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'‘In fifty years…nobody will then know anything about our troubles.’
'1939: Paul Kurz ― engineer, refugee from Vienna and Dunera Boy ― is separated from his wife, Paula, and his mother at the outbreak of World War II and interned in Australia.
'Late 1960s: an Australian student from an Irish Catholic family railing against his alcoholic father, struggling with his religious upbringing and coming to terms with his sexuality strikes up a profound friendship with Paul, two generations older.
'Decades after Paul’s death, he pieces together Paul’s incredible story from surviving family letters, and travels to Vienna to discover Paul’s history and that of the city ― its beauty, its violence, its cruelty, what Paul loved and how he suffered there. The letters reveal Paul’s heartbreaking separation from Paula, his life in exile in England and Australia, his desperate attempts to reconnect with his wife and the eventual fateful outcome.
'This lyrical, poignant account combines memoir, biography and history to explore the enduring influence of one elderly Holocaust survivor and the intergenerational impact of the famed Dunera.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Labour of Love : Uncovering and Understanding a Family Story
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January - February no. 461 2024; (p. 36)
— Review of Paul and Paula 2024 single work biography 'In Working: Researching, interviewing, writing, published in 2019, the great biographer Robert A. Caro tells of his writing methods and the lengths to which he goes to gain a better understanding of his subject. Reading Tim McNamara’s Paul and Paula, I was reminded of Caro’s way of research and writing and of his determination to place himself in his subject’s milieu. McNamara spent considerable time in Vienna researching Paul and Paula, stalking the streets for clues, and his efforts show. He writes with verve about the book’s three main characters – Paul Kurz and his wife, Paula, and the city of Vienna, before and during the Nazi occupation – and his search to uncover and understand their stories.'(Introduction)
-
Labour of Love : Uncovering and Understanding a Family Story
2024
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , January - February no. 461 2024; (p. 36)
— Review of Paul and Paula 2024 single work biography 'In Working: Researching, interviewing, writing, published in 2019, the great biographer Robert A. Caro tells of his writing methods and the lengths to which he goes to gain a better understanding of his subject. Reading Tim McNamara’s Paul and Paula, I was reminded of Caro’s way of research and writing and of his determination to place himself in his subject’s milieu. McNamara spent considerable time in Vienna researching Paul and Paula, stalking the streets for clues, and his efforts show. He writes with verve about the book’s three main characters – Paul Kurz and his wife, Paula, and the city of Vienna, before and during the Nazi occupation – and his search to uncover and understand their stories.'(Introduction)
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Vienna,
cAustria,cWestern Europe, Europe,
- 1939
- 1965-1969
