The telephone rung at home. “Would you be interested in auditioning for an American fashion show?” My jaw dropped. An American fashion show in our neo-Stalinist homeland? The voice explained further. “The show started in Moscow as a part of a rapprochement between the...
“It’s happening, I am dancing, “ I thought with some amazement and satisfaction. Then I crushed my partner’s shoe and nearly fell. The master’s partner stepped in, to take me in hand, while the poor girl nursed her foot. I went red in face, it...
“You are an enemy of the State,” my teacher, Comrade Novak, told me flatly. We were in a classroom at the Prague 5 Elementary School, a large, new building on the hill above Hlubocepy Village that stood as a showcase of the Communist regime. Teachers there were...
“I was proud to be selected as a red flag bearer for my pioneer unit. I was sent to the central house of pioneers to training courses where I had learnt how to carry my red flag and how to defend it, even with my own life. On a final day of our training we had...
