Pulling Back the Iron Curtain: A Discussion with Joseph P. O’Donnell

Pulling Back the Iron Curtain: A Discussion with Joseph P. O’Donnell

From All Rise Boston with Diane Godfrey by Diane Godfrey

July 13, 2023 · 28 min

About this episode

Diane Godfrey interviews Joseph P. O’Donnell about his latest memoir detailing the harrowing escape of a young athlete from Communist Czechoslovakia.

We’re going “off road” to talk again with the writer Joseph P. O’Donnell. He is the author of the successful 2022 memoir of E. Steven Sachs, “Living On the Fringe of the Mob”, which we talked about on February 5, 2023. Joseph’s latest project was to put down on paper the gripping true story told to him by Daniel Kolmann, a gifted young athlete born in 1948 in Communist-occupied Czechoslovakia. Daniel was removed from his family at age twelve and forced to live in a Russian-controlled sports camp where he was trained for six hours a day, seven days a week to be a soccer star, and allowed to see his parents only once a month. As Daniel grew up, his yearning for freedom led to a nail-biting, death-defying escape. Daniel told his exciting life story to Joseph, who captured it in “ Run for My Life”, published this past February. We will talk with Joseph about his craft and about the crimes of the Communist regime that trampled over human rights with impunity.

People in this episode

Host: Diane Godfrey

Guest: Joseph P. O’Donnell

Topics covered

  • memoir
  • Communism
  • human rights
  • sports
  • escape story
  • true crime

Keywords

  • Joseph P. O’Donnell
  • Daniel Kolmann
  • Communist regime
  • human rights
  • memoir
  • sports camp
  • escape

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Living On the Fringe of the Mob, Run for My Life

Places: Czechoslovakia

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