Book Notes: Under a Cruel Star by Heda Kovaly PDF

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-note the whole book is underpinned by a sense of hope; when communism is an option, it's hope that things will be better than drives her -mass deportation of jews from prague started fall 1941 -had to report to Exposition Hall -snowstorm upon arrival in Lodz in October -Litzmannstadt Ghetto was where she went - sealed ghetto? (description of walls around it) -heda assisted the doctor who had known her as a child walk around the ghetto; medications in short supply, but he said "often just the appearance of a doctor would make a patient feel a little better" -there was a fire at the ghetto while she was working and she left work to help her family out -sense of hopelessness, cynicism accompanied with the phrase "everything passes" -notes that it's hard to belief that people were still tortured and beaten by polic after communist coup in 1948 in CS, and that prison camps existed, and if anyone had told the people, they "would have refused to believe it." -one gives up freedom for the regime, conformity, greatness of the fatherland, or any other reason and relinquish your "claim to the truth" -it's a voluntary helplessness (11) -morning roll call was 2 hours, trip to work was 1 hour, half hour hike to the factory, 12 hour shift, trip back to camp, another roll call, a little soup, some bread and a short night -heda talked back and was rewarded with a sheltered indoor job; problem is this is a job for strong men, that she was to do herself -notes the effect on her boss (same man who sent her to indoor work) as she told him of the horrors she had seen; "[he]" seemed to wither, to shrink before my eyes as if, with each of my sentences, part of him faded." -this brings on a flashback(?) to the Auschwitz block -"There is, perhaps, nothing harder than waiting passively for death. Staying alive is simple and natural and does not require any particular resolve." -idea of escape began after guard Franz shot another girl -this is during the death march -notes (from Hanka) that staying in formation is easy in a sense; once they escape, they have to take care of themselves -escapes with Hanka, Zuzka, with Mana and Andula behind; Andula didn't make it

-helped by a czech girl and her mom -notes (from Hanka) that they are now totally outside the law -"...we made it to the demarcation line that separated the German Reich from the truncated territory of the former Czechoslovak Republic, now called the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The Protectorate had been occupied by the Germans since 1939." -went from house to house to find someone who would help them cross the demarcation line; Mrs. Nemcova is the one who helped Heda, Hanka, Mana and Zuzka -Zuzka's family welcomed them, seemed like off to a good start -found a place for Mana -found a man who drove heda and hanka most of the way to prague -this is during the sixth year of german occupation -Hanka gets off streetcar in middle of Prague -Heda goes to her old friend Jenda's place; he'd promised before their deportation to be there for her and her family if they needed anything -but Jenda doesn't recognize her now, and doesn't want to help; '"For God's sake, what brings you here?" The answer stuck in my throat. So this was my anchor, this terrified, trembling wretch who could not even look me straight in the eye.' -heda notices new things in his apartment that weren't there before (does this mark jenda as an informant for the nazis?) -goes next to her auntie's place, gets new clothes and stays the night, leaves when it's still dark -friend Franta, where she goes next, is amazed that she thinks she can stay alive, basically tells her she has no hope -next, goes to Marta's house, got caught in two air raids before arriving -warmly received, is told by Marta that formerly useless husband Vlada has been helping people escape, he can help heda too -then learns that Vlada was lying the whole time to make himself look good (was he an informant instead?) -next to Otto and Milena's house, in Vinohrady, almost the other end of town -greeted warmly, but heda can't stay and endanger the children, so she insists upon leaving -Milena packed a bag for heda to take -next to the Machs'; older couple who knew her since she wa a child

