At the turn of the twentieth century, Central and Eastern Europe was a configuration of nations dominated by three empires: Austrian, German and Russian, whose borders promised to be set in concrete. The Austrian Empire was a multi-ethnic entity of countries that had been absorbed over time. Among these were Polish lands annexed by Austria in the eighteenth century, which became the Austrian province of Galicia, where Zofia Neuhoff was born in 1905 into an upper-middle-class family. Victorian manners reigned supreme, young ladies were coached to gracefully alight from the carriage and ‘culture’ was a magic word, socially distinguishing people who possessed it from those who did not. That haute bourgeoisie morphed into the central-European intelligentsia.Zofia’s childhood was upended by five years of WWI which she spent in the picturesque environs of Innsbruck. By 1918, the three imperishable empires disintegrated and several sovereign states emerged from the ruins. After the Neuhoffs returned to independent Poland, Zofia’s life continued on an even keel with a happy marriage and a law degree unusual for a woman in the 1930s. In September 1939, Poland was invaded by both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Overnight, Zofia’s existence was shattered. Alone, with an 18-month-old toddler, in the midst of mass arrests and deportations of civilian population, how could she cope with this new harsh reality for which her sheltered life had not prepared her?
My Financial Times Addiction. I freely admit to it: I am addicted to FT. It waltzed into my life after retirement. Until then it was New York Times and Wall Street Journal, as befitted a respectabl ........
Thought for the Day: In Praise of Foreign Languages In today’s shrunken world, familiarity with foreign languages can be a useful skill. I speak five of them, with varying degree of proficiency, fr ........
Don’t search for answers that no book can supply. Memory sleeps, when it must, memory does not die. Jan Rostworowski
Austin Macauley are one of the fastest-growing publishers, striving hard to give authors the best chance of succeeding in an increasingly crowded market. With headquarters in London, New York and Sharjah, Austin Macauley Publishers™ have established themselves as an energetic and innovative independent trade publishers.
+44 (0) 207 038 8212
+44 (0) 203 515 0352
mail@austinmacauley.com
Austin Macauley Publishers™ Ltd.
1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf,
London, E14 5AA
United Kingdom