 1989 suggest that Shirley and her staff believed that the likelihood of change was increasing as the next generation of Czechs came of age and became more willing to challenge the regime. At the end of August 1989,
Shirley wrote to D.C. that a more active youth “does not bode well for the regime. As one dissident reportedly said, his generation is at least willing to have a dialogue with the government, but the next generation may not be.” See cable, Black to Department of State,
August 30, 1989, Prague 05959, doc. no. C06406529, MDR. However, as Shirley and her staff later acknowledged, they did not expect that change to happen in the near term. A cable sent by the Embassy assessing the consequences that the political upheaval in neighboring East Germany would have for Czechoslovakia, sent just one week before the November 17, 1989 protest that would spark the revolution, read, “we caution against expecting any real political reform resulting, since widespread popular pressure for it remains muted.” See cable, Black to
Department of State, November 9, 1989, Prague 07892, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague,
45.
291 “No one knew”: Guttman, “Interview: Shirley Temple Black.”
292 Shirley was unsure: Unless otherwise specified, all details regarding the mechanics of
Shirley’s credentialing process from Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Ceremonial of the inaugural audience given to Ambassador of a foreign state by the president of the Czechoslovak
Socialist Republic,” BFA.
292 a World War II partisan: Williams, The Prague Spring and Its Aftermath, 48-49.
292 “not very much”: Whitney, “Prague Journal.” Other details on Husák’s and Shirley’s conversation from Larsen, “Three Extraordinary Years for Temple Black,” and McKenzie, “A
Conversation with Shirley Temple Black,” 6.
292 They took a seat: Photo, Nástupní audience velvyslankyně Shirley Temple Black
[Inaugural audience of Ambassador Shirley Temple Black], AKPR. Although Shirley was embarrassed by her habit, she did smoke. See Hull, interview by Whitman.
292 “I wanted to have you come here”: Larsen, “Three Extraordinary Years for Temple
Black.”
292 “Shirley Temple opens the door”: Kenny, “Czech Leaders Rigid.”
292 “Whatever works”: Larsen, “Three Extraordinary Years for Temple Black.”
292 “I don’t like”: All quoted dialogue between Shirley and Biak can be found in “Přála bych vám to nejlepší,” [I Wish You the Best], Prostor, June 27, 1992. Italics are my own. For more detail on their scuffle, see McKenzie,“A Conversation with Shirley Temple Black,” 6.
293 She welcomed them: Stein, “Czechs’ Favorite Diplomat”; Cadden, "Return to Prague,"
65.
293 “the age-old”: Kenny, “Czech Leaders Rigid.”
293 a provocative sense of humor: For Shirley’s STB T-shirt, see Vera Glasser, “From
Hollywood to Prague Shirley Temple Black Has Challenging Assignment,” St. Louis Post-
Dispatch, July 31, 1991; for the custom license plate, see Jack Anderson and Dale Van Atta,
“Shirley Temple Black—Our Woman in Czechoslovakia,” Washington Post, April 28, 1991. 293 Gorby: Alan Levy, “Ambassador Shirley Temple Black,” Prague Post, November 26,
1991.
294 “What’s this going to be”: Sarah Kaufman, “Shirley Temple, Remembering Curly
Top,” Washington Post, December 6, 1998.
294 “she and her entire family”: Hull, interview by Whitman;. I learned more about this moving incident in my personal telephone interview with Thomas Hull, August 30, 2017.
294 “everybody in the embassy”: Cliff Bond, “Discussion on the Velvet Revolution,” panel.
294 “Why do you Americans”: Michele Bond, ibid.
295 But Shirley and her team: I learned about the personalities and roles of the embassy officials in Prague in 1989 through my interviews with them, particularly Cliff Bond, June 28,
2017, and August 1, 2017, both in Washington, D.C.; Edward (Ed) Kaska, Washington, D.C.,
July 26, 2017; and Ted Russell, telephone interview, August 29, 2017.
295 “We maintain”: Michele Bond, “Discussion on the Velvet Revolution,” panel.
295 On October 4: To detail Václav Havel and Shirley’s meeting in the palace library on
October 4, 1989, I used Václav Havel, “Rozhovor s. V.H., Hrádeček 15. listopadu 1989,” interview by Irena Gerová, in Irena Gerová, Vyhrabávačky: deníkové zápisky a rozhovory z let
1988 a 1989 [Gleanings: Diary Notes and Interviews from 1988 and 1989] (Prague: Paseka,
2009), 146–148; Anderson and Van Atta, “Shirley Temple Black”; “Sloboda je najväčší dar”
[Freedom Is the Greatest Gift]; Black, “Those Czech Dissidents Were Not Ignored”; “Czeching
It Out”; Michael Ryan, “As Ambassador to Prague Shirley Temple Black Watches a Rebirth of
Freedom,” People, January 8, 1990; and Hull, interview by Whitman. I also benefitted from a number of informal conversations with Miloš Forman starting in 2011. 295 “smart . . . clever . . . courageous”: “Milos Forman: The Coming of the Velvet
Revolution,” YouTube video, 1:06, the Arts Initiative and the Columbia Center for New Media
Teaching and Learning, posted by “ColumbiaLearn,” May 25, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3GL0cNnpCs&list=PLSuwqsAnJMtwqVoj_mYRiAmvJvJ
ULztv9&index=7.
295 a familiar destination: Žantovský, Havel, 250.
295 “The American Ambassador’s Residence”: John Updike, “Bech in Czech,” New
Yorker, April 20, 1987, 32. The story stars his fictional Jewish alter-ego, Bech, perhaps based (at least in part) on Philip Roth, who made regular visits to Prague during the Cold War. The title of
Roth’s own novel about his experiences, The Prague Orgy, gives the general flavor of those trips, and of the visiting writers’ extracurricular activities.
296 He sat quietly: Havel was known for “only putting on a suit and tie under extreme duress.” See Timothy Garton Ash, We the People: The Revolution of ’89 Witnessed in Warsaw,
Budapest, Berlin and Prague (Cambridge, UK: Granta Books in Association with Penguin
Books, 1990), 117.
296 he had been doing unflinching battle: For the authoritative biography of Havel and descriptions of the many years he spent resisting the Communist regime, see Žantovský, Havel.
296 those rebellious radio voices: Ibid., 116.
296 Husák, Biľak, and their lieutenants: For descriptions of the regular surveillance and jailings to which Havel was subjected, see Žantovský, Havel, 185–193, 213–242, 283–284. On his recurring lung disease, see also Dan Bilefsky and Jane Perlez, “Vaclav Havel, Former Czech
President, Dies at 75,” New York Times, December 18, 2011; and David Remnick, “Postscript:
Vaclav Havel, 1936–2011,” New Yorker, December 18, 2011. 296 Perhaps most painful of all: Mel Gussow, “Stage: Havel’s ‘Private View’ Opens,” New
York Times, November 21, 1983.