-again, greeted warmly; one of their tenants was away, and heda was told she could stay in that room for the night; "I could sleep there if I sneaked out very early the next morning." -next to Zdena's house (prewar friend, now married) -refused at the door by Zdena's mother, entreating for the safety of a baby -next to a church, sermon being preached was about "the women who watched Christ suffer on the cross, who pitied him but did nothing to alleviate his pain." -speculates how the preacher would react if she asked him for help, even for a couple nights -but if her own friends would not help, what hope did she have of help from a stranger? -decides on suicide, jumping off a bridge; stopped by the appearance of german soldiers -next to Ruda's house (another prewar friend) -but Marta is inside, was waiting -Ruda is out of town, but left his keys for heda to stay in his apartment -there she stayed for "perhaps a week or two", fever subsided, got to rest, even if in secret -she is helped by the resistance, of which Ruda seems to be a member -then notes the last weeks of the war, which she spent "underground" -was moved once or twice, to avoid being in the same spot for too long -last move was early April to "an empty apartment in the posh suburb of Dejvice." -listened to BBC underground resistance radio -May 5, Prague rose up to fight the germans -military officials didn't have tactics for street fighting -volunteer nurses were housewives more concerned with displays of patriotism and flirting with doctors than actually helping -underground center provided munitions, medical supplies and provisions smuggled in from outside -notes an instance where she and another nurse were almost caught by german soldiers, carrying illegal arms at the bottom of a basket of bandages and stuff -heda was rebuked by a former schoolmat for giving a glass of water to a dying german soldier; the war had divided people

-on day 5 of the uprising, the soviets arrived with tanks and helped drive the germans out -complaining of the upperclass; "You know, we also suffered...Nothing but skim milk...No butter on our bread..." -stories of concentration camp surivors who had left things in the care of friends and never got them back (page 46) -mentions a trip she made to village of Hut, where her family had a cottage; found a man there who said "So you've come back! Oh no! That's all we need!" -hears her father's name on the radio, but never finds her father, though she goes to the radio station and puts in a message for her father to call the radio station -never finds her father but because of the radio message finds Rudolph Margolius (seems they were close before the war?) -two months after the libertation, no more celebrating, people are selling clothes on the black market now -guilt of those who had profited from nazi occupation breeds suspicion and hate -and this is where it starts to go downhill -"...ailing survivors of the concentration camps all spent day after day waiting in lines at the Housing Authority while butchers and grocers and other wartime profiteers walked in by the back door and were seen first." -many of these already had apartments but now that they were rich they wanted better ones -meanwhile, a clerk would yell at the people in line as though it was their fault -heda got herself an apartment sooner than Mr. Boucek, owner of the poultry store, by marching into the office before closing and declaring that she was going to sleep there for as long as she remained homeless; set up her nighttime things, ate her supper and made a show of beginning to undress ; chairman fled, found the deed of an apartment, she signed and left -notes "I seem to remember that the Housing Authority was eventually shut down because of corruption, but I am not certain." -apartment was so small that when she was pregnant 2 years later her husband had to do the cooking "because I could not fit between the stove and the wall." -here's where communism starts -rudolph has books upon books on the subject, and philosophy and hosts debates in his living room

-heda wanted to believe in democracy, but the debates and objections made her doubt; democracy had given rise to nazism (56-57) -hello again Franta, welcome to the debate room -he had survived by living quietly, had done nothing dishonourable, had not collaborated with nazis or denounced anyone -but had not taken any risks either -"Every argument Franta made for democracy sounded right and reasonable to me. But every argument Zdenek made for communism was supported by the force of his personality and his experiences."

(sounds

-notes she felt "almost ashamed" to agree with Franta "who was so rational and prudent and who never forgot which side his bread was buttered on." like Zdenek was a very charsimatic speaker) -notes this evening as a moment she would pinpoint in the '50s to figure out where everything started to go horribly wrong -notes also that Rudolph only entered debate here and there, though it was clear he sided with Zdenek, possibly he'd never forgiven Franta for how he'd treated heda

-a week after this evening, rudolph took heda to meet with some communist friends of his -lovely older couple, so hospitible and kind, with nothing but nice things to say about the ussr -ten years later, the lady confessed every nice thing she said about the ussr was a lie -years in imprisonment had changed the meaning of freedom for those in concentration camps and ghettos; "...many prisoners came to accept the view that freedom is something that has to be earned and fought for, a privilege that is rewarded, like a medal. It is hardly possible for people to live so many years as slaves in everyday contact with fascists and fascism without contracting a trace of that dry rot unwittingly and unwillingly." (61) -gives rise to a streak of martyrdom: "if i have to sacrifice something i cherish for a cause i believe in, it's worth it" -leads to the belief that communism is the one system that the likes of german atrocites could never happen again; this is wrong -notes that even years later after stalinist era horrors became public knowledge, old communists clung to their beliefs; "To give up this ideal would be to disclaim the meaning of one's whole life." -"People who are willing to sacrifice their own well-being for some lofty goal are likely to exact a similar sacrifice on others who are not so willing."

