Centropa Stories

We begin our walking tour and podcast in Belgrade’s  Kalemegdan, the ancient fortress peering out over the confluence of the  Sava and Danube Rivers. In her book, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon,  published in 1941, Dame Rebecca West provides us with a short history of  Kalemegdan —from the Romans to the Ottomans to the Serbs—and actor  Melanie Preston reads an excerpt for you.

As we walk down into Dorcol, Stefan Sablic—cantor of the Belgrade synagogue, Ladino singer and musician—will accompany us.

Kurt was obsessed with football (soccer). When the family fled to Riga  after 1938 and he became obsessed with Communism. Until a Red Army  soldier knocked on their door, ordered the family to follow him, and  sent them on a train to a gulag prison camp. “Communism,” Kurt said,  “You’re dead to me.”

narrated by David Horovitch.

Kitty Drill came from a family of cattle dealers and fruit sellers. When  the Germans occupied Austria, eight mem-bers of her family took a ship  down the Danube, another to Haifa, and ended up in a British prison in  the Indian Ocean.

Narrated by Julia Franklin. 

Heinz came from the only Jewish family in their village and got along  with everyone. Until Austria was subsumed into the Third Reich. A tale  of fleeing to Hungary for safety. Out of the frying pan and into the  fire.

Lilli was living in a small town when suddenly, all her non-Jewish  friends started avoiding her. Then came November 9th. Lilli’s parents  desperately looked for a way to save their daughter.

Narrated by Sara Kestelman.

Kitty’s father died of a heart attack well before the Germans marched  into Austria. After the Anschluss her brother fled and Kitty’s mother  took her to the station. “Don’t worry about me,” she said. “I’m the  widow of an army officer.”

Sophie was born into a wealthy family that would soon lose everything,  including the lives of her family. Just nine-years-old when her mother brought her to the train station, Sophie could only hope she’d see her mother again.

Narrated by Jilly Bond. 

Introduction to season two of CENTROPA STORIES

Edward Serotta

Between 2002 and 2009, Tanja Eckstein interviewed 77 elderly Jews here in Vienna. More than half of them had been born here, and were lucky enough to flee after the Germans occupied the country in 1938. Our academic intern Jackie Olson spent months reading through each one of them, then selected six interviews for us.

To bring these dramatic stories to life in our second podcast season, we turned to six actors in London and six here in Vienna. That means Fabio Gschweidl, our in-house programmer and designer, set up all 12 episodes while Patrick Schmid, our resident podcast producer, created the music and sound design. Patrick was assisted by Ivo Spassov in Sofia. This season of CENTROPA STORIES was made possible by the Austrian Federal Chancellery and the Jack Buncher Foundation of Pittsburgh.

narrated by:

Wendy Goldman

Historian Wendy Goldman of Carnegie Mellon on the Soviet Union and the home front during the war.

Read Feiga Kil’s Centropa biography and see her pictures here.

narrated by:

Sara Kestelman

Isaac  Aizman was a neurosurgeon in Riga. His wife Tobe-Leya remained at home  raising four children. When war came, Dr Aizman was conscriopted into  the Soviet Army. He told his wife to flee eastward. She hesitated. And  that would cost them all.

Read Feiga Kil’s Centropa biography and see her pictures here.