This is a story of two wars, the Second World War and the ensuing Cold War, and of people overwhelmed by the onrush of greater events. Following WWII, Europe was awash with refugees. The newly emerging Cold War cut short the euphoria of victory over the Nazis as the Iron Curtain slammed shut. Three years after the war, there were still more than 800,000 refugees in 370 camps in the three Occupation Zones of Germany, and 25 in Italy. The Czechs and Slovaks escaping the communist regime following a coup d’etat in 1948 and hoping to join a patriotic legion they believed was being formed in the American Occupational Zone of Germany by an exiled Czech general were an unexpected mix in this volatile cauldron. The story follows the protagonist through the two wars.
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