Historic tale of Prague palace a page-turner

Account of five extraordinary lives makes for moving reading

THE LAST PALACE Norman Elsen Loot.co.za (R453) HEADLINE

THE United States ambassadorial residence in Prague is an extraordinary 148-roomed mansion built in the late 1920s, during the brief flowering of the first Republic of Czechoslovakia, by Otto Petschek.

The Petscheks were a Germanspeaking Jewish family, and their huge wealth was in large part from coal mine holdings and banking.

In January 2011, Norman Eisen took up the post of US Ambassador to the Czech Republic – a posting that resonated with the Eisen family as his mother Freida had fled Prague after the Holocaust.

Eisen was startled to discover swastikas beneath the furniture in the palace: “I decided to have another look at that swastika… there was another older mark… and there was another newer number too: the US government property number.

“Before my eyes was the story of the past century in the palace. I was determined to learn more about every aspect of those who had come before me in the palace.”

In The Last Palace, he gives an engrossing account of the people who lived in Petschek’s Villa before him.

Otto Petschek who built the palace; Rudolf Toussaint, the conflicted Nazi general who put his life at risk for the house during World War II; Laurence Steinhardt, the first post-war US ambassador, struggling to save both the palace and Prague from communist hands; Hollywood child star-turned-diplomat Shirley Temple Black, who fought to end totalitarianism; and Eisen’s own mother, whose life demonstrates how those without power and privilege move through history.

The stories of each of these five and their part in Czech and European history make for fascinating reading.

Eisen has done a masterful job in the depths of his research and the way he brings the histories to vivid life.

My highlight was the creative vision and dogged persistence of Petschek to deliver his “dream” residence, and reading about Czechoslovakian life in the early 20th century – a weighty prelude to a superbly detailed journey through a century.

Also, to discover the bravery with which Shirley Temple Black used her celebrity to advance the cause of democracy.

And the broad sweep of the period of history covered: turbulent at times, peaceful at others, and an ongoing quest for democracy.

Norman Eisen’s family story adds a heart-warming human touch to this remarkable book. His treatment of his material and writing style make the sometimes heady subject approachable.

The Last Palace is a history book that is both engrossing and ultimately entertaining. History books are not often page-turners, but this one is.