296 “Vašku, you may”: Gerová, Vyhrabávačky [Gleanings], 147.
297 quietly answered questions: Havel described the subject of the questions in Gerová,
Vyhrabávačky [Gleanings], 147–148. His writings, which I also quote, reveal more of his thinking on these matters.
297 “[It] was almost”: Václav Havel, To the Castle and Back (New York: Vintage, 2008),
52.
297 “more had changed”: Ibid.
297 “a long discussion”: Black, “Those Czech Dissidents Were Not Ignored.”
297 “that he worked”: Gerová, Vyhrabávačky [Gleanings], 148.
297 Havel did his best: For corroboration of Havel’s thinking on what Czech leaders might have done to secure international support before the Soviet invasion in August 1968, see Václav
Havel, Disturbing the Peace: A Conversation with Karel Hvížďala, trans. Paul Wilson (New
York: Knopf, 1990), 104.
297 “moral leader”: McKenzie, “A Conversation with Shirley Temple Black,” 4.
297 “charismatic”: Ryan, “As Ambassador to Prague.”
297 “will always remain”: “Sloboda je najväčší dar.” [Freedom is the Greatest Gift]..
298 change continued to accelerate: For a detailed, scholarly account of the revolutions in
Europe in 1989, see Kenney, A Carnival of Revolution. For an assessment of the peaceful dissolution of East Germany, see Charles S. Maier, “Civil Resistance and Civil Society: Lessons from the Collapse of the German Democratic Republic in 1989,” in Adam Roberts and Timothy
Garton Ash, eds., Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present (Oxford, UK, and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 260–
276. For Poland’s and Hungary’s expressions of regret for their roles in ’68, and
Czechoslovakia’s refusal to do so at the time, see, e.g., Craig R. Whitney, “Prague to Make
Changes, but Not Dramatic Ones” New York Times, August 31, 1989.
298 whispers of a possible right-wing coup: Bill Keller, “Soviet Congress Ends with One
Last Spat,” New York Times, June 10, 1989.
298 “Government’s attitude”: John Tagliabue, “Police in Prague Move to Break up Big
Protest March,” New York Times, October 29, 1989.
298 Dissidents murmured to Shirley: Bond, interview, June 28, 2017; cable, Black to
Department of State, October 25, 1989, Prague 07451, doc. no. C06406561, MDR.
298 It was the seventy-first anniversary: John Tagliabue, “Prague Seizes Dissidents on Eve of Anniversary,” New York Times, October 28, 1989.
298 in a meeting with Štěpán: Unless otherwise specified, all quotations and details on
Shirley’s first meeting with Štěpán on October 18, 1989, can be found in the following: cable,
Black to Department of State, October 19, 1989, Prague 07303, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–
Prague, 13–17.
298 Štěpán was obese: Photos of Štěpán are readily available online, and Cliff Bond’s descriptions in my interviews with him on June 28 and August 1, 2017, were especially helpful.
298 Then he tried to end the meeting: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 9.
299 Shirley ordered staff: Robert Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” unpublished manuscript, 2014, 6; Edward Epstein, “From Hollywood to the Velvet Revolution, Shirley
Temple Black . . .” San Francisco Chronicle, April 23, 1995. 299 Saturday, October 28: To write the section about the protest of October 28, 1989, in
Prague, and Shirley’s involvement, I consulted her statements and writings, including cables sent by the embassy and signed by her, as well as a number of other firsthand accounts, histories, interviews, and news articles. The most useful included Michael Kukral, Prague 1989: Theater of Revolution (Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1997), 40–43; Rob McRae, Resistance and Revolution: Vaclav Havel’s Czechoslovakia (Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1997), 94–
97; Oldřich Tůma, Zítra zase tady [Tomorrow Here Again] (Prague: Maxdorf, 1994); Jiří Suk,
Chronologie zániku komunistického režimu v Československu [Chronology of the Demise of the
Communist Regime in Czechoslovakia], 93-94; Epstein, “From Hollywood”; “Sloboda je najväčší dar” [Freedom is the Greatest Gift]; Tagliabue, “Police in Prague”; Michael Wise,
“Over 10,000 Attacked as They Demand New Government in Prague,” Reuters, October 28,
1989; Bassett, “Taking shelter in a riot”; Seal, “Shirleyka,” 46, 48; “Zneužili 28. října,” [They
Abused October 28], Rudé právo, October 30, 1989; Anderson and Van Atta, “Shirley Temple
Black”; Richard Bassett, reporter for the Times (of London), Prague Bureau during 1989, telephone interview by the author, June 27, 2017; Robert McRae, Canadian chargé d’affaires in
Prague during 1989, telephone interview by the author, July 17, 2017; Ryan, “As Ambassador to
Prague”; Kenney, A Carnival of Revolution; cable, Black to Department of State, October 29,
1989, Prague 07534, doc. no. C06406565, MDR; cable, Black to Department of State, October
31, 1989, Prague 07590, doc. no. C06406570, MDR; photos of Ambassador Black and Charlie
Black on the hotel ledge on October 28, 1989, BFA; Wilkinson, interview; Ted Wilkinson,
"Shirley Temple Black: A Natural Diplomat," The Foreign Service Journal 91, no. 6 (June
2014): 93; Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 6; “Einst Kinderstar, heute US-
Botschafterin in Prag,” [Once a Child Star, Today US Ambassador to Prague], Blick für die Frau, 1989, 20–21; and Edward Lucas, “Prague Rally Thwarted as Police Try New Tactics,”
Independent, October 30, 1989.
299 “grey and bitterly cold”: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 94.
299 “I’d like to go for a walk”: Epstein, “From Hollywood.”
299 her Reebok sneakers: Anderson and Van Atta, “Shirley Temple Black.”
300 “Wenceslas Square was filling”: Lucas, “Prague Rally Thwarted.”
300 “raised a banner”: Ibid.
300 “TRUTH PREVAILS”: Wise, “Over 10,000 Attacked.”
300 “little short guy”: Epstein, “From Hollywood.”
300 Shirley guessed: Cable, Black to Department of State, October 29, 1989, Prague 07534, doc. no. C06406565, MDR.
300 “rising, then sinking”: Kukral, Prague 1989, 41.
301 the national anthem: Ibid., 43.
301 “Suddenly, hundreds and hundreds”: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 94.
301 “The throng of the growing crowd”: Kukral, Prague 1989, 41–42.
301 “Masaryk!” “Freedom!” and “Havel!”: Ibid., 42.
301 “Their heavy boots”: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 95.
301 “forcing the crowd”: Wise, “Over 10,000 Attacked.”
301 “[T]he police had”: Kukral, Prague 1989, 42.
301 “they simply walked”: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 95.
301 “Now we run”: Epstein, “From Hollywood.”
302 “got across another street”: Ibid.
