Jarmila Černá

* 1931

  • “We had to be in the basement for the last three days, because, actually, two days. We moved to the Brno tunnel, which connects Černá pole towards Soběšice, so there is a tunnel there, we moved there. And that's where the Soviet soldiers came, that is, the Russian soldiers, so they liberated us there, so to say. And as soon as the Russian soldiers were there, we went home. We went home via Husovice, as I remember today, to a hill where there was a cemetery on one side, and we went up like that and here was Provazníková, where we lived. So, it wasn't far, it was about a quarter of an hour. But along the way we saw dead soldiers. On the ground, of course, after the fights, and I remember that, and my mother was very grateful to me for that when my father told her, because all four of us went, brother, me, father and mother. As we walked past the dead soldiers, dad did like this to mum, or I, we covered her eyes like that so she couldn't see the soldiers. Because mom would probably pass out. She was very sensitive.”

  • "I was enthusiastic about the Red Cross, I started at the gymnasium at the age of eighteen, when a lady came to us in Brno and agreed with the principal that she would visit the classes. She came to class and said: 'I'm from the Red Cross, we do first aid courses, the so-called...' Hey, I don't know anymore, it's out of my head now, never mind. 'First aid courses, we are recruiting blood donors.' And the third thing, I think it was the two things. Well, I came home to ask at home that the parents must agree. So, I was eighteen, right? I started the octave at eighteen and until nineteen. Just as I came home and excitedly unloaded - the lady was there and so on. I say, go to the course, yes, of course you can. And as for donating blood, no, it wouldn't do you any good, you're going to be a mom one day and you really don't know what it's going to do and so on. It's developing now, I know, and mom and dad said no. Okay, so I signed up for the course, I did the 20-hour basic course first, I liked it. So I had another course for medical groups, where we also did competitions and various stuff like that. And then I even did a course for volunteer nurses."

  • “Well, the Slovak state practically wanted to be clean - without any Jews or Czechs. And they also shouted it when the parades went by. I remember that - parades passed around our barracks, we lived in the so-called legio houses, because my father was a legionnaire, so he got an apartment there. And around our barracks there were simply processions shouting: 'Czechs, Jews, out! Czechs, Jews, out!' And they also sang: 'For twenty years they have annoyed us with Czech, cut and cut into blood, it won't be the first time. As long as the Slovak is the master in Slovakia!' That's the only thing I remember. Otherwise, I don't remember how it started, yeah.”

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Praha, 07.04.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 02:19:13
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu The Stories of Our Neigbours
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

I was excited about the Red Cross

Jarmila Černá (en)
Jarmila Černá (en)
zdroj: archiv pamětnice

Jarmila Černá was born on May 27, 1931 in Žilina, Slovakia. But after the declaration of the Slovak state, she and her family had to move out of Slovakia, because her father was Czech. She continued her schooling in Brno, where she eventually graduated. She has been active in the Red Cross since the age of eighteen, where she has also been employed since the 1960s. In 1968, her brother emigrated to Germany, due to which the family experienced various inconveniences. In 2022, she lived in Prague.