Juliet Rieden is a newspaper and magazine journalist raised in Surrey in the UK.
When she was a child she knew never to ask why there weren’t any uncles, aunts or cousins on her father’s Czech side of the family.
She understood her father had been taken from Prague to the UK as a child refugee a week before the Nazis arrived, but she knew little else about his early life.
In midlife Juliet is prompted to trace the fate of his extended family after seeing the family name written many times over on the Pinkas Synagogue memorial in Prague.
Her extensive research uncovers the story of nineteen of his relatives, who passed through Theresienstad and Auschwitz.
From first-hand testimonials, letters, official records, and dogged investigation, Juliet digs out stories of heartbreak; strange, conditional charity; and of kindness and bravery.
Listen to this episode of the Conversations program on ABC radio.