Holocaust researchers—including those at the museum itself—still debate whether the museum was ever overtly dubbed or even privately considered to be the “Museum of an Extinct Race.” But it is my unscholarly belief, based in large part on Hana Volavkova’s definitive work “A Story of the Jewish Museum in Prague,” that there could be no other explanation. Volavkova, the sole survivor of the wartime museum staff (see the list below), presents her evidence from a museological point of view, arguing that the aim of the collections created during the Nazi years could be none other than to systematically present Jewish life ex post facto.
Akeley Hall is still a highlight of the New York Museum of Natural History, and its opening in 1936 did indeed raise the esteem of taxidermy immensely. Techniques based on Carl Akeley’s work are still in use by taxidermists today. From Egyptian mummies to currently-offered preservation services of questionable legality (and good taste), human taxidermy has been practiced for millennia, although no large-scale endeavor such as Galerie has ever been attempted, to the best of my knowledge.
This book would not have come into being without the assistance of one very special young man, who retained an interest in moving the project forward even when I got tired of it. Thank you, Segev Greenberg, for your patience as we trekked around Prague and Terezin, living on pizza and self-dubbed “pigeonburgers,” for your ideas whenever I was stuck, for asking me at every opportunity, “So, how’s the book going, Dad?”, and for reading every single draft written. I can’t wait to start our next project.
Special thanks to Magda Veselska of the Jewish Museum of Prague, who provided me with the full list of wartime museum staff and answered my pesky questions via email. Thanks also to Sima Shachar and Oded Breva of Beit Terezin (the Theresienstadt Martyrs Remembrance Association), the research staff at Yad V’Shem, Dr. Jan Bjorn Potthast, and Marek Taborsky, whose outstanding WWII Tour of Prague and follow-up answers via email added so much to my research. Thanks to Petr Brod for his Czech language insights and valuable information about Prague, and to my circle of beta-reader friends and family who provided crucial yet loving input and critique on the first drafts of Galerie. And of course, thanks to my editors, Michelle Berry and Lane Diamond, whose combined plot insights and grammatical acumen really brought the final version of Galerie to life.
Finally, an especially warm and loving thanks to my wonderful, beautiful, and incredibly supportive wife, Michal, without whom none of my books (not to mention my very rewarding and full life) would ever have come about.
Steven Greenberg
Kadima, Israel
August 2015
Staff of the Jewish Museum of Prague, 1941-1944
This book is dedicated to the brave men and women who staffed the Jewish Museum of Prague during the Nazi occupation, and who were sent to their deaths as thanks for their conscientious and thorough work preserving the legacy of Bohemian and Moravian Jewry. Yehi zechram baruch—may their memory be blessed.
Specialist Staff
Jakobovits Tobias, Polak Josef, Engel Alfred, Fischhof Franz, Flesch Josef, Formankova Etja, Konirsch Berthold, Lieben Salomon Hugo, Pollak Josef, Popper Bedrich (Friedrich), Reiner Karel, Richter Hugo, Woskin-Nahartabi Mosesx, Lausmann Grete, Lederer Bedrich (Fritz), Lendecke Marketa
Administrative Staff
Crkovska Bedriska, Demelova Alice, Eisler Johann, Fischhof Edith, Friedlander Ruzena (Rosa), Gobiet Edith, Gottlieb Lev, Heydukova-Slaninova Ruzena (Rosa), Hraska Marta, Jakobovits Berta, Kampert Gertrude, Kantor Marketa, Kohn Marta, Kolisch Bohumir (Gottfried), Lieben Sophie, Masin Marie, Neumann Bohumil (Gottlieb), Novak Marta, Pospisil Zdenka, Schramm Vilma, Smutna Ema (Emmy), Sojka Walter, Tauchmann Hana, Teichmann Blanka, Voticka Zdenka, Woskin Tamara, Zizius Lily
In addition to countless and lengthy articles, online and off, in English and in Hebrew, and many hours in the Yad V’Shem archives in Jerusalem, I read extensively to ensure that the setting and characters in Galerie were as realistic and historically accurate as possible, most notably:
Works of Non-Fiction
1. Albright, Madeleine - Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948, Harper, 2012
2. Arendt, Hannah - Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, , Viking, 1963
3. Epstein, Helen - Children of the Holocaust, Putnam, 1979
