Weekly Book Discussion of “When Time Stopped” by Ariana Neumann with Dr. Josh Andy

Czech Embassy Series:Through this series, the Embassy of the Czech Republic brings a broad selection of Czech artists, intellectuals and professionals connected to Jewish life, history, art and culture to engage, educate and inspire audiences in the United States and beyond. The series will incorporate book talks, film screenings, lectures, musical performances, exhibitions, and more beginning June 1, 2021. Then on June 1 at 4:30 please join us for a discussion with the author, Ariana Neumann

About The Book
In this astonishing story that “reads like a thriller and is so, so timely” (BuzzFeed) Ariana Neumann dives into the secrets of her father’s past: “Like Anne Frank’s diary, it offers a story that needs to be told and heard” (Booklist, starred review).

In 1941, the first Neumann family member was taken by the Nazis, arrested in German-occupied Czechoslovakia for bathing in a stretch of river forbidden to Jews. He was transported to Auschwitz. Eighteen days later his prisoner number was entered into the morgue book.

Of thirty-four Neumann family members, twenty-five were murdered by the Nazis. One of the survivors was Hans Neumann, who, to escape the German death net, traveled to Berlin and hid in plain sight under the Gestapo’s eyes. What Hans experienced was so unspeakable that, when he built an industrial empire in Venezuela, he couldn’t bring himself to talk about it. All his daughter Ariana knew was that something terrible had happened.

When Hans died, he left Ariana a small box filled with letters, diary entries, and other memorabilia. Ten years later Ariana finally summoned the courage to have the letters translated, and she began reading. What she discovered launched her on a worldwide search that would deliver indelible portraits of a family loving, finding meaning, and trying to survive amid the worst that can be imagined.

Ariana Neumann was born and grew up in Venezuela. She has a BA in History and French Literature from Tufts University, an MA in Spanish and Latin American Literature from New York University and a PgDIP in Psychology of Religion from University of London. She previously was involved in publishing, worked as a foreign correspondent for Venezuela’s The Daily Journal and her writing also appeared in The European.

She currently lives in London with her husband, three children, a basset fauve de Bretagne, a border terrier and a rescue mutt.

This title is eligible for the CWB book reimbursement stipend for classroom educators only. (Up to $100 in a calendar year- participation in the program is required.)