The Man with a Beautiful Smile

This is a STORY OF A SHOAH SURVIVOR from Prague, a man who lost his whole family during the Holocaust and fled his homeland when the totalitarian Communist regime took over in Czechoslovakia in 1948.

This is a LOVE STORY that lasted 67 years, beginning after the end of World War II. This is a story of a man who dedicated his whole life to the well-being and happiness of his beloved wife Eva, also a Holocaust survivor.

This is a STORY OF A JEWISH IMMIGRANT in the Trump era – one who is convinced that today’s America is not the America of where he arrived in 1949 following the AMERICAN DREAM. A man who became a successful American footwear company executive, a widely respected New Yorker, and a businessman who travelled the world.

This is a STORY OF AN ALMOST 100-YEAR-OLD SENIOR LIVING IN MANHATTAN, a story about personal history, memories and aging. It is a story of everyday struggles that come with advanced age. It is also a story of vanishing old New York. It encourages one to think about the values prevalent in the world today. Most of all it is an uncommonly inspirational and heartening tale.

This is also part of MY OWN STORY. My name is Monika Hankova, and I have spent a couple of years staying at the Fifth Avenue apartment, sharing it with this man with a beautiful smile. A man with a big heart, a generosity of spirit, and a tremendous sense of humor, who approached this world with a great portion of human kindness and wisdom. A man who profoundly touched my life.