- Paperback: 294 pages
- Publisher: Trafford Publishing (28 Oct 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 155395100X
- ISBN-13: 978-1553951001
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,193,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Prague Winter is my attempt to record a demented time during which I was both witness and involuntary participant. For many years I was haunted by nightmares of being recaptured by the Gestapo or of being trapped in Prague under the communists.
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3 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
A Book For All Seasons
6 Jun 2003
Format:Paperback
This is a terrific book. It's a gripping read; but it's also the type of book that stays
with you for months, enlightening your day-to-day life with moments of insight. Perhaps
its greatest strength lies in the character of the narrator, the young Nikolaus Martin.
Candid, likeable and exact in his recall, he tells his story so simply and without pretension
that we know we can trust him to tell us how things really were. All the events of his
story -- the irresponsible pleasures of his Bohemian youth, the much-feared occupation of
Czechoslovakia, daring escapes and long months in a prison camp -- we see with
devastating clarity through his eyes.
I learned a lot from Martin: about the events of a particularly poignant period in
European history, about the lifestyle of a hedonistic young man in pre-war Prague
(surprising to me, who thought sexual freedom began in the 1960s), about lice and loyalty
and prison survival. And I enjoyed myself throughout.
This is not a book, like so many I've read about the same place and time, to overwhelm
us with incomprehensible horrors --- the piles of bodies, the black smoke from tall
chimneys. Rather it is the experience of one man who, by turns mischievious,
compassionate and pedantic, manages to bring a dreadful event down to the level of
individual human experience.
with you for months, enlightening your day-to-day life with moments of insight. Perhaps
its greatest strength lies in the character of the narrator, the young Nikolaus Martin.
Candid, likeable and exact in his recall, he tells his story so simply and without pretension
that we know we can trust him to tell us how things really were. All the events of his
story -- the irresponsible pleasures of his Bohemian youth, the much-feared occupation of
Czechoslovakia, daring escapes and long months in a prison camp -- we see with
devastating clarity through his eyes.
I learned a lot from Martin: about the events of a particularly poignant period in
European history, about the lifestyle of a hedonistic young man in pre-war Prague
(surprising to me, who thought sexual freedom began in the 1960s), about lice and loyalty
and prison survival. And I enjoyed myself throughout.
This is not a book, like so many I've read about the same place and time, to overwhelm
us with incomprehensible horrors --- the piles of bodies, the black smoke from tall
chimneys. Rather it is the experience of one man who, by turns mischievious,
compassionate and pedantic, manages to bring a dreadful event down to the level of
individual human experience.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Nazi Darkness
8 Jan 2003
Format:Paperback
I read "Prague Winter" in one sitting. It is the true tale of a Czech teenager living in Prague just before and during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia during the Second World War. The book is riviting describing the gradual loss of freedom for the citizens and how the city slowly turns from a gay exciting european capital to a closed, silent and dismal island of fear and loathing. Martin chronicles the assination of the hated SS Leader Heydrich and the terrible reprisals against the Czechoslovakian people. The book culminates with Martin's attempt to escape the country, his capture and imprisonment where he almost dies. This book really deserves a wide readership because the lessons learned are so very important to freedom loving people.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Compelling reading
11 Dec 2002
Format:Paperback
This book made me recall things I had learned about the Nazis during World War II and had let slip into my mental dustbin of facts and memories I wish I'd never known. I had conveniently summarized in my consciousness all I thought I needed to recall about these things: The Nazis were a brutal, horrible blight on humanity and if there ever was a Hell on Earth, their world was it.
But this summary doesn't cut it, as I rediscovered reading Prague Winter. The horror and depravity of the concentration camps was bad enough, but what it did psychologically to the inmates was even worse. To survive, one had to become inured to it and learn how to play survival games that are unimaginable in today's world, and that must have left a permanent scar upon all who survived.
The way Martin has chosen to narrate his experiences makes it seem all the more like the Hell on Earth it really was. The utter chaos of the time; the knowledge that each decision one makes, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant it might be, could literally mean death; the insanity of the oppression; the things that one was required to accept in order to survive; the attitude about death one must adopt--are all made plain through Martin's matter-of-fact way of describing his experiences.
I could hardly put the book down, but it was very painful to read. I'm reminded of Solzhenitsyn's books--all of which I've read. To realize the depths to which insane megalomaniacal leaders can plunge society is really sobering. We truly do not know how good our lives are here in the US and Canada.
But this summary doesn't cut it, as I rediscovered reading Prague Winter. The horror and depravity of the concentration camps was bad enough, but what it did psychologically to the inmates was even worse. To survive, one had to become inured to it and learn how to play survival games that are unimaginable in today's world, and that must have left a permanent scar upon all who survived.
The way Martin has chosen to narrate his experiences makes it seem all the more like the Hell on Earth it really was. The utter chaos of the time; the knowledge that each decision one makes, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant it might be, could literally mean death; the insanity of the oppression; the things that one was required to accept in order to survive; the attitude about death one must adopt--are all made plain through Martin's matter-of-fact way of describing his experiences.
I could hardly put the book down, but it was very painful to read. I'm reminded of Solzhenitsyn's books--all of which I've read. To realize the depths to which insane megalomaniacal leaders can plunge society is really sobering. We truly do not know how good our lives are here in the US and Canada.
This book should be read by all freedom loving people.
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