-remember two things about post-war Czechoslovakia -only perhaps soviet agents doubted they'd be able to run their own show differently than russian communism -membership of the communist party was like a religious order, "determined our very lives." (63) -notes that some jews hated themselves for what they had been made to suffer, for something they could not change about themselves and had no control over; communist jews were in a better mental state, because they suffered for an idea, something they chose (65) -notes that rudolph relied on falsified stats to tell him life under communism was good, and heda "saw from close-up and with my own eyes that this was not true." -notes she hesitated for a long time to sign for party membership; not interested in a political life, wanted to study, have a baby, catch up on life -first mistake was assuming that if one sat one the fence about something like this, they'd regret it -second mistake was assuming that if one did not like party life, they could just leave -notes she likes the "comrade" form of adress -at that first party meeting, notes that the party did not only take members from working class, but they were likely the minority (69) -most respected party members were prewar professional revolutionaries: "people who had never in their life performed any useful work, but who had never missed a meeting or a strike." (70) -"It is often said that power corrupts, but I think that what corrupted people in our country was not power alone but the fear that accompanied it." (71) -admits to not paying much attention to public affairs for the 2 years after the war -notes on walks that memory of certain landmarks and buildings was tainted by nazism; "This was the building where I first saw a flag with a swastika." -beginning of 1946, found work as art editor of small publishing house -did book jackets, illustrations, drew, painted, etc -notes that people argued politics all the time -her son was born this year -started working from home -near the end of feb 1948, demonstration, marching to Old Town Square

-notes intersection at foot of st wenceslas square was blocked by factory workers -publisher said "Today is a day to remember. Today, our democracy is dying." (74) -spring of 1948, death of foreign minister Jan Masaryk; symbol of "humanistic traditions" -he was very popular -but less than a month after communist coup, found dead on the pavement below windows of his apartment in the ministry; suspicious -mystery was never solved, but was taken as fact that it was suicide -3-4 months later, rudolph offered position of cabinet chief in ministry of foreign trade -tries to refuse, his refusal isn't accepted -at this point, he can either accept or resign from the party and turn his back on long held beliefs -so he accepts (80) -heda's world changes right away (not necessarily for the better) -people who had known her for many years started to treat her like a celebrity -"I had to become accustomed to the fact that, for everyone but a handful of my old friends, I had ceased to be a human being." (81) -people are putting the party above personal connections (81) -same man who told rudolph he'd make him pay if rudolph did anythign to hurt the party was one of the first prominent party members to be arrested -foreshadowing: needed a new apartment, the one they went to see still had previous owners belongings, housekeeper to previous owners warned them not to take it, the place is cursed; "Nobody ever leaves this place in an ordinary way." (82) -come back to this part later, pretty sure heda doesn't leave in an ordinary way either -of course they took the apartment though -had to host dinner parties? for party members; men would talk politics, women left to entertain themselves -but here's the thing, there's a clear divide between working class and upper/middle class, and these groups of ladies contained working class and bourgeois -women constantly afraid of making some kind of political slip up -bourgeois ladies constantly afraid of asking bourgeois questions, like if someone had seen anything cool at the theatre lately (oops, working class can't afford theatre)

