From a faraway country

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PETER TEGEL was born in 1932 into a Catholic German-speaking family in Czech Sudetenland. In 1936, his widowed mother married his Jewish stepfather. The Sudeten Territories were ceded to Nazi Germany in 1938, leading the family to flee to England due to the threat of Nazi race laws. These memoirs explore family dynamics against the backdrop of the Sudeten annexation, the Czechoslovak invasion, and life as wartime refugees in London. The author's mother’s family becomes refugees during the 1945-46 expulsion of Sudeten Germans, while the stepfather’s family perishes in the Holocaust. The Czech side faces dispossession under communism. The narrative also addresses the post-war refugee community grappling with loss and compensation disputes. A significant figure, Herz, critiques fellow Jews for seeking compensation for their losses. As a German-speaking refugee in an English school, the author navigates complex questions of identity. A return to Moravia reveals family connections and memories of his natural father, intertwining personal history with broader historical events. The memoirs culminate in the recovery of property by the Czech relatives after the fall of Communism. Peter Tegel is a playwright and novelist with a rich background, including a graduate degree from Oxford and work as a translator for prestigious theatre companies.