For my children and grandchildren. Thanks to Cy who suggested that I do this and for doing it and Jake who helped.
My name is Dorit Elise Grant (nee Dorita Kastnerova). I am the sole survivor of my family line and I thought it important to tell the story about my family so that our name will not be completely erased from the world’s memory bank. I also see it as essential that my grandchildren learn about their origins from their grand-mother’s side. They already know their grand-father’s story which, although he came from the other side of the world, bears an uncanny parallel to mine. They may then learn to understand the world in which they live, the racial, religious and cultural differences and conflict that has led it to be constantly at war with itself. It may help shape their choices as human beings and how they may learn to live in harmony with the earth and find peace in their lives.
I was born into a well-to-do Jewish family on July 8 1927 in the small but beautiful town of Teplice in the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. Teplice is situated in the plain of the Bílina river, which separates the Ore Mountains from the Czech Central Mountains. It was one of the most famous spa towns in Europe with thermal springs fabled to have been discovered as early as 762*. Sudetenland was home to about three million ethnic Germans; whilst it is estimated that before World War 2, there were only approximately three hundred and fifty thousand Jews in the whole of Czechoslovakia. They, however, enjoyed the same civil rights and religious freedom as all other Czech citizens. Teplice had its own thriving theatre, a promenade with smart shops, beautiful parks and Synagogue.
