Thirty-five homes and one typewriter

Historian Jiří Padevět interviews writer and actor Ivan Kraus. This “small-theatre actor” was born during the war to a Jewish father, whom he only met after his return from Auschwitz. He experienced the absurdities of the dark 1950s and the formative years of his military service. From a young age, he worked with many theatre companies and was fortunate enough to perform in both Paris and Los Angeles. In 1968, he and his wife, Naďa Munzarová, escaped the totalitarian regime and began the difficult life of an emigrant in Western countries. In the book, he recalls a host of Czech cultural figures he met at home and abroad.