SHEFFIELD AUTHORS
- Stories "Made in Sheffield"
Michael Lewis
Michael grew up in Belfast. His father, the subject of this book, was a refugee and his mother was a Holocaust survivor. After reading Modern Languages at Oxford, he trained as a teacher at York University. He taught in four comprehensive schools in England for 35 years, the last twenty of which were as the headteacher of King Edward VII School in Sheffield. Flight from Prague is his first book.
On the night of 30 September 1938, as German troops cross the border into Czechoslovakia, Jewish businessman Harry Lewy has only hours to decide: stay and risk persecution, or leave behind everything he knows. What follows is a perilous journey from the Sudetenland across Nazi Germany and war‑torn Europe, in search of safety and a future that is far from guaranteed.
In Flight From Prague, his son Michael Lewis reconstructs Harry’s flight and the fragile new life he builds in Belfast, drawing on family memories, interviews, letters and archival records. This deeply researched non‑fiction narrative brings to life the tramlines and stations of Central Europe, the quiet terror of border crossings, and the small acts of kindness that keep hope alive.
As Harry rebuilds his world in a foreign country – later reunited with his childhood sweetheart, dancer and Holocaust survivor Helen Lewis (née Helena Katz) – he must come to terms with what has been lost and what it means to be labelled a “refugee” forever.
In connection with the book Michael offers an illustrated talk called "The Refugee and the Survivor - a family story". In this presentation he interweaves the story of his father, the refugee, and his mother, a Holocaust survivor, whose own memoir, A Time to Speak, was first published by Blackstaff in 1992.
Forthcoming engagements include :
- key-note address for Holocaust Memorial Day at Quad Arts Centre, Derby at 19.30 on Tuesday 27 January 2026
- presentation at Sheffield Central Library at 18.00 on Wednesday 28 January 2026
- presentation at the National Holocaust Centre, Laxton, Newark on Sunday 21 June
Michael can be contacted on