302 “Every time we crossed”: Ryan, “As Ambassador to Prague.” 302 “took cover behind a nearby billboard”: All quotations and details in this paragraph can be found in Bassett, “Taking shelter in a riot.” Seal, in “Shirleyka,” 48, confirms that Shirley signed the autographs for the students as she fled.
302 Perry Shankle: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 9; and Fernando Rondon,
Department of State Inspector Corps, telephone interview by the author, February 22, 2018. See also Wilkinson, interview; and Wilkinson, “Shirley Temple Black.”
302 “What are you doing here?”: Epstein, “From Hollywood.” Shirley, in this 1995 San
Francisco Chronicle interview, attributed this dialogue to a conversation between herself and a
“journalist from London.” However, this is most likely a misrecollection. Shirley recounts in her forthcoming autobiography, chapter 9, that the man whom she encountered outside the Hotel
Jalta was Perry Shankle, an American Foreign Service Association inspector, not a British journalist. Shankle then offered Shirley shelter in the hotel’s lobby. Shankle's presence is also confirmed by Rondon, interview; Rondon was in the hotel room with Shirley and Shankle on that day. For more on Shankle and Shirley’s interaction, see also Wilkinson, interview; and
Wilkinson, “Shirley Temple Black.” From his writing about that day (Bassett, “Taking shelter in a riot”), I was able to determine that the British journalist that Shirley spoke to that day was
Richard Bassett of the Times of London. In my interview with him, Bassett reported that he was quite sure that he first met Shirley inside the hotel. Bassett’s recollections corroborate Shirley’s account of the events as described in her forthcoming autobiography, rather than in her newspaper interview. Accordingly, I have attributed this dialogue in text to Perry Shankle.
302 No sooner did they enter the lobby: Bassett, interview.
303 “Musing on the helmeted”: Bassett, “Taking shelter in a riot.”
303 “no stranger to violence”: Ibid. 303 She made her way: Cable, Black to Department of State, October 31, 1989, Prague
07590, doc. no. C06406570, MDR.
304 “Shirley Temple spent”: Wilkinson, interview. Because Wilkinson reports that this language is what Shankle used with his wife, I have changed the tense of this quotation for flow.
See also Wilkinson, “Shirley Temple Black.”
304 a large window with a ledge: Photos of Shirley and Charlie on ledge, October 28, 1989,
BFA; cable, Black to Department of State, October 31, 1989, Prague 07590, doc. no.
C06306570, MDR; Ryan, “As Ambassador to Prague”; Epstein, "From Hollywood."
304 “but a few hundred”: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 95.
304 “Ach, synku, synku”: Kukral, Prague 1989, 42, 43.
304 “During the singing”: Kukral, Prague 1989, 43.
304 “People jeered and whistled”: Ibid.
304 “created a box”: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 95–96.
304 “These few hundred”: Ibid., 96.
304 “Young men in casual dress”: Tagliabue, “Police in Prague.”
305 A Shirley Temple: Bassett, “Taking shelter in a riot.”
305 Even at the best of times: Shirley Temple Black, interview by Scott Simon, National
Public Radio, April 1986.
305 “chanting ‘No violence!’”: Wise, “Over 10,000 Attacked.”
305 “shouted, ‘Gestapo!’ and, ‘The World Is Watching!’”: Tagliabue, “Police in Prague.”
305 a closed butcher shop: “Einst Kinderstar, heute US-Botschafterin in Prag.” [Once a
Child Star, Today US Ambassador to Prague].
305 “might get knocked down”: Anderson and Van Atta, “Shirley Temple Black.” 305 She wondered: “Einst Kinderstar, heute US-Botschafterin in Prag.” [Once a Child Star,
Today US Ambassador to Prague].
306 What should have been: Anderson and Van Atta, “Shirley Temple Black"; Epstein,
"From Hollywood."
306 left dark streaks: Ryan, “As Ambassador to Prague.”
306 “250 people were detained”: Tagliabue, “Police in Prague.”
306 “directing her troops”: Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 6; see also “Zneužili
28. října,” Rudé právo, October 30, 1989.
306 On Monday: Country team meetings were on held on Mondays throughout the fall of
1989: Kaska, interview.
306 “So you disobeyed”: Epstein, “From Hollywood.”
306 “Czechoslovakia’s biggest demonstration”: Michael Wise, “Prague Police Break up
Pro-Democracy Rally,” Reuters, October 28, 1989.
307 “even though they were”: Epstein, “From Hollywood.”
307 “There was only one star”: Hull, interview by Whitman.
15 Truth Prevails
308 Shirley and Charlie: As Shirley and Charlie were both early risers and ate breakfast together quietly nearly every morning throughout their marriage, and both were in Prague on
November 17, 1989 (Black family, interview, August 7–14, 2017), I conclude that this is how their morning began; That the two passed notes derives from: Stein, “Czechs’ Favorite
Diplomat.”
308 Her contacts had alerted: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 16, 1989,
Prague 08031, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 68–69.
308 Hitler’s men had executed: Kenney, A Carnival of Revolution, 281.
309 Shirley would have loved: Neither Shirley nor her foreign service officers at the Prague embassy believed that the student demonstration on November 17 would be the spark that would set the revolution ablaze: author interviews with Kiene, telephone, June 29, 2017; Kaska; Bond,
June 28 and August 1, 2017; Cameron Munter, Desk Officer, Czechoslovakia, Department of
State in 1989, telephone, August 2, 2017; Hull; and Russell.
309 STUHA (Ribbon): Kenney, A Carnival of Revolution, 283.
309 They hadn’t even bothered: John Macgregor, British chargé d’affaires in
Czechoslovakia in November 1989, telephone interview by the author, August 31, 2017.
309 The playwright was at his country house: Žantovský, Havel, 296.
309 “who could have predicted”: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 9.
309 Shirley herself had stood: Cadden, “Return to Prague,” 62.
309 There would be three: Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 8–9; Kiene, interview;
Bond, interview, June 28, 2017, and August 1, 2017; Kaska, interview; Russell, interview by the author. All details, unless otherwise specified, regarding the circumstances surrounding Shirley’s dispatch of Kiene, Bond, and Kaska and their experiences during the protest, are drawn from
Kiene’s manuscript and these interviews.
310 But more mundane duties called: McRae, interview; McRae, Resistance and
Revolution, 103.
310 In the early afternoon: My writing on the experiences of the three embassy men during the evening of November 17, 1989, is primarily based on my interviews with them (Bond, June
28, 2017, and August 1, 2017; Kaska; and Kiene) and on Kiene’s unpublished manuscript, as well as on the following cables sent by Shirley to the State Department: Prague 08082,
November 18, 1989; Prague 08087; Prague 08097; and Prague 08109, all from November 20,
1989, and all of which can be found in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 87–97, 101–102.
