Last Jew in Prague
by Colin J. Cohen
While struggling to survive a freezing rainy night in the
desert, a homeless man recalls what his grandfather Hermann struggled to
survive many years earlier and how his connection to this so upended his own
life.
Hermann was once the best police detective in Prague's Jewish district of
Josefov. But after the Nazis occupy the city and deport its Jews, he finds himself
in Theresienstadt concentration camp waiting his turn to die. Then one night he
receives a visit from an SS captain named Klaus, who had been his friend in
college before their falling-out over Hermann's future wife Ana. Klaus offers
Hermann his freedom if he can find who murdered three SS officers found near
synagogues in Josefov, and he threatens to shoot him if he refuses.
Not believing the offer and reeling from the recent loss of Ana, Hermann only
agrees to help because of a promise he had made to Ana. But as he delves into
the case, he feels it's leading him somewhere and becomes driven to solve it.
The two men, in spite of tensions that are always threatening to boil over,
uncover the pursuit of a mysterious object hidden beneath the synagogues, which
leads them toward both the killer and Hermann's fate.
A novel that blends historical fiction, mystery, and
magic realism, Last Jew in Prague is about lifting yourself up when all
you want to do is keep falling. But it's more than just a novel.
I was once a successful urban professional. I also worked in Prague for many
years, where I became immersed in the history, culture, and language of the
people there. In recent years, though, I've struggled with homelessness in the
deserts of California. This story has helped inspire me forward, and I hope you
find it just as inspiring.
You can download the eBook for free at my website, and you can listen to the
audiobook for free at Spotify
Excerpt
I was thinking about this
and him on a freezing rainy night in the desert as I rolled myself into a tight
ball under my tattered and soaked sleeping bag. While clutching an old brass
compass in front of the canyon soaring over me, I saw how my struggles had been
so entwined with his, even if mine weren’t nearly as overwhelming.
He first told me about his on the
night of my bar mitzvah, days after I had turned thirteen and after many
years of prodding him to tell me about his time during the war and having no
expectation he would. When we came home on that day I had come of age, with one
of his gentle smiles he led me through our home and into the living room, where
I sat on the sofa and watched him start a fire. As he finally let me into his
world, I loosened my tie and found myself drifting forward, unaware of how the
story unfolding before me would upend my life.
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