New nonfiction from NER 40.2
1. Prague: The Distraction Is the Thing Itself
I’m more interested in the lives of the Kafka sisters than in the life of Franz.
Three sisters:
Ellie, 55
Vallie, 51
Ottla, 51
Franz and his youngest sister, Ottla, were very close. For a while, they lived together in a tiny house near Prague Castle. Ottla married a non-Jewish man against the wishes of everyone in her family except Franz. Her husband’s name was Joseph David and they had two children, Vera and Helene. When the Nazis arrived, Ottla divorced Joseph to protect him. I can’t find the names of their daughters on any lists. I don’t know if they lived with the father or died with the mother.
My boyfriend, Colin, is not Jewish. If we got married and today was 1944, I would divorce him to protect him. If we had children and we could hide that I was their mother, I would divorce him so that he could protect the children. And then, in the camp, would I be bitter that he left me, or would I be comforted that he was somewhere, alive?
I’m almost always more interested in girls. But are these girls a waste of my time?
♦
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