Věra Čechová

“During the Heydrich era they (the Nazis – ed. note) decided to be strict and remorseless. We, all the children, were sitting in the courtyard, that was nice how age was not important to us. Suddenly the gate opened and Gestapo officers walked in. Let me tell you that for a very long time I could not stand seeing those tall polished boots… We were sitting at the farthest point from the kitchen part of the courtyard which is where they were heading. I was seven years old. Some of the boys were older and said: “Shouldn’t you be going home?” And I was suddenly sort of stiff, couldn’t even stand up. But in fact I was used to my mother being taken to Garňák. And then my grandmother called out: “Come say goodbye to mum.” My mother was first transported to Olomouc where she was locked up for about a year. Then there were Svatobořice where they put women and the mothers and sisters of those who escaped.”

“They released women from Svatoborice and the (local – ed. note) people gave them places to sleep, gave them food, clothing, everything. And the women slowly went (home), some of them to Olomouc, some to Prostějov, some to Vary. There was always someone who’d help them on the way. And so my mother returned on Christmas Eve in 1944. There was someone banging on the store front again and we were wondering: “Who is there? Everyone knows you enter through the courtyard.” My grandmother, poor thing, as if she sensed something, she ran to the door. And mum entered. My mother, when she was imprisoned, she was missing a kidney. Back then that was it. The whole time my grandmother kept saying: “She will never come back, she only has one kidney.” She’d almost fooled us. My mother came back. Except her whole life, my mother had her hair dyed blond and now a dark-haired person showed up. We couldn’t recognise her at all. And she was unbelievably thin. Unfortunately that didn’t last long because my grandmother only fed her potatoes. She gained quite a bit of weight by May. Then when they met with my father he said: “Well, you look well.” He was afraid of saying she was fat. My mother couldn’t forgive him that.”