vickygoestravelling

my journey to health and well being via exotic destinations

Tag Archives: Hermann Ungar


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In search of our ancestors: Fogels in Boskovice and Brno

[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!

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In search of our ancestors: Fogels in Prague

On the bridge over the Vltava outside the National Theatre near the family home

My half-sister Bonnie messages me to say she and her son David, his wife Jessica and their two boys, Aden and Leon, are coming to discover their Czech roots for Spring Break. ‘And we can’t do it without you!’ Spring Break? That’s impossible I say – three stops in five days with jet lag! Plus it’s Easter week so it will be crowded!

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VIP visit to Boskovice!

IMG_1226The day after the colloquium, the organiser Mojmír Jeřábek and Táňa Klementová have organised a trip to Boskovice to visit Hermann Ungar’s birthplace and tour the old Jewish ghetto. We are accompanied by a group of elderly members of the German Club from Brno.  A number of the older generation still have German as a first language (as did  my family and most assimilated Jews) – a legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Continue reading →


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The Ungar/Kafka Colloquium in Brno, Czech Republic

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Sunrise over Brno

I have been invited to give the keynote speech at a symposium in Brno on Hermann Ungar and Frantz Kafka, where leading experts will gather to discuss their lives and work. It’s pretty daunting, 80 people, and will involve simultaneous Czech translation. In addition there will be an interview in the Malý Mehrin, a small Jewish cultural centre which is planning to build a museum near the station,  chaired by Táňa Klementová, a local historian. Then there will be a VIP visit to Boskovice where we will be hosted by the mayor. Wow! And all because I’m Herman Ungar’s granddaughter! Continue reading →


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Commemorating my grandfather Hermann Ungar 90 years on

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Prague Castle at dusk, where Hermann Ungar worked in 1929

I had been invited to Prague to commemorate 90 years since my grandfather Hermann Ungar died aged only 36 from sepsis. He was a Czech Jewish writer who was beginning to build a reputation for himself as a formidable talent amongst the Prague and Berlin literary circles of that time, which included Kafka, Stefan Zweig, Bertolt Brecht among other illustrious names. At the last minute the dates were changed but I had bought tickets and booked the hotel so off we went. Continue reading →


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An art-full few days in London

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Lotte painting Traute

It’s London Art Week and this is their first winter event. There are 30 Gallery members who host events and shows, plus it coincides with the winter auctions.  Courtesy of my friend Philly, one of the organisers, I had a night on the town. Continue reading →


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Boskovice: town of the Ungar ancestors

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The KaiserHaus, where my grandfather Hermann Ungar was born and the most imposing house in the Jewish quarter

We set off early for Boskovice. The drive takes us through gentle undulating hills, with verdant pine forests adorning the hilltops like crowns. Once off the main road, we pass a cart pulled by two handsome palomino horses with a pony trotting alongside and we are in countryside that looks much as I imagine it would have done in my grandfather’s time. Now there are fields of lavender pyrethrum, green wheat and yellow rape, all contrasting with the azure blue of the sky. It reminds me of Ungar’s story The Brothers which describes such a landscape. Continue reading →


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Prague: travels with my long-lost sister

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Bonnie on the Charles Bridge, Prague Castle and St Vitus Cathedral in the background

This was my fifth trip to Prague, but one with a difference. Eight years after discovering the existence of an older half-sister, I am taking her on a journey to discover her heritage. Bonnie has never been to Prague, let alone Boskovice where our family hail from, and she as thrilled as a little girl waiting for her Christmas presents.

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Looking for my roots in Berlin

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Ross took this fine photo of the Brandenburg Gate using HDR

A romantic weekend break in Berlin. Sounds wonderful, but it gets off to a bad start. Ross and I are all set to arrive simultaneously from London and Basel and meet just in time for pre-dinner drinks in our boutique hotel, i31, in the Mitte area. Continue reading →


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Israel 3: visiting Bethlehem and the Palestinian Authority

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View from Mount of Olives

My driver G turns up early on my last day, to take me to places that people don’t normally go. He suggests that my itinerary is a bit tame, and says really I should go further afield, to Bethlehem, which lies in the Palestinian Authority, take in some new settlements and see more of the wall. He says it will be more interesting. I say that I defer to his judgment, when I should have said ‘So how much extra with this be?’ After we have agreed on the new itinerary, he says, diffidently, that it will of course cost more. As it turns out, exactly what I have in my wallet. ‘God must have meant for this to happen’ I say to him. He is a Christian Arab as a matter of fact, a Catholic; there are only 10-12,000 in Jerusalem compared to 530,000 Jews and 350,000 Muslims. He says they are having a hard time and are discriminated against by both sides. Continue reading →