My description of the details also benefits from the writing of others who participated in the protest and who documented their experiences, and from the work of those who have studied that pivotal day. The most useful to me were Kukral, Prague 1989, 47–59; McRae, Resistance and
Revolution, 99–106; Kenney, A Carnival of Revolution, 280–289; John Keane, Václav Havel: A
Political Tragedy in Six Acts (New York: Basic Books, 2000), 338–342; Pacner, Osudové okamžiky Československa [Crucial Moments of Czechoslovakia], 552–554; the official investigation into the events: Federal Assembly of Czech and Slovak Federative Republic,
“Závěrečná zpráva vyšetřovací komise Federálního shromáždění pro objasnění událostí 17. listopadu 1989,” [Final Report of the Investigation Committee of the Federal Assembly for the
Clarification of the Events of November 17, 1989], accessible at http://www.psp.cz/eknih/1990fs/tisky/t1236_01.htm; reporting by Reuters, particularly by
Michael Wise; Paula Butturini’s reporting in the Chicago Tribune, as well as her memoir, Keeping the Feast: One Couple’s Story of Love, Food, and Healing in Italy (New York:
Riverhead, 2010), 57–59; Edward Lucas’s reporting in The Independent; Tomki Němec’s photo album of November 17, 1989, Velvet Revolution, available online at https://tomkinemec.photoshelter.com/gallery/17-November-1989/G0000z2P2W9C1No0/
(hereafter denoted as photo, Němec); and the memories of the students themselves, many of which were recorded in Milan Otáhal and Miroslav Vaněk, Sto studentských revolucí [One
Hundred Students’ Revolutions] (Prague: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 1999).
310 The Americans arrived: Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 8.
310 The buildings framing it: E.g., “History, Urbanism, and the Albertov Campus,” Charles
University, http://kampusalbertov.cuni.cz/KAEN-9.html.
310 Their heads were later preserved: “Czechs Search for Dead ‘Heroes’ Who Killed SS
Chief Heydrich,” BBC News, August 3, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-
36944090. That Masaryk’s autopsy occurred in the pathology institute is established in Boháč,
“Kauza Masaryk v průběhu let,” [The Case of Masaryk Over the Years], 40.
310 The leader of the 1939 protests: Demetz, Prague in Danger, 79–90.
311 ZRUŠTE MONOPOL KSČ: Kukral, Prague 1989, 49.
311 TRUTH PREVAILS: Winters, ed., T. G. Masaryk (1840–1937): Volume 1, Thinker and
Politician, 48. For the banner, see photo, Němec.
311 Josef Šárka ascended: Pacner, Osudové okamžiky Československa [Crucial Moments of
Czechoslovakia], 552–554.
311 “Students, do not be afraid”: “Připomeňte si události 17. listopadu 1989 minutu po minutě,” [Recall the Events of November 17, 1989, Minute by Minute], iDNES, November 17, 1989, http://zpravy.idnes.cz/pripomente-si-udalosti-17-listopadu-1989-minutu-po-minute-pij-
/domaci.aspx?c=A091116_120725_domaci_js.
311 what the government could do better: Ibid.
311 “We will not merely commemorate”: Michael Wise, “Tens of Thousands Demand
Reform in Prague,” Reuters, November 17, 1989.
311 “Oppression is worse”: “Clamor in the East; Riot Police in Prague Beat Marchers and
Arrest Dozens,” New York Times, November 18, 1989.
312 As improbable as it may have seemed: Dubček, Hope Dies Last, 267–271; see also cable, Black to Department of State, Prague 08082, November 18, 1989, in Prečan, Prague–
Washington–Prague, 87–91; Cliff Bond, interview by the author, June 28, 2017, and August 1,
2017; and Michael Wise, “Official Press Criticises [sic] Police Crushing of Prague Protest,”
Reuters, November 18, 1989.
312 “Svobodu!” “Masaryk!”: Kukral, Prague 1989, 50.
312 “Havel!”: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 102.
312 “Svobodné volby!”: Kukral, Prague 1989, 50.
313 “To Wenceslas Square!”: Ibid., 51; Cliff Bond saw protestors whom he understood to be dissidents initiate the cries to travel to Wenceslas Square, whipping the crowd up, seeking to lead the students off the authorized path: Bond, interview, June 28, 2017.
313 “LET WHOEVER IS AFRAID STAY AT HOME”: Kukral, Prague 1989, 49.
313 In the palace: McRae, interview.
313 But he was an outstanding officer: Cliff’s colleagues to whom I spoke gave him rave reviews. E.g., Munter, interview. 313 “The crowd of students”: Bond, interview, August 1, 2017. Cliff has vivid memories of the content and timing of his phone calls back to Ambassador Black on the night of November
17, 1989.
314 he too had attended: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 94.
314 When they reached its base: For a map depicting the route of the marchers on
November 17, 1989, see Kukral, Prague 1989, 54.
314 “Tell Vašek!”: Keane, Václav Havel, 339.
314 “We are unarmed”: Ibid.
315 “Czechs! Come with us!”: Kukral, Prague 1989, 51.
315 “Forty years of Communism is enough”: Cable, Black to Department of State,
November 18, 1989, Prague 08082, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 88.
315 Their passengers extended their arms: Photo, Němec.
316 Prague was a giant chessboard: Some claim that the Czech government lured the students onto Národní třída on November 17, 1989, although no definitive proof of this has surfaced. As one leading historian wrote, “There are many conspiracy theories concerning
November 17. It is possible the crowd was steered toward National Avenue. But if one considers the growing experience of student opposition leaders, the unpredictable nature of earlier demonstrations (such as August 21, in both 1988 and 1989), and the fact that the crowd moved slowly enough in any case for the police to react, then the conspiracy theory proves to be not so much impossible as irrelevant. Moreover, even if the events of November 17 were controlled, those on subsequent days certainly were not.” Kenney, A Carnival of Revolution, 282. Whether drawing the students into the narrow street was intentional or not, the government would make its next moves in that corridor. 316 “The students marched north”: Bond, interview, August 1, 2017.
316 “something really big is happening”: McRae, interview.
317 One slightly overzealous young man: See photo, Němec. Videos of this moment that show the policeman recoiling are readily available on YouTube.
317 “WE DON’T WANT VIOLENCE”: Photo, Němec.
317 “DEMOCRACY FOR ALL”: Ibid.
318 “Police are blocking”: Bond, interview, August 1, 2017.
318 “State Ops”: Munter, interview.
318 “Pee before you go”: Kaska, interview.
318 “a ballroom in”: Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 8.
318 The three embassy men: Kaska, interview.
318 still numbered in the thousands: Federal Assembly of Czech and Slovak Federative
Republic, “Závěrečná zpráva vyšetřovací komise.” [Final Report of the Investigation
Committee].
319 “When you are faced”: Žantovský, Havel, 284.
319 “laws will be”: Cable, Black to Department of State, October 19, 1989, Prague 07303, in
Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 16.
