Lidé milují Židy mrtvé

Dara Hornová is known as a writer, but also as an author of insightful essays. After years of being asked by major newspapers and magazines to write about topics related to Jewish culture, she realized what all these assignments had in common: she was supposed to write about dead Jews, never about living ones. In these essays, Horn reflects on such disparate topics as the worldwide deification of Anne Frank, the mythology of changing Jewish names on Ellis Island, the spectacular traveling exhibition of Auschwitz, the promotion of Jewish culture in Charbin, China, and the little-known life of "righteous Negro" Varian Fry, who helped save Arendt, Mahler, Werfel, Chagall, Feuchtwanger, and many other intellectuals from the Nazis. His often sarcastic writing confirms the vitality, complexity and depth of Jewish life in the face of anti-Semitism, which, far from being disarmed by the mantra "We will never forget", is on the rise. The engaging texts invite the reader to consider why we are so fascinated by past Jewish tragedies and why we have so little respect for Jewish lives unfolding in the present. A painfully timely read.

Czech edition