Secrets of a Suitcase: The Countess, the Nazis, and Middle Europe's Lost Nobility

These unexpected family treasures open a window onto a lost world. The Szapárys’ social, cultural and political landscape disappeared in the upheavals that seized Europe during the first half of the twentieth century—a time when borders were redrawn, old cities received new names, communities changed loyalties, and the transnational, monarchist aristocrats of Middle Europe had to decide whether to become Germans under Nazi rule.

What did Margarethe choose, when her neighbour Hermann Göring came knocking? What were the consequences for her and her children? And how did her family’s suitcase cross war-torn Europe and survive decades of rupture to end up in Terreehorst’s hands?