Content Warning: This study guide and the memoir contain references to antisemitism and violence, as well as descriptions of conditions in a concentration camp during the Nazi holocaust.

Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941-1968, a memoir by Heda Margolius Kovály, was first published under this title in 1986. The memoir was originally published in Czech as Na vlastní kůži (On your own skin) in 1973, by 68 Publishers, an independent press operated by and for the Czech expatriate community in Toronto, Canada. In the same year, an English translation of the first part of the book was published by Horizon Press, in New York, as The Victors and the Vanquished. Heda Margolius Kovály was a Czech writer, editor, and translator. In addition to Under a Cruel Star, she is the author of the 1985 crime novel Innocence; or, Murder on Steep Street and the coauthor, with the filmmaker Helena Třeštíková, of Hitler, Stalin, and I: An Oral History, first published in 2018.

Summary

The memoir begins in Prague during World War II. After the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, Heda and her family are sent to a ghetto, and, later, to concentration camps in Poland. Both Heda’s mother and father perish, but Heda manages to escape and she makes her way back to Prague. Once there, she realizes that even old friends are reluctant to risk their safety to help her.

This climate of isolation, fear, and antisemitism wounds Heda deeply, and she spends her time in hiding until the end of the war. Once the war ends, she is reunited with Rudolf Margolius, her childhood lover. They are soon married and have a child named Ivan. Rudolf becomes very involved with the Communist Party. He is idealistic and motivated, and he finds success when he is appointed cabinet chief in the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Soon, arrests begin to take place, and most result in execution or life imprisonment. Heda, who has long viewed communism skeptically, begins to fear for Rudolf. Rudolf, however, is unconcerned.

In early 1952, Rudolf is arrested. He is charged for his supposed involvement in Rudolf Slánský’s conspiracy against the Czechoslovak Republic. Heda’s husband Rudolf did not have any contact with Slánský, but this fact does not prevent him from being found guilty. While awaiting the verdict, Heda suffers greatly; she is unwell and isolated in impoverished conditions as her former friends gossip about her reduced status. A year later, Heda learns that Rudolf has been sentenced to death.

Heda visits Rudolf before his execution. During their heartfelt exchange, Rudolf instructs her to marry again, which she does shortly afterward. She marries Pavel Kovály, and she achieves some stability in a new profession, learning that she has a gift for translating. In 1968, Heda participates in the Prague Spring, an uprising by the citizens of Czechoslovakia against Soviet rule. This uprising is soon squashed, however, and the memoir ends when Heda leaves the country by train.