Rarely does one person’s family history intersect dramatically with a country’s momentous events. In Where Is My Home? A Refugee Journey, Miriam Potocky-Tripodi describes the Czech Republic’s decades-long struggle for freedom and how it affected her own life. Only after the fall of Communism in 1989 could the author reclaim her homeland by visiting Prague and discovering her Czech heritage. This family history, written with both poignancy and unwavering honesty, is the story of how the Nazi and Soviet invaders tried to destroy the soul of the Czech people. Yet the story also contains vignettes of triumph, from the author’s father’s defiance of Communist officials to an uncle’s dreams of escape.
Like Czech history, this family account has moments of aching sadness. The author relates how she searched for any scrap of information about her grandparents, who were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Yet, this book also reveals glimpses of radiance, from a painter’s sly humor to the author's feelings of connection to her fellow Czechs.
Can an exile ever return home after decades of living in America? This difficult question reverberates throughout this book, leaving the reader with a richer understanding of Czech history and one person's quest for self-identity.