319 He repeatedly called: Although Štěpán’s actions during the protest are not entirely clear, the official investigative committee concluded that he took some initiative for the students to be stopped. See Federal Assembly of Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, “Závěrečná zpráva vyšetřovací komise.” [Final Report of the Investigation Committee]. Štěpán had initially agreed to the demonstration only on the condition that it wouldn’t go to the city center, and he later acknowledged that he had not wanted to allow the students to reach it. See Miroslav Štěpán, Můj
život v sametu [My Life in Velvet], 148–194.
319 “looked hard and angry”: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 104–105.
319 “We Shall Overcome”: Keane, Václav Havel, 341.
319 “You have to protect us”: Federal Assembly of Czech and Slovak Federative Republic,
“Závěrečná zpráva vyšetřovací komise.” [Final Report of the Investigation Committee].
320 “To our dismay”: Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 8.
320 “Suddenly the crowd realized”: Keane, Václav Havel, 341.
320 “decided discretion was”: Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 8.
320 “We need to get out”: Kaska, interview.
320 “We invited her”: Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 9.
321 Just after nine p.m.: Bond, interview, August 1, 2017.
321 More than a dozen: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 20, 1989, Prague
08087, November 20, 1989, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 93; cable, Black to
Department of State, November 20, 1989, Prague 08117, doc. no. C06406583, MDR.
321 “I saw a young mother beaten”: Bond, interview, August 1, 2017. Hours later,
Ambassador Black memorialized Cliff’s account of the Czechs who shielded the mother holding her child in a cable to Washington. See cable, Black to Department of State, November 20, 1989,
Prague 08109, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 101–102.
322 “trained killers”: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 105.
322 “I have to run”: Bond, interview, August 1, 2017.
322 He left the ambassador: Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 9; Bond, interview,
August 1, 2017; Kiene, interview. 322 They would grab some: Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 9; Bond, interview,
August 1, 2017.
323 But she could not rule out: Taken together with the interviews that I conducted, the currently available cables suggest that Shirley and embassy staff believed that a violent crackdown was possible. They perceived that the regime issued a “none-too-veiled-warning of suppression if things remain out of hand.” See cable, Black to Department of State, November
21, 1989, Prague 08144, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 106. The embassy also gained intelligence that suggested that the threat was not an empty one. According to a local informant, a group of “hardliners” within the government, including Štěpán, was advocating for “stiffer actions, including a curfew and possible state of emergency taken against the demonstrations.”
See cable, Black to Department of State, November 22, 1989, Prague 08171, in Prečan, Prague–
Washington–Prague, 122. Another source, one day later, confirmed to the Americans that the
Czech leadership seemed prepared to “rely on the security forces to defend socialism.” See cable,
Black to Department of State, November 23, 1989, Prague 08204, in Prečan, Prague–
Washington–Prague, 138.
In response, the embassy took precautionary measures to mitigate the risk of harm to US citizens, including issuing a warning for all travelers to avoid public spaces—in particular,
Wenceslas Square. The embassy determined that, while unlikely, “the potential for violent confrontations, such as occurred on November 17, cannot be ruled out.” See cable, Black to
Department of State, November 21, 1989, Prague 08137, November 21, 1989, doc. no.
C06406585, MDR.
The interviews that I conducted with senior embassy officers stationed in Prague at the time confirmed that the staff harbored concerns that the regime might resort to military violence and that its threats of suppression were perceived to be credible, even if the likelihood of follow- through was uncertain: Bond, June 28 and August 1, 2017; Russell; and Kaska.
323 She and her colleagues: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 18, 1989,
Prague 08082, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 91. The full text of the protest is contained in the following: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 20, 1989, Prague
08087, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 92–94.
323 They urged Main State: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 18, 1989,
Prague 08082 in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 91.
323 “senseless violence”: “U.S. Slams Czechoslovakia for Violence Against Protestors,”
Reuters, November 20, 1989.
323 Her staff spread out over Prague: See, e.g., cable, Black to Department of State,
November 21, 1989, Prague 08155, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 117–118.
323 She made sure: There are currently eight declassified cables from the US Embassy in
Prague to the State Department between November 17 and November 20, 1989. See Prečan,
Prague–Washington–Prague, 87–106; and cable, Black to Department of State, November 20,
1989, Prague 08117, doc. no. C06406583, MDR.
323 “The government”: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 9. A publicly available version of this quotation can be found in Paula Butturini, “Prague, Czechoslovakia,” Chicago
Tribune, November 19, 1989.
323 “an uncanny buzz”: Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 9.
323 several thousand demonstrators: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 20,
1989, Prague 08097, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 96.
324 “I walked with the crowd”: Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 9. 324 the nightsticks that had split: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 20, 1989,
Prague 08097, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 96.
324 Under the stress: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 9.
324 Husák, Biľak, Štěpán: “Czechoslovak Ministry of Interior Memorandum, ‘Information
Regarding the Development of the Security Situation During the Period of the 17 November
Anniversary,’” November 20, 1989, History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, ÚDV
Archive. Documentation in connection with DMM (Defense Mobilization Measures) announcements at the occasion of the 17 November 1989 celebrations, Collection list corresponding to OV-00174/S-89.—Type-written copy. Translation for CWIHP by Vance
Whitby, http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/117221.
324 Led by the chair: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 22, 1989, Prague
08171, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 124.
324 “did not want to go”: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 21, 1989, Prague
08144, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 108.
325 Every district had a sports stadium: McRae, interview.
325 Robert Kiene was startled: Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 9–10; Kiene, interview.
325 The regime had also summoned: “Telex from General Secretary Miloš Jakeš to First
Secretary of the Slovak Communist Party and secretaries of regional and district CPCz committees, on the situation in the country and tasks facing the Party,” November 19, 1989, in
Vilém Prečan and Derek Paton, eds., The Democratic Revolution in Czechoslovakia: Its
Precondition, Course, and Immediate Repercussions 1987–89: A Chronology of Events and a Compendium of Declassified Documents (Prague: National Security Archive, Czechoslovak
Documentation Centre, Insitute of Contemporary History, 1999), doc. nos. 51, 169.
325 She and the embassy: There are at least seven currently declassified cables from the US embassy in Prague to the Department of State on Monday, November 20, 1989, signed by
Ambassador Black. Six can be found in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 92–105. The seventh was provided to me by the State Department as part of my declassification request. See cable, Black to Department of State, November 20, 1989, Prague 08117, doc. no. C06406583,
MDR.
325 She hoped that the StB was listening: Indeed, an StB agent dutifully jotted Shirley’s intended activity in a thick dossier. See record from November 24, 1989, Shirley Temple Black file (1006042 MV), ABS.
325 Shirley was there: Ibid.
326 two hundred thousand people: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 21,
1989, Prague 08144, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 106.
326 “Svobodu!”: Kukral, Prague 1989, 65.
326 “It’s finally here”: Paul Wilson, member of Czechoslovak dissident band The Plastic
People of the Universe, correspondence with author, November 2017.
