Advance Praise for Border Crossings from Madeleine Albright:
"Border Crossings" is the well-told and dramatic story of a
young man whose comfortable life is abruptly transformed by the
savagery of World War II. Forced to rely on primal instincts and
his familiarity with the rugged highlands of Moravia, Charles
Novacek casts his lot first with the anti-Hitler Underground and
then with the resistance to the Nazis Communist successors. My
recollections pain me, he writes, still, they have made me who I
am. Novacek s experience as a Hungarian-speaking Czecho-Slovak
patriot demonstrates the folly of petty nationalism and the
resilience of human decency and love. Madeleine Albright, former
U.S. Secretary of State
Description:
"Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance" is the
captivating, tender memoir of Charles Novacek, a Czechoslovakian
whose idyllic childhood exploring the Tatra Mountains was shattered
by the Nazi occupation of his homeland. He spent his youth
defending his neighbors, his family, and his country, first from
the Nazi atrocities of World War II and then from the Soviet
oppression of the ensuing Cold War.
Charles was eleven years old when his father and uncle recruited
him into the Czech Resistance. Antonin Novacek not only taught his
son to survive in the wild, but also prepared him for wartime: how
to resist pain, hunger, and fear and to trust no one. His
assignments included delivering messages to soldiers parachuting
behind enemy lines and hiding them in caves he equipped for their
shelter.
As a young man, Charles was captured and jailed by the
Communists and rescued by an underground resistance network. In too
much danger to remain in Czechoslovakia, he staged a daring escape
only to land in a miserable displaced persons camp. His will to
live prevailed once again, and Charles eventually married and built
a successful life in America.
Filled with heroic adventures and great bravery, Border
Crossingsis one man s remarkable tale of his incredible life and a
testament to the human capacity to survive.
Additional Praise for Border Crossings:
"I have been transformed by this honest, extraordinary telling.
In"Border Crossings"Charles Novacek shows us, through his personal
story (told as if we are right there in the room with him) the true
face of totalitarianism; he reminds us of the preciousness, the
miracle, of freedom. What a gift he has given us--and what a gift
his wife, Sandra, has offered us, as well, in making sure that his
brave story is here for the world to read. This is a powerful
memoir that crosses all borders and speaks directly to the human
heart."Joseph Hurka, author of"Fields of Light: A Son Remembers His
Heroic Father"
Here is a story that is meant to survive, just as its teller
was. I got to know Charles in his later years but only had hints of
what is contained in these pages. They are riveting. I was drawn
into the best and worst of humanity and, not incidentally, into the
history of the West in the mid-twentieth century. Courage, love,
despair, a fierce will are all preserved with the help of one who
was not the love of Charles life. . . but his last love. " John
Kotre, Ph.D., author of "White Gloves: How We Create Ourselves
Through Memory"
"Border Crossings" helps fill the lack of personal accounts of
resistance movements amidst a voluminous array of World War II
literature. This compelling memoir, written through the eyes of
young Charles, shows how circumstances required him to become a
shrewd hero. In his opposition first toward Nazism and then
Communism, Charles Novacek s personal story illustrates why people
sacrifice themselves and their families for an ideal. Intimate,
intense, fascinating Christina Vella, coauthor of "The Hitler
Kiss"
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