A Private Conversation (Soukromý rozhovor)

Abstract

About the Author: Hana Bořkovcová (born Knappová, 1927–2009) came from a Prague Czech-Jewish family. Her father worked as a businessman selling dental supplies. When the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia, she was expelled from high school and attended a Jewish school. In 1942, Hana and her family were deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto. She worked as an assistant teacher there. In the autumn of 1944, the family was transported to Auschwitz where her father and the younger brother were killed. Hana and her mother survived the selection and were taken to the labour camp in Kurzbach. Near the end of the war, they were sent on a death march. In the summer of 1945, they returned to Prague. After the war, Hana got married and raised five children. She converted to Catholicism. In 1964, some of Bořkovcová’s short stories were published in literary journals. She published her first book in 1971 at the age of 44 and became a professional writer. In the 1970s and 1980s, she wrote novels and short stories for teenagers. After 1989, she returned to her Jewish roots and her experiences with the racial persecution during World War II.