Český osud - Z Chocně do Ameriky a zase zpátky – Mráz Jiří (2016)

The book Czech Destiny is a valuable testimony to history from the ground up. It recounts the fates of the family of one of the founders of Czechoslovak industry. It does not speak of presidents, generals, or billionaires. Nevertheless, we are guided through a significant part of the twentieth century and confronted with the life experiences of Jiří Mráz during calm moments (the First Republic, exile in the USA), life-threatening situations (studying in England during German bombings and subsequent service in the RAF), and depressive times (the rise and first twenty years of communist totality). At the very beginning of the memoirs, readers are offered the perspective of little Jiří, a first-grade student, who walks with a satchel on his back from school down Masaryk Street in Choceň, across the bridge over the Tichá Orlice, then right along the castle park and river, across another bridge over the tracks, and then quickly home, to the house that stood next to the factory. The house and factory belonged to his father, a prominent figure in the town. And so, an unknown railway worker, who happened to share part of the journey with Jiří, said with admiration in his voice: "You were born lucky, boy. You come to a ready-made life." But the twentieth century in Czechoslovakia was just preparing its dark face of two totalities – and turned this prognosis of a comfortable life for Jiří Mráz completely upside down.