Secrets of a suitcase

How the nobility disappeared from Central Europe.

​

In 2004 Pauline Terreehorst bid on a suitcase at Sotheby's. It turns out to contain postcards from a mother and daughter who lived in a castle below Salzburg between 1900 and 1940.

The mother was a wealthy Silesian heiress, who made her castle a museum. Her name was Margarethe Szapáry-Henckel von Donnersmarck. She lost most of her fortune during the First World War. What's even worse is that she made a young boy jealous during his vacations in the early 20th century. His name was Hermann Göring. 

 

Secrets of a Suitcase opens a door to a world that disappeared. To noble families who lived on large estates in Central Europe, where the discovery of coal and iron led to fortunes. And to people who had to change from monarchist to German or European.

​

watch here illustrations that accompany the book Secrets of a Suitcase. 

​

Secrets of a suitcase will be published in the fall of 2024 at Hurst Publishers London.