MERIEL SCHINDLER will share her journey in writing The Lost Café Schindler as she recounts the history of an extraordinary family. The Lost Café Schindler is a story of tragic loss—several of Meriel’s relatives disappeared in Terezín and Auschwitz—but also one of reclamation and reconciliation. Beautifully written, it is an unforgettable portrait of an era and a testament to the pull that family history has on future generations. She will share the narrative centering around the Café Schindler, the social hub of Innsbruck. Famous for its pastries, home-distilled liquors, live entertainment, and hospitality, the Café became an eyewitness to history. As conditions became untenable for Jews in Austria during the Nazi era, the Schindlers were forced to leave, and their café was expropriated. What had once been home to jazz and apple strudel was now a Nazi officers’ drinking club. As she unravels her family history, including the truth behind what happened on Kristallnacht when the Nazis beat her grandfather and left him for dead, Meriel Schindler also tells the untold story of the fate of the Jews of western Austria. She reconstructs the color and vibrancy of life in pre-war Innsbruck against the majestic backdrop of the Austrian Alps, as well as the rise of antisemitism and the Nazi occupation.