Silence Finally Speaks: Discovering My Mother's Secret Past as a Holocaust Survivor

Eighty years after WWII, the Holocaust still harbors dark and horrible secrets, some forever buried with its victims. Silence Finally Speaks was almost such a story, lost if not for the tenacity of one mother's son, determined to learn the truth that had been kept from him and his siblings their entire lives: As a young girl in 1942, Hana Kleinova had been displaced from her home in Prague and imprisoned with other Jewish victims under the crushing Nazi occupation of the Terezin Ghetto in Czechoslovakia. How did she manage to survive in a place of fear and death? How did her turbulent life unfold after her return? Why was Hana the initiator of the family's exodus to Switzerland in 1968? And why did she refuse to tell her children about her past? It was only after Hana's passing, in 1998, that her eldest son, Frank Fristensky, unexpectedly discovered the truth, setting out on a personal quest to unearth the terrible history his mother had never shared. Through an incredible set of connections, coincidences, and personal commitment, Frank managed to create this compelling story. He collected archival material, documents, photos, and organized interviews in the Czech Republic, Switzerland, the US, Israel, and Ecuador. He found the women who knew his mother from the Terezin Ghetto or shared a room with her. From the memories of the survivors and the documents, he provides a comprehensive story of his mother's life before the war, in the Terezin Ghetto, and shortly after liberation until her family emigrated to Switzerland in 1968. A remarkable tale about a remarkable woman, the buried truths of her life unearthed by a devoted son.

About the Author :
Frank Fristensky was born in November 1948 in Olomouc (former Czechoslovakia) as the first son of Hana Kleinova and Jaromir Fristensky. He is the grandson of Frantisek Fristensky, a well-known professional Greco-Roman wrestler, later a landowner, and brother of the more famous Gustav Fristensky, also a professional wrestler. Frank graduated from the Technical College in Valasske Mezirici in 1968. Following the Soviet led invasion of Czechoslovakia in August of 1968, he emigrated with his parents and two young brothers to Switzerland. There, Frank was the first student from the Eastern Bloc countries to graduate from the National Sports Institute. In 1978, he moved to the US, serving as the head volleyball coach at The American University, and then in 1982, in the same capacity, at Eastern Michigan University. In 1996, his family moved to Durango, Colorado, where he first taught physical education at Fort Lewis College and later operated fitness centers specializing in personal training. Since 2018, Frank and his wife Victoria have lived in the Czech Republic. Their three children, Hana, Misha, and Nadia, live in the US. After his mother's death in 1998, Frank believed it was his mission to tell his mother's and her family's story.