326 key rings jangling: Kukral, Prague 1989, 65; McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 120–
121.
326 Riot police with water cannons: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 20,
1989, Prague 08117, doc. no. C06406583, MDR.
326 A nimble student: Kukral, Prague 1989, 65–66.
326 Most of the crowd: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 121. 326 The space was illuminated: Kukral, Prague 1989, 66.
327 as she met Cliff: Record from November 24, 1989, Shirley Temple Black file (1006042
MV), ABS; cable, Black to Department of State, November 21, 1989, Prague 08144, in Prečan,
Prague–Washington–Prague, 107.
327 Havel had rushed back to Prague: Details on Havel’s return to Prague and his immediate actions upon arrival can be found in Žantovský, Havel, 297–299. For the make of his car, see ibid., 129.
327 careers as stokers: E.g., Ivan Klima, My Golden Trades, trans. Paul Wilson (London,
UK: Granta, 1998).
327 the Magic Lantern: Žantovský, Havel, 304.
328 “drown us here”: Ibid., 301.
328 On Tuesday, Shirley watched: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 9.
328 Despite freezing temperatures: Kukral, Prague 1989, 70–71.
328 “THE CZECH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA”: Richard Bassett, “Czech Leader Raises
Hope of Power Sharing,” Times (of London), November 22, 1989.
328 “As if out of nowhere”: Žantovský, Havel, 302.
328 “an enormous wave”: Kukral, Prague 1989, 72.
328 “The sound system”: Ibid.
328 “Dear friends”: All descriptions of Havel’s speech derive from “Vaclav Havel’s remarks over Wenceslas Square, November 21, 1989,” Václav Havel Library, http://www.vaclavhavel-library.org/cs/index/novinky/768/utery-21-listopad-1989. 328 Some feared that police: Keane, Václav Havel, 354. For the size of the crowd, see
Michael Wise, “Communist Party Warns of Crackdown after 200,000 Protest,” Reuters,
November 21, 1989.
328 They demanded: “Statement announcing the founding of the Civic Forum in Prague and its demands,” Prague, November 19, 1989, in Prečan and Paton, The Democratic Revolution in
Czechoslovakia, doc. no. 52, 171–172.
329 Havel was not a great speaker: See, e.g., Zdena Tomin, “The Uncrowned King of
Prague—Vaclav Havel,” Times (of London), November 23, 1989.
329 Havel knew that: Žantovský, Havel, 302.
329 “The Archbishop exhorted”: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 127.
329 Marta Kubišová: Kukral, Prague 1989, 73.
330 “gave the orders”: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 22, 1989, Prague
08171, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 124.
330 “entry is controlled”: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 24, 1989, Prague
08208, November 24, 1989, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 146.
330 “he had invited”: Ibid.
330 the army was continuing: Poslední hurá. Stenografický záznam z mimořádných zasedání ÚV KSČ 24. a 26. listopadu 1989 [Last Hurrah: Stenographic record from the extraordinary sessions of the Central Committee on November 24 and 26, 1989] (Prague: Cesty,
1992), 68–70.
330 Kiene again feared: Kiene, “The Velvet Revolution and Me,” 9–10; Kiene, interview.
330 Shirley urged her team: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 9.
330 “trained to deal with”: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 136. 331 Štěpán and his clique: Shirley was told that the group of Czech hard-liners, including
Štěpán, Jakeš, Hoffmann, Urbánek, and Indra, purportedly went so far as to plan an escape if a violent suppression of protests failed. They ordered that a plane wait for them on standby, which would take them to Switzerland. See Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 9.
331 In the Wintergarden: “Thanksgiving Service 23 November, 1989, 10:00, Ambassador’s
Residence,” BFA.
331 “In 1620 a small band of Pilgrims”: Shirley Temple Black handwrote her 1989
Thanksgiving service prayer, which she did not title, on a loose piece of paper, which can be found in the BFA.
331 “We call on all the members”: “Declaration of Civic Forum Representative Václav
Havel on Wenceslas Square, Prague,” November 23, 1989, History and Public Policy Program
Digital Archive, USD AV CR, KC OF Archive, file Dokumenty OF—copy of the computer print. Translated by Caroline Kovtun, http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/111760.
332 “Vaclav Havel gave an impressive performance”: Cable, Black to Department of
State, November 24, 1989, Prague 08208, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 145.
332 “the submission of ultimatums”: Václavík’s remarks in his public appearance on television and in his private address to the Communist leadership can be found in Milan Otáhal and Zdeněk Sládek, eds., Deset pražských dnů (17.–27. listopad 1989). Dokumentace [Ten Days in Prague (November 17–27, 1989): Documentation] (Prague: Academia, 1990), 298–299.
332 Shirley noted in a cable: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 24, 1989,
Prague 08208, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 144.
332 “Together with workers”: Otáhal and Sládek, Deset pražských dnů [Ten Days in
Prague], 298–299. 332 But Havel had a move: Background on Havel’s plans to bring Dubček to Prague can be found in John Tagliabue, “250,000 Czechs, Hailing Dubcek, Urge Ouster of Hard-Line Leaders,”
New York Times, November 23, 1989.
332 A few minutes before ten a.m.: Steven Greenhouse, “Prague Party Leaders Resign;
New Chief, 48, Surprise Choice; 350,000 at Rally Cheer Dubcek,” New York Times, November
25, 1989.
333 “dribbled out to”: Cable, Black to Department of State, November 25, 1989, Prague
08237, in Prečan, Prague–Washington–Prague, 149.
333 The Communist leadership: Greenhouse, “Prague Party Leaders Resign.”
333 Shortly before four p.m.: Ash, We the People, 94–95.
333 “He looks as if”: Ibid., 94.
333 They drew more incredulous: Ibid., 94–95.
333 “Dubček!”: Kukral, Prague 1989, 84.
333 The cheers were so powerful: One student later wrote that “Wenceslas Square literally shook to the loudest roar of any crowd that I’ve ever heard as the legendary Alexander Dubček stepped onto the balcony.” Kukral, Prague 1989, 84.
333 “You know I love you”: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 143.
333 Shirley, watching: Black, forthcoming autobiography, chapter 9.
333 He endorsed the Civic Forum: Kukral, Prague 1989, 84.
334 “Already, once”: McRae, Resistance and Revolution, 144.
334 “Dubček to the castle”: Ibid.
334 He spoke for eleven minutes: Greenhouse, “Prague Party Leaders Resign.”
334 “Dubček-Havel”: Ash, We the People, 95. 334 “All members of the Presidium”: Videos of the press conference, with Jiří Černý’s announcement, can be found on YouTube.
334 Štěpán and the rest: Štěpán would not exit easily. When the details of the resignations came in on Friday, November 24, it turned out that he was one of the few holdovers who had retained his Presidium seat. The public outcry that followed resulted in his complete ouster. See cable, Black to Department of State, November 25, 1989, Prague 08237, in Prečan, Prague-
Washington-Prague, 148–154.