-eventually, they had to go through a lecture series on marxism -ironically, the receptions were lavish, food was fancy, many delicacies when working class people were living on rations -rudolph was rebuked for driving an old car himself; should have a new car, and a driver -she was caught in cross fire; on one hand, people judged her for unproletarian dress, her every step was monitored; on other hand, "equally stringent gaze" of elite comrades who drowned in luxury made possible by special rations cards that rudolph refused -solved the problem by ignoring both sides (probably not a great idea) -people with a knack for gossip did well -notes that all these things "made the atmosphere unpleasant" but didn't overly bother her; "more ridiculous than ominous." (85) -note the borders were closed after 1948 coup (85) -rudolph was able to help some people whose shops had been confiscated, but people wanting to leave were out of luck -1948, more than enough work for people -made all the money they could and "bought up everything in sight" -notes that sometime in 1950, friend named Karlicek visited in prague to yell at rudolph; his farm had been nationalized; "When one of my cows produced less than ten liters of milk, I sent her to the slaughterhouse because she consumed more than she produced. And you know what they're doing now? They give a medal to a cow that's producing four liters!" (86) -notes much of rudolph's work was top secret -heda later wonders whether his intense workload wasn't intentional -tells of arguments they had over politics -then tells of grocer's wife who came to visit (?) after her husband was taken away by the police; notes the grocer was a well known black marketeer, so seemed legit, but why in gangster fashion? -rudolph promises to look into it, and finds him, but nothing can be done -lots of grocers, artisans etc being taken away at this point -"By this time, late in 1949, the Soviet Union became our model." (88) -rudolph is moved to deputy minister (his job was eliminated) -increase in communist propaganda

-what kind of work one could do no longer mattered; what was important now was "class-consciousness, class origin, attitude toward the New Order, and, most of all, devotion to the Soviet Union." -theory that everyone is a product of class, upbringing, education, etc; example given is if one's father owned a peanut stand or a "notions store", one was therefore the product of "private enterprise mentality" and could not be trusted (89-90) -summer 1949 notes rudolph's trip to london to negotiate trade agreement with england -risky venture; party could view any agreement (deliberately) as sabotage of national interests -it's a success! -notes as they drive through a tunnel on vacation an impending sense of disaster (91) -is urged by friend Martin (former partisan who had helped hide her) to get rudolph to quit hs job; notes that the better rudolph does, the worse it'll be, and that everything he acheives will be turned against him (callback to page 71, "The higher one climbed, the harder one fell.") -"We're running on the Russian track now and all the stops will be the same. They'll start looking for scapegoats any day, especially among those people who have the genuine interests of the country at heart. Rudolph is made-to-order for the role." (92) -notes that as late as 1950 people would say that if stalin only knew how bad it was he would fix things (93) -notes these are the days of the Cold War, mentions Iron Curtain -media and entertainment tailored to the party's whims; they want people to prefer life under communism, so they only allow bad news of the west, grim written works from the west, etc -believed police surveillance was the norm all over, not just there -through 1950, 1951, class war intensified, more people carted off; "...it was generaly assumed that the accused were all guilty of something. Few people at that time chose to believe there was something basically wrong with our judicial system." -notes amazement when a group of priests were accused of treason, and confessed their crimes "like lectures on Marxism" (leads one to believe they're being told what to say, 94) -only when it was someone they knew couldn't possibly be guilty did people start to question things, but even then, thought it was a conspiracy master minded by the West -notes a day in 1956, when the "rehabilitated" were seen in public again, ran into Pavel Eisler, who had never joined the party; expresses amazement that he would believe a man he worked with was a traitor, now he's out after six years and he's aged by twenty -notes even rudolph's optimism was gone by 1951 (96)

-publisher she'd worked for no longer in business, so looked elsewhere, found a publishing house run by young people, mostly party members, mostly university students; too bad not one of them knew how to run a publishng house, went bankrupt in 2 years -while here, began to see how committed the collective was -also here where she met Pavel Kovaly -this environment is very "let's all think exactly the same way and everything will be fine" (97-99) -1950, heda and rudolph invited to victorious february gala at prague castle -president gottwald is wasted and heda cannot believe he's the one running the country; rudolph is also bothered -"By 1951, the atmosphere in Prague was almost as bad as it had been during the war." (101) -notes people aren't talking out loud, and arrests almost every week -Thursdays and fridays wer...