[continued…] The next morning David and Jess leave early. By 8.45 we’ve heard nothing and anxiety returns. It’s a good three hours drive to Boskovice and I need to be there by 2pm…Finally we hear the news and its not what we are expecting! Not having a licence is the least of our problems – we have no vehicle! The rental place is closed down! So they have been trying valiantly to secure another transport but it’s Easter and nothing is available. 

Eventually they manage to track one down which appears to be bona fide (car hire in Prague is renowned for being a scam we discover) and it will be  delivered within the hour…we wait and wait but they can’t deliver it to us (heart sinks), we will have to walk with all our luggage to the other side of the Old Town square. I am feeling distinctly nervous now as it 10 am, but lo and behold there is a van! And a good one!

We set off via the motorway, lined with forests and lake views, before setting off cross-country through the enormous swathes of fields, interspersed with the occasional village of very Moravian yellow and pink houses and farms. We remark how prosperous it all looks – but I remember that this is rich farming country with wealthy landowners when Ungar was growing up. His uncle Ludwig, father of stepfather Richrd Kohn, was manager of a massive estate and the family was well-to-do. They both, plus Aunt Tilly died, in the Holocaust.

We arrive at the Hotel Slavia with 30 minutes to spare. I have a quick coffee and walk into the Jewish Quarter to meet my publisher and host, Václav Cikán, at the Hermann Ungar Tearoom. On the table is a delicious spread (which is actually for later, so I’m glad I found my BA biscuit and gobbled that down before I set out). Assembled are the Head of the Regional Museum; a journalist who will record the whole event; Mr Slonek, whom I have met before and will translate; Vaclav and his wife Gabriella, who is an artist and has provided covers for the two volumes, Boys and Murderers in addition to The Maimed. And Ginger the cat! 

After a delicious Chinese blended tea, and some chit chat, Václav takes us on a tour of his pride and joy, his coffee roaster which is upstairs, for in this large building is also Boskovice’s favourite coffee shop – where we repair after the event for the snacks and wine!  Strangely David also has a coffee roasting business, Bump and Grind in Silver Spring MD, and they exchange notes. Václav speaks no English but luckily his delightful daughter is on hand…(below in purple dress).

From there to the Town Hall where we meet Deputy Mayor Lukáš Holík who, after formal presentations of books, brollies and souvenirs of Boskovice, arranges for us to go to the tower for a city view

We amble down through the old town – it seems a bit tired since my last visit a couple of years ago. I learn that there are no Jews left now, and it’s a des res suburb of Brno and for local business. There is quite a large industrial area around Boskovice, a town of 12,000. Outside the gate is a new installation, a tank defence unit from the 1968 invasion by the Russians. Not sure what we think…There is another memento from that era – a tank track on a wall in the Jewish quarter; again not quite sure of its relevance right here. Mr Slonek is very excited by this – here he is in the centre with a red jacket.

The room is full when we arrive – standing room only in fact. It’s good to see my friend from the Ungar/Kafka Colloquium 18 months ago, Tana Klementova, a historian involved in the Brno Jewish Museum project. Around the walls are Gabriella’s haunting pictures, and some info boards on the life and times of Hermann Ungar. After a brief introduction which includes a very witty little sketch written in the style of Hermann – the author really catches his self-deprecating style – we christen the new publication with tea of course! It seems rather sacrilegious to pour it over a book – but there you go!

Then it’s my turn to give the talk I’d prepared about our grandfather; I’ve tried to relate it to Boskovice to make it relevant to the audience. Bonnie and co have arrived by this time and are in seats of honour. It’s a rather laborious process with Mr Slonek  interpreting paragraph by paragraph – it appears Czech is much more wordy than my concise English so it all takes rather a long time! I’m anxious we are losing the audience, but he’s a well-known local character and the Czechs are a well-mannered and attentive audience.

A few questions afterwards, an interview, and then back to the coffee house. Everyone is hungry and Gabriella’s snacks are wolfed down. Nevertheless the boys are still hungry so we find a local pizza place – Boskovice is not a centre for fine dining!

The following morning we walk around, ending up in the cemetery where, not only do we find our ancestral graves, but thanks to the Jewish community centre guide, also meet a charming educated couple who have managed to book an appointment at the synagogue, which we gratefully crash. We discuss, among other things, antisemitism in Czechia which I have always been convinced was the reason it took over five years to get a passport. But I am told this is not the case – Czechia is a great supporter of Netanyahu and Israel. We do agree however, that that’s not the same thing…the government is now right wing and will ally itself in that direction. Perhaps it was the vestiges of communistic bureaucracy that was the problem. We find quite a bit of jobsworthiness amongst minor officials on our rounds…

It is always a pleasure to visit the synagogue which is one of the best-preserved and oldest (started in 1639) in Europe. Leon is doing a project for his bar mitzvah on Otto Ungar, just as Aden did on Hans Georg – both of whom perished at Treblinka aged nine and seven respectively It has been a mission to find their memories wherever we go, and here they are in the synagogue, recorded along with all the  several hundred other Jews who were forcibly removed to Terezin in the first instance. After I left Bonnie and co went to Terezin and found the names of Hans Georg and Otto as they transited en route to Warsaw.

After lunch we hop in our trusty van and drive the 45 minutes to Brno, where we park underneath the Janacek opera house! From there a few short minutes to another excellent find, the Hotel Jacob just off the main square where we had Airbnb type rooms. Again we wander around the old town; like Prague the main square has been overtaken by all sorts of stalls, mostly food and drink, but also knickknacks for easter and some local produce. And cannabis outlets – it has been legalised here; Transform Drug Policy Foundation which I chair, has been instrumental in advising on the legislation.

Meanwhile another drama has been unfolding – Ryanair refuses to give me a boarding pass. Due to new Brexit rules on passports and dual nationalities requiring visas for visiting Europeans I am told I am not being allowed to enter the UK! It can only be sorted out (probably) at the airport…it was my fault initially as I put my Czech details into the app, thinking that as I had arrived that way, I should depart that way. But no! Anyhow, endless online chats later it was not fixable, even though I had changed my profile on the app…so another sleepless night wondering if I will get home for Easter!

The final straw is my early Bolt does not arrive, driver does not speak English, so finding out what is going on is challenging. Luckily Bonnie is there to help calm me as I wait on a street corner at 6.45 am. Finally he appears, fond goodbyes are said, and I zoom off to the airport…where a very kind customer service man takes control of my app and manages to issue me with a boarding pass, after a good look at my British passport.

It has been a whirlwind five days. A great opportunity to get to know David, Jess, Aden and Leon. It must have been a bit boring for them all that wandering around, but I am impressed with their ability to do so while reading a book! Thank goodness they are intelligent and love reading. The only screen time seems to have been playing chess! Very impressive! They have survived the vagaries of Czech food (schnitzel the winner on all occasions) and the jet lag proved not to be a problem, surprisingly. So my initial push backs were all misconceived – apart from it being heaving with people in Easter week!

Thank you for making the journey and for sharing it with me.