Overview
The last century saw two World Wars that displaced millions of families, taking them to countries where they knew not the language, culture or people. Miriam Darvas recounts in her memoir Farewell to Prague, how her family were forced to flee from Berlin and then Prague in the throws of WWII.In the late 1920s, her parents were living in Berlin at the onset of the Nazi era. Her father, of Hungarian birth, had spent 7 years in a Siberian work camp after WWI and on his release made his way to Germany. Her mother, Belgian by birth, was forced to move to Germany following the first World War, when all Belgians of German descent were expelled from the country. It is in Berlin that we meet this family and though the eyes of Miriam, the eldest daughter, we witness the growing power of the Nazis and how, under their regime, they are forced again to leave and manage to escape to Prague. Six years later, the Germans march into Prague and this time Miriam has to escape alone and on foot to England, her only belonings being a photograph in her pocket and the clothes on her back. Travelling across mountains and seas she finally reaches England where she comes of age during the dark days of the Blitz in London. At the end of the war Miriam returns to Prague to find the fate of her family and friends she left behind.
Author Biography: Miriam Darvas studied at the University of Berlin, Tubingen and Heidelberg in Germany and UC Berkeley and CSU Sacramento. She has a B.A. in Journalism and an M.A. in German Linguistics. She has been a starving student and a CEO, a campaign manager and a condidate for the California Assembly, president and organizer of the National Women Political Caucus and served on several Boards and Commissions. Farewell to Prague is Miriam Darvas' first book and is one that speaks to the thousands of people that have been displaced from their countries due to political whims and war.