2021 ABQ Jewish Book Fest Presents

Meriel Schindler | The Lost Café Schindler

Virtual at the J and at home

at JCC of Greater ABQ

October 31, 2021 10:00 am - 11:30 am
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Time: 10:00am     Day: Sunday     Doors: 9:45am     Ages: All Ages     Price: $10

All Associated Events

2021 ABQ Jewish Book Fest Series Pass
October 17 - November 14, 2021
Joshua Greene | Unstoppable
October 17, 2021 10:00 am - 11:30 pm
David Grossman | More Than I Love My Life
October 20, 2021 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Annabelle Gurwitch | You're Leaving When?
October 21, 2021 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Jean Hanff Korelitz | The Plot
October 24, 2021 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Rachael Cerrotti | We Share the Same Sky
October 28, 2021 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Meriel Schindler | The Lost Café Schindler
October 31, 2021 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Yaniv Iczkovits | The Slaughterman's Daughter
November 7, 2021 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Judy Batalion | The Light of Days
November 14, 2021 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
This Event Has Ended

Virtual at the J and at-home

 

“Rigorously researched, The Lost Café Schindler successfully weaves together a compelling and at times deeply moving memoir and family history that also chronicles the wider story of the Jews of the Austro-Hungarian Empire... It distinguishes itself through its combination of mystery and reconciliation.” -- The London Times 


Kurt Schindler was an impossible man. His daughter Meriel spent her adult life trying to keep him at bay. Kurt had made extravagant claims about their family history. Were they really related to Franz Kafka and Oscar Schindler, of Schindler's List fame? Or Hitler's Jewish doctor - Dr Bloch? What really happened on Kristallnacht, the night that Nazis beat Kurt's father half to death and ransacked the family home? When Kurt died in 2017, Meriel felt compelled to resolve her mixed feelings about him, and to solve the mysteries he had left behind.


Starting with photos and papers found in Kurt's isolated cottage, Meriel embarked on a journey of discovery taking her to Austria, Italy and the USA. She reconnected family members scattered by feuding and war. She pieced together an extraordinary story taking in two centuries, two world wars and a family business: the famous Café Schindler. Launched in 1922 as an antidote to the horrors of the First World War, this grand café became the whirling social centre of Innsbruck. And then the Nazis arrived. Through the story of the Café Schindler and the threads that spool out from it, this moving book weaves together memoir, family history and an untold story of the Jews of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It explores the restorative power of writing, and offers readers a profound reflection on memory, truth, trauma and the importance of cake.

 

Meriel Schindler is an employment lawyer, partner, and head of a team at the law firm Withers LLP, and is a trustee of the writing charity Arvon. She lives in London with her husband, Jeremy, and has three adult children. 

                                                                                                                                                  

This event is presented in collaboration with the the Jewish Book Council. Meriel will present her book and answer questions. To purchase books in advance, our bookstore partners online: Bookworks (4022 Rio Grande Blvd NW) and Page 1 Books (5850 Eubank Blvd NE). 

Tickets:  In-Person $10/advance; $12/door; Virtual $10

Questions? Call 332-0565 x 1007 or email mayas@jccabq.org