In order prepare participants for our site visits and experiences Vienna, Prague, and Terezin, CSA 2023 participants are required to complete the following pre-trip assignments: 

 

• Centropa’s Vienna Jewish Source Book. Please read all of the essays in the first section, pp. 16-44. 

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• Centropa’s Terezin Reader. Read at least one story, but of course feel free to read as many as you like.

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• Centropa films: Please watch these two films before the Summer Academy:

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Only a Couple of Streets Away from Each Other (14:51) - Kitty and Otto Suschny both grew up in Vienna, only a couple of streets away from each other, but they never met while growing up. After the Reichspogromnacht in November 1938, both fled Austria for their lives; Kitty went to England, while Otto emigrated to Palestine. After the war, they returned to Vienna, desperate to find out what had happened to their parents. That´s where they met, and they never separated again... 

 

From Bohemia to Belsen…and Back Again, Dagmar Lieblova (13:47) Dagmar Lieblova tells her story of growing up in the small beautiful town of Kutna Hora, near Prague, how she and her family were uprooted and sent to Terezin, and how their housekeeper Fanyka saved her after the war. 

 

• Centropa Podcasts: We have a podcast series about Vienna in 1938. Please listen to the Introduction by Edward Serotta, and also to one at least episode from the first four in the series, and one episode from the last four in the series. So, minimally, listen to the Introduction and two episodes, and we encourage you to listen to all of them. You can access them on our website or Apple or Spotify podcasts. 

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• We highly recommend you read The Hare with Amber Eyes, by Edmund de Wail: In this highly praised book, de Waal traces the history of his family, the Ephrussis, who once rivaled the Rothschilds. A moving and exquisitely crafted family saga that takes place mostly in turn-of-the century Paris and Vienna. You will have to order this book, but it has been extremely popular for several years and that should not be too difficult to find, depending where you live. It is not required, but it’s a great read.

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