334 From the wings: Richard Bassett, “Czechs Cheer as Leadership Stands Down,” Times
(of London), November 25, 1989.
334 “a free Czechoslovakia”: Ash, We the People, 96.
334 clinking his glass with Dubček’s: Bassett, “Czechs Cheer.”
334 In the square, the people of Prague: Kukral, Prague 1989, 85.
335 The largest crowds in Czechoslovak: Ash, We the People, 95; Esther B. Fein, “In the
Streets of Prague, the Mood Is Victorious,” New York Times, November 26, 1989.
335 She turned it upside down: Stein, “Czechs’ Favorite Diplomat.”
335 “so I can say”: Ibid.
335 “In Poland it took”: Ash, We the People, 78.
335 “Looking them sternly in the eye”: “Remembering Ambassador Shirley Temple,” US
Embassy in the Czech Republic, February 21, 2014, https://cz.usembassy.gov/remembering- ambassador-shirley-temple-black-february-21/.
16 “The Past Is Never Dead. It’s Not Even Past.”
336 “The Past Is Never Dead.”: William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun (New York: Random
House, 1951), 92.
336 Bush had visited: US Department of State Office of the Historian, “Presidential and
Secretaries Travels Abroad: George H. W. Bush,” https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/bush-george-h-w. I learned that
Bush had visited the palace from the Black family, interview, August 7–14, 2017, and also from photos of Shirley and President George H. W. Bush, November 1990, BFA. For Clinton’s sax performance, see Don Heckman, “The Sax Life of Bill Clinton: President’s Impromptu
Performance at Czech Club Is Immortalized on CD,” Los Angeles Times, September 5, 1994. For his remarks at the palace, see William J. Clinton,"The President's News Conference With
Visegrad Leaders in Prague," January 12, 1994. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley,
The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=49832.
336 Czech accession to NATO: Jane Perlez, “Expanding Alliance: The Overview; Poland,
Hungary and the Czechs Join NATO,” New York Times, March 13, 1999.
336 The Velvet Divorce: For a useful overview of the period between the Velvet Revolution to the drift toward Klaus and nationalism at the turn of the century in the Czech Republic, see
Agnew, The Czechs and the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, 292–331.
337 Obama’s canceling: Peter Baker, “White House Scraps Bush’s Approach to Missile
Shield,” New York Times, September 17, 2009.
339 Before going to bed: Since Černík had first showed me the swastika, I had discovered several others on my own; they turned out to be all over the house. I would sometimes discuss this in speeches, though, at Černík’s request, I generally left him out of the story. I have now obtained his permission to discuss his role.
340 Czech and European liberals: For background on Václav Klaus’s US education, including his various controversies, see, e.g., Gregory Feifer and Brian Whitmore, “The Velvet
Surrender,” New Republic, September 17, 2010; and Dan Bilefsky, “A Fiery Czech Is Poised to
Be the Face of Europe,” New York Times, November 24, 2008.
340 "business-class Eurocrats": "Vaclav Klaus, an unusually combative Czech," The
Economist, February 1, 2001.
341 We discussed his friendships with US senators: For background on Klaus’s conservative ties, see his own public statements; e.g., Václav Klaus, “Challenges of the Current
Era,” September 3, 2007, https://www.klaus.cz/clanky/134; and also James Kirchick, “Czech-
Mated?: Vaclav Klaus, Libertarian Hero, Has His Wings Clipped by Cato Institute,” Daily Beast,
December 22, 14, https://www.thedailybeast.com/vaclav-klaus-libertarian-hero-has-his-wings- clipped-by-cato-institute.
For his public praise for Obama’s attempts to reset Russian relations, see, e.g., Václav Klaus,
“Notes for the Lisbon NATO Summit,” November 19, 2010, https://www.klaus.cz/clanky/2720.
341 The Czech Republic had some of the lowest rates of anti-Semitism: See, e.g., Jewish
Community in Prague, “The Annual Report on Anti-Semitism Symptoms in the Czech Republic in 2011,” 2011.
A later study conducted by the Anti-Defamation League , albeit in 2014, found that only 11 percent of the population of the Czech Republic held anti-Semitic views. See Anti-Defamation
League, “ADL Poll of Over 100 Countries Finds More Than One-Quarter of Those Surveyed Infected with Anti-Semitic Attitudes,” May 13, 2014, https://www.adl.org/news/press- releases/adl-global-100-poll.
342 That spring, the Czechs hosted a conference: Organization for Security and Co- operation in Europe (OSCE), “Summary Report of the OSCE High Level Meeting on
Confronting Anti-Semitism in Public Discourse,” March 23–24, 2011, http://www.osce.org/odihr/77450?download=true.
342 “old poison in new bottles”: For the text of Jiří Schneider’s speech, see Ibid., 22.
342 “In countries with small Jewish communities”: Ibid.
344 “the forces of nationalism”: “An Open Letter to the Obama Administration from
Central and Eastern Europe,” Radio Free Europe, July 16, 2009, https://www.rferl.org/a/An_Open_Letter_To_The_Obama_Administration_From_Central_And_
Eastern_Europe/1778449.html.
347 I had thought that history arced: The famous aphorism is that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” See “Theodore Parker and The ‘Moral Universe,’” interview by Melissa Block, All Things Considered, NPR, September 2, 2010. Many others have expressed the idea, including Lorraine Hansberry, in her play A Raisin in the Sun (New York:
Random House, 1959).
349 “degenerate”: Albrecht Dümling,“The Target of Racial Purity: The ‘Degenerate Music’
Exhibition in Düsseldorf, 1938,” in Art, Culture, and Media Under the Third Reich, ed. Richard
A. Etlin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002), 43-72.
349 “a media fiction”: Parlamentní listy, May 2, 2015. 349 Klaus issued his own statement: Václav Klaus, “Prohlášení prezidenta republiky k zneškodnění Usámy bin Ládina,” [Statement by the President of the Republic on the destruction of Osama bin Laden], May 3, 2011, https://www.klaus.cz/clanky/2827.
350 “I thought very carefully”: MF Dnes, May 4, 2011, 4.
350 “does not come from the apes”: “Klaus’s Aide Hájek Says bin Laden Is Nothing but
Media Fiction,” ČTK, May 2, 2011. For Hájek’s denial that smoking is harmful, see, e.g., “Czech
President Klaus’s men offend USA—Press, ” ČTK, December 13, 2011;. And for more on
Hájek’s various conspiracy theories, see “Klausův rádce Hájek vydal knihu. Havel je marxista a
Usáma výmysl, napsal,” [Klaus’s counselor Hájek published a book. Havel is a Marxist and
Osama a fable, he wrote], MF Dnes, June 10, 2009, https://zpravy.idnes.cz/klausuv-radce-hajek- vydal-knihu-havel-je-marxista-a-usama-vymysl-napsal-13q-
/domaci.aspx?c=A090609_211245_domaci_abr.
