When Norman Eisen moved into the US ambassador's residence in Prague, returning to the land his mother had fled after the Holocaust, he was startled to discover swastikas hidden beneath the furniture. From that discovery unspooled the captivating, twisting tale of the remarkable people who lived in the house before Eisen. Their story is Europe's, telling the dramatic and surprisingly cyclical tale of the endurance of liberal democracy: the optimistic Jewish financial baron who built the palace; the conflicted Nazi general who put his life at risk for the house during World War II; the first postwar US ambassador struggling to save both the palace and Prague from communist hands; the child star- turned-diplomat who fought to end totalitarianism; and Eisen's own mother, whose life demonstrates how those without power and privilege moved through history. The Last Palace chronicles the upheavals that have transformed the continent over the past century and reveals how we never live far from the past.
Norman L. Eisen Books
This author delves into the clash between liberalism and illiberalism by exploring the lives of those who inhabited his ambassadorial residence in Prague. Through the stories of its former residents—from the builder to a Nazi occupier, a post-war American diplomat, and a Cold War movie star ambassador—he illuminates Europe's turbulent century. His narrative is deeply personal, interwoven with the experiences of his mother, a Holocaust survivor who sent him to live in the very palace once occupied by Nazis. The work offers a compelling exploration of 20th-century personal and political history.
Het laatste paleis
- 528 pages
- 19 hours of reading
Europa's turbulente 20e eeuw in vijf levens in een legendarisch paleis in Praag Norman Eisen wordt in 2011 door president Barack Obama aangesteld als de Amerikaanse ambassadeur in Tsjechië. Eisen verhuist naar Praag en keert daarmee terug naar het land dat zijn moeder na de Holocaust ontvluchtte. Hij komt te wonen in het Petschek-paleis, waar hij tot zijn verbazing hakenkruizen ontdekt aan de onderkant van zijn bureau. Deze ontdekking is het begin van een meeslepend verhaal over vier fascinerende personen die dit paleis ooit hun thuis noemden. Het is ook het verhaal van Eisens Tsjechische moeder die Auschwitz overleefde, en die na enig aandringen meegaat naar Praag met haar zoon en zijn vrouw.