Joanie Schirm
Joanie Schirm won the 2013 Global Ebook Award for Best Biography for her book: Adventurers Against Their Will. Potomac Books will publish the second book, her father’s epic WWII tale, My Dear Boy: A World War II Story of Escape, Exile, and Revelation on March 1, 2019. Joanie is an award-winning writer, photographer, community activist, and retired Orlando, Florida businesswoman. The daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Oswald Holzer, she grew up on a sandy barrier island on the Space Coast of Florida, a place where extraordinary memories are made and pelicans soar. A sought after public speaker, she is internationally known for her highly successful leadership role in Orlando’s hosting of FIFA’s 1994 World Cup USA 1994. She is the proud parent of two adult children, Kelly and Derick, and lives in Orlando with her husband, Roger Neiswender. Her books can be purchased here.
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Secret History: The O. A. Holzer Medical Center
In a world where caring for our one human family matters more than ever, Gordon Patterson, Florida Institute of Technology History Professor, captures the spirit of my dad’s meaningful life in a short article written for the Florida Tech “Secret Histories” series: The O. A. Holzer Medical Center. https://adastra.fit.edu/blog/campus/secret-history/secret-history-the-oswald-holzer-medical-center/ Driven by his father’s last wish…
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RARE EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT IN OLD LETTER DETAILS SHANGHAI ARRIVAL 80 YEARS AGO
RARE EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT IN OLD LETTER DETAILS MY FATHER’S ARRIVAL IN SHANGHAI, CHINA 80 YEARS AGO – JULY 5, 1939 After escaping Hitler’s growing threat in his occupied Czech homeland, and traveling nearly 10,000 nautical miles from Marseille, France, Oswald “Valdik” Holzer, on July 5, 1939, reached Shanghai. My father was a 28-year-old physician in a…
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Setting the Voices Free – Part Two – Tom Weiss
Setting the Voices Free Part 2 in the Series As the years slipped away during the writing of My Dear Boy, one thing became crystal clear. My journey of research and writing was dramatically enhanced by the people who often serendipitously came aboard for the ride and then remained my friends to the journey’s end.…
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A Last Goodbye – 80 years ago
Learn from the past. Change the future. On this day 80 years ago, May 21, 1939, my twenty-seven-year-old Czech Jewish father, Oswald “Valdik” Holzer said his last good-bye to his parents at the Prague railway station. After Nazi-occupation and persecution, dad was driven from his native land. His 1st port of refuge was Shanghai, China.…
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World War I begins for USA, April 6, 1917 – My Bohemian Czech Grandfather Arnost Holzer already serving on the Russian front
April 6, 1917 – The USA entered ‘the great war,’ later named World War I. By then, my Bohemian Czech grandfather Arnošt Holzer was already embroiled having joined in 1915 the infantry regiment #102 in his Bohemian town of Benešov where he was sent by the Austro-Hungarian army to the eastern front. Arnošt became a prisoner…
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“The Family Mystery That Turned Into a Global Quest.”
As the Growing Bolder media video headline describes, “The Family Mystery That Turned Into a Global Quest,” my life has been a search for understanding over the past decade. “It’s not the “retirement” Joanie Schirm imagined. A family mystery turned into a global quest, a journey of discovery, and a personal transformation into an internationally respected…
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MY DEAR BOY book launch reminds me why I do what I do.
March 1, 2019, was the launch of my new book, MY DEAR BOY: A World War II Story of Escape, Exile, and Revelation. MY DEAR BOY’s World War II story of escape, exile, and revelation is an inspirational account of my Czech dad’s survival during wartime, a cinematic epic spanning multiple continents, a love story,…
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Original Famous Czech Artist Adolf Hoffmeister Poster Travels Home to Prague
Adolf Hoffmeister’s original poster of Hitler was discovered in 2000 in Florida by Joanie Holzer Schirm in the belongings of her Czech-American father Oswald “Valdik” Holzer after his death. The red and black, 17” x 24” poster, drawn circa 1940 before the United States entered World War II, features Adolf Hitler with his arms raised…