4. Kirk, Jay - Kingdom Under Glass: A Tale of Obsession, Adventure, and One Man’s Quest to Preserve the World’s Great Animals, Henry Holt and Co., 2010
5. Larson, Erik - In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin, 2011
6. Milgrom, Melissa - Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010
7. Redlich, Gonda - The Terezin Diary of Gonda Redlich, Saul S. Friedman (Editor), University Press of Kentucky, 1999
8. Volavkova, Hana - A Story of the Jewish Museum in Prague, Artia, 1968
9. Weiss, Helga - Helga’s Diary: A Young Girl’s Account of Life in a Concentration Camp, W. W. Norton & Company, 2013
Works of Fiction
1. de Rosnay, Tatiana - Sarah’s Key, St. Martin’s Press, 2007
2. Gutfreund, Amir - Our Holocaust, Toby Press, 2006
3. Harris, Robert - Fatherland: A Novel, Random House, 1992
4. Waldman, Ayelet - Love and Treasure, Knopf, 2014
5. Weil, Jiri - Mendelssohn is on the Roof, Harper Collins, 1992
Briefly….
I am a professional writer, as well as a full-time cook, cleaner, chauffeur, and work-at-home Dad for three amazing young children, and the lucky husband of a loving and very supportive wife. Born in Texas and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana, I emigrated to Israel only months before the first Gulf War, following graduation from Indiana University in 1990. In 1996, I was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces, where I served for 12 years as a Reserves Combat Medic. Since 2002, I’ve worked as an independent marketing writer, copywriter and consultant.
More than You Asked for….
I am a writer by nature. It’s always been how I express myself best. I’ve been writing stories, letters, journals, songs, and poems since I could pick up a pencil, but it took me 20-odd years to figure out that I could get paid for it. Call me slow.
After completing my BA at Indiana University – during the course of which I also studied at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Haifa University – I emigrated to Israel only months before the first Gulf War, in August 1990. In 1998, I was married to the wonderful woman who changed my life for the better in so many ways, and in 2001, only a month after the 9/11 attacks, my son was born, followed by my twin daughters in 2004.
Since 2002, I’ve run SDG Communications, a successful marketing consultancy serving clients in Israel and abroad.
Please stop by and connect with me at any of the following sites:
Website: http://www.stevengreenberg.info/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stevengreenbergauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GreenbergSteven
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/534479.Steven_Greenberg
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sdgcom
ENFOLD ME
This timely and relevant novel, examining a world in which the Middle East has changed radically, is coming in a new second edition in the spring of 2016. For more about this book, please visit the Evolved Publishing website.
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Fear. It remains a constant focus of life in the Middle East: what we have, what we could lose, what others might or did take away from us.
The question is, do you control your fear, or does it control you?
Daniel Blum—scientist, father, soldier—has many reasons to fear. He lost more than he knows when the modern State of Israel fell, following a massive earthquake and Iranian-led attack. Torn from suburban family life and a budding career, Daniel is alone and scarred, enduring subjugation and terror in Hamas-controlled Northern Liberated Palestine.
Together with George Far
rah, a figure from his past, Daniel journeys deep under the Carmel mountain, through Egyptian-controlled, quake-ravaged Tel Aviv, and ultimately to the ruins of a secret government research facility. Haunted, Daniel strains the bonds of duty and family as he confronts a world he no longer understands, discovers unintended consequences of his actions, and plumbs the true depth of his loss.
In the Middle East, tragedy on a biblical scale has been, for millennia, the starting point of many dark journeys. The first dystopian Israeli fiction in three decades to be set in a realistic post-Israel Middle East, Enfold Me is a compellingly cold journey, a cruel snapshot of a society in disintegration, and an examination of how one person can be both perpetrator and victim of tragedy.
