On Saturday, Czech writer Arnost Lustig lost his five-year battle with cancer, dying peacefully at the age of 84 (1926-2011).
- Arnost Lustig (1926-2011)
Lustig’s works centred mostly around his experiences from the holocaust, as he had survived a stay at the infamous Auschwitz camp, among others, before escaping from a train in 1945 that was transporting him to Dachau.
Lustig grew up in Prague, but left his beloved home town in 1968 as the Russian tanks moved in. He emigrated to America, only to return after the 1989 Velvet Revolution.
His better known novels include A Prayer for Katerina Horowitzova, Darkness Casts No Shadow and Lovely Green Eyes, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 2003 .