350 The press speculated: Petr Honzejk, Hospodářské noviny, May 4, 2011, 11.
350 “I want to say clearly”: Václav Klaus, “Prezident republiky o výrocích Petra Hájka a jejich interpretaci,” [President of the Republic about the statements of Peter Hájek and their interpretation], May 4, 2011, https://www.klaus.cz/clanky/2828. For Czech foreign minister
Karel Schwarzenberg’s denunciation of Hájek’s remarks, see Karel Schwarzenberg, “Prohlášení ministra Schwarzenberga k výrokům zástupce vedoucího KPR,” [Statement by Minister
Schwarzenberg on statements by the deputy head of the CPR], May 7, 2011, http://www.mzv.cz/jnp/cz/udalosti_a_media/prohlaseni_a_stanoviska/prohlaseni_ministra_schw arzenberga_k.html.
350 “is an occasion”: Václav Klaus, “Notes for the Independence Day Speech 2011,” June
30, 2011, https://www.klaus.cz/clanky/2860. 352 a Nazi yearbook: This item can be found in the Zinc Room of the Villa Petschek.
352 a movie theater: For Laurence’s interest in using American films to combat Soviet propaganda, see, e.g., letter, Steinhardt to Harold L. Smith, Executive, Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America Inc., August 28, 1945, box 82, Steinhardt Papers, LOC.
352 the restorations all over the house: Photos of Shirley Temple with roofers, among other construction workers, 1989–1990, BFA.
353 We were quick to say yes: US Embassy in the Czech Republic, “U.S. Embassy
Supported Prague Pride Festival,” August 17, 2015, https://cz.usembassy.gov/u-s-embassy- supported-prague-pride-festival-August-17/.
353 mine was the first of thirteen: “Joint Statement Expressing Support for Prague Pride
Festival,” published by British Embassy Prague, August 2011, https://photos.state.gov/libraries/czech-republic/119398/Documents/Prague-Pride-Letter-of-
Support.pdf.
353 “forthcoming gay carnival”: Petr Hájek, “Jsem kryptofašista. Doznávám se,” [I am a crypto-facist. I confess], Parlamentní listy, August 4, 2011, http://www.parlamentnilisty.cz/arena/politici-volicum/Petr-Hajek-Jsem-kryptofasista-
Doznavam-se-204468.
353 Ladislav Bátora, went even further: “Praha plná úchylných gayů. S podporou primátora z ODS, zuří Hájek,” [Prague filled with deviant gay people. With help from the Mayor of the ODS, Hájek rages], Parlamentní listy, August 4, 2011, http://www.parlamentnilisty.cz/zpravy/Praha-plna-uchylnych-gayu-S-podporou-primatora-z-
ODS-zuri-Hajek-204447. 353 “Confucius over Rousseau”: Rob Cameron, “Uproar Over Appointment of Ultra
Conservative As Ministerial Adviser,” Radio Prague, April 5, 2011, http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/uproar-over-appointment-of-ultra-conservative-as- ministerial-adviser.
353 praising as “great”: “Bátora se před několika lety účastnil neveřejné antisemitské přednášky,” [Bátora participated in a non-public anti-Semitic lecture some years ago],
Novinky.cz, April 30, 2011, https://www.novinky.cz/domaci/232168-batora-se-pred-nekolika- lety-ucastnil-neverejne-antisemitske-prednasky.html.
354 And Klaus had also publicly defended: “Controversial Batora to be Czech education minister’s adviser,” ČTK, April 4, 2011.
355 “The American Embassy is happy”: US embassy statement, as it appears in Erik
Tabery, “In Prague, a Fight for Gay Rights Goes International,” Atlantic, September 14, 2011.
355 “I strongly disagree”: Václav Klaus, “Prohlášení prezidenta republiky k dalšímu exemplárnímu útoku na svobodu slova,” [Statement by the President of the Republic on another exemplary attack on freedom of speech], Press Releases, August 5, 2011, https://www.klaus.cz/clanky/2896.
355 led the press to believe: “Klaus Says Ambassadors’ Letter on Homosexuals March
Unprecedented,” ČTK, August 8, 2011.
355 “truth-and-lovism”: Žantovský, Havel, 456.
356 “I fall asleep”: Dan Bilefsky, “Picture Him in a Mohawk: A Czech Prince Seeks Young
Voters,” New York Times, January 24, 2013.
356 “No one prevents”: “Klaus Says Ambassadors’ Letter.” 356 The DOST letter was hard to follow: The full text of the letter can be found on the
DOST website: Ladislav Bátora, Petr Bahník, František Červenka, and Michal Semín, “Letter to the US Ambassador,” Prague, August 8, 2011, http://www.akce-dost.cz/20110808.htm.
356 Klaus weighed in again that Monday: Václav Klaus, “Prohlášení prezidenta republiky k petici 13 velvyslanců ohledně chystané Prague Pride,” [Statement by the President of the
Republic on a petition of 13 ambassadors on the forthcoming Prague Pride], Press Releases,
August 8, 2011, https://www.klaus.cz/clanky/2898.
357 cucumber season: “Czech PM Says State Official Bátora Must Not Behave Like
Activist,” ČTK, August 9, 2011.
357 The prime minister then upped: “Bátora Likely to Stay at Czech Ministry after Nečas-
Dobeš Debate,” ČTK, August 10, 2011.
357 “an old fascist”: “TOP 09 Says Bátora Should Leave Czech Ministry—Press,” ČTK,
August 11, 2011.
357 “old lame duck”: “TOP 09 Ministers Leave Czech Cabinet Meeting, Want Bátora
Sacked,” ČTK, August 17, 2011.
357 “sorry little old man”: Brian Kenety, “TOP 09 Stage Cabinet Meeting Walk Out,
Demand Batora’s Exit,” Ceska pozice, August 31, 2011, http://ceskapozice.lidovky.cz/top-09- stage-cabinet-meeting-walk-out-demand-batora-s-exit-p2a-
/tema.aspx?c=A110817_155152_pozice_33011.
357 suggested that he would challenge: Jan Richter, “Conflict Over Ultra-Conservative
Civil Servant Shakes Czech Coalition Government,” Radio Prague, August 18, 2011, http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/conflict-over-ultra-conservative-civil-servant-shakes- czech-coalition-government. 357 He was soon demoted: “Review of Controversies Linked to Czech Outgoing Clerk
Batora,” ČTK, October 14, 2011.
358 “crucial”: James Kirchick, “Advocate,” Tablet, January 19, 2012, http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/88591/advocate/2.
358 It emerged that Czech ambassadors elsewhere: “Czech Embassies Back Sexual
Minority Events in Respective States,” ČTK, August 9, 2011.
358 A New York Times story: Bruce I. Konviser, “Czech Leader is Isolated in Opposing Gay
Parade,” New York Times, August 15, 2011.