For lovers of literary sagas with a fantastical feel (suitable for readers 13 and older):
THE DAUGHTER OF THE SEA AND THE SKY
By David Litwack
This literary journey exploring the clash between reason and faith, and the power of hope and love, is now available. For more information about this book, please visit the Evolved Publishing website.
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After centuries of religiously motivated war, the world has been split in two. Now the Blessed Lands are ruled by pure faith, while in the Republic, reason is the guiding light—two different realms, kept apart and at peace by a treaty and an ocean.
Children of the Republic, Helena and Jason were inseparable in their youth, until fate sent them down different paths. Grief and duty sidetracked Helena’s plans, and Jason came to detest the hollowness of his ambitions.
These two damaged souls are reunited when a tiny boat from the Blessed Lands crashes onto the rocks near Helena’s home after an impossible journey across the forbidden ocean. On board is a single passenger, a nine-year-old girl named Kailani, who calls herself “The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky.” A new and perilous purpose binds Jason and Helena together again, as they vow to protect the lost innocent from the wrath of the authorities, no matter the risk to their future and freedom.
But is the mysterious child simply a troubled little girl longing to return home? Or is she a powerful prophet sent to unravel the fabric of a godless Republic, as the outlaw leader of an illegal religious sect would have them believe? Whatever the answer, it will change them all forever… and perhaps their world as well.
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Praise for The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky:
“The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky by David Litwack is a stunningly constructed story of a young girl who is deeply troubled but goes out of her way to help others. Tender yet tense, it is a story that explores the issue of faith and reason, and the wisdom and discernment to choose between right and wrong. David Litwack’s exquisitely crafted story is thoughtful, passionate and simply delightful.” – Khamneithang Vaiphei
“This is a tale of the heart and soul, of the beautiful yearning for meaning, and of how it can be found in the union of faith and reason, as well as in creativity. Everything, Litwack seems to say, points to Spirit. In this novel, nature itself embodies the spiritual world. The farm’s overseer, Sebastian, knows this well, for he has been at the farm for many years, and is completely attuned to the rhythm of the seasons. I’m delighted to have truly found nothing negative to say about this book. The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky is a beautiful, moving novel, one that I predict will become an instant classic, especially in the literature of spirituality. It is a novel to be treasured and re-read many times, not only for its beauty, but for its thought-provoking treatment of universal themes.” – A Night’s Dream of Books
“First off, let me start by saying this book is something special. I don’t say that often, but there is something un-pinpoint-able and undefined that is wholly beautiful, endearing and magical about this book and the story. I’m going to lay this at the author’s feet. If this author brings out another book, you can bet I’ll snap it up as soon as it’s in print, because I can tell from this one alone that me and David’s books are going to be lifelong friends.” – Elle Lainey
For lovers of traditional literary or contemporary southern fiction (suitable for readers 16 and older):
HANNAH’S VOICE
By Robb Grindstaff
This up-market literary fiction, exploring the extraordinary events of one girl’s life and struggles to be understood, is now available. For more information on this book, please visit the Evolved Publishing website.
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CARRY ME AWAY
By Robb Grindstaff
This literary coming-of-age novel from the author of the critically-acclaimed Hannah’s Voice, and featuring the unique and memorable Carrie Destin, is now available. For more information, please visit the publisher’s website at Evolved Publishing.
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Description of Hannah’s Voice:
When six-year-old Hannah’s brutal honesty is mistaken for lying, she stops speaking. Her family, her community, and eventually, the entire nation struggle to find meaning in her silence.
School officials suspect abuse. Church members are divided—either she has a message from God or is possessed by a demon. Social workers interrupt an exorcism to wrest Hannah away from her momma, who has a tenuous grip on sanity.
Hidden in protective foster care for twelve years, she loses all contact with her mother and remains mute by choice.
When Hannah leaves foster care at age eighteen to search for Momma, a national debate rages over her silence.
A religious movement awaits her prophecy and celebrates her return. An anarchist group, Voices for the Voiceless, cites Hannah as its inspiration. The nation comes unhinged, and the conflict spills into the streets when presidential candidates chime in with their opinions on Hannah—patriotic visionary or dangerous radical. A remnant still believes she is evil and seeks to dispatch her from this world.
Hannah stands at the intersection of anarchists and fundamentalists, between power politics and an FBI investigation. All she wants is to find her momma, a little peace and quiet, and maybe some pancakes.
One word would put an end to the chaos… if only Hannah can find her voice.
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Praise for Hannah’s Voice:
“Grindstaff’s prose is unadorned, deft, carefully constructed—but I think what sets this novel apart is its humor. Grindstaff has a knack for portraying the drama of Hannah’s dilemma in a way that makes you giggle.” – P.B. “Pete” Morin
“Grindstaff’s writing is pure, and free of the hyperbole and love for one’s own words that often get in the way of a good story. His deft handling of the character and personality of Hannah at two distinct stages in her life showcases his mastery of language and characterization. He carefully chose each word to show the ten year difference in Hannah’s life while staying true to who she really is. That is no small feat.” – Lanette Kauten
“This book is so well written and Hannah is so compelling, her voice lingers in my mind long after I have finished reading. If Hannah’s Voice doesn’t end up on the bestseller’s list, on every notable list… I will be shocked.” – Michelle L. Johnson
“There are books that are interesting, and then there are books that you just can’t put down. This is one of those books. Something in Mr. Grindstaff’s writing style is reminiscent of Flannery O’Connor. He captures the quirks of Southern characters while maintaining their humanity. It would have been easy to write so many of these as stereotypical comical buffoons, but he avoided the easy way out.” – The Self-Taught Cook
“Hannah’s Voice is a beautiful story, and I’m going to tell you about it, but before I do: seriously, you guys, read it. I’m not kidding. You’ll be changed forever, inside… it’s not a book with such strong thematic material that it will make anyone cringe, but it will be burned into your brain for eternity in such a delightful way. Touching, moving, funny, awesome. I can’t say it enough: this book is revolutionary, and the best thing I’ve read in years. Awesome. AWESOM
E.” – Naomi Sarah
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Description of Carry Me Away:
Carrie Destin, a biracial military brat, learns the injuries she sustained in a car accident will prove fatal before she reaches adulthood. She accelerates her life and sets aggressive goals: college, connecting with her Japanese roots, and the all-consuming desire to find her soul mate. A kid from nowhere, she travels the world with her Marine father and Japanese mother.
Facing an abbreviated life with a brash attitude and a biting, sometimes morbid sense of humor, Carrie races to graduate high school at age fifteen. College is her marker of adulthood, when she can smoke in public and order dessert before dinner. She tosses out her adolescent wedding scrapbook for a funeral plan. A teenage crush on Paul, a family friend and a widower seventeen years her senior, develops into a fantasy that takes on a life of its own.
As she outlives the original prognosis into her early twenties, her life goals evolve—always short-term. The longing for love stays constant, yet she walls herself off from others. Relationships end in betrayal, abandonment and violence. When love reveals itself, she pulls away, fearing that an early meeting with Death is on the horizon.
Carrie’s frantic desire to experience life before it ends spirals out of control, leading to a physical and emotional collapse. Her grandmother’s wisdom points her toward acceptance, but first she must break through her walls before she can give the gift of ‘til-death-do-us-part.
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Praise for Carry Me Away:
“After the wonderful Hannah’s Voice, my expectations were pretty high. I was not disappointed. Robb Grindstaff’s second book, much like his first, is a grand achievement of literary talent and it should easily cement him on many people’s ‘can’t wait to see what he releases next’ lists.” – Allison M. Dickson
“Grindstaff has produced another masterpiece on par with Hannah’s Voice! Carrie’s life is all about racing forward, while she herself stands internally still, convinced she’ll die before she has a chance to live. She tries to experience every aspect of life, but refuses to let the experiences in on a deeper level, and it’s heart-wrenching, vivid, and realistic. I feared with Carrie, I cried for her, and I begged her to quit TRYING so hard to live, and just LIVE. Like Hannah’s Voice, Grindstaff’s characters are beyond real. Carrie has a special place in my heart. You’ll never meet another character like Carrie, who packs the most life possible into every page of every chapter.” – Nola Sarina
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