They would even search our baby beds
Jana Chvojková, née Žaludová, was born on November 21st 1937 in Benešov near Prague (Praha). She grew up in Slovakia, the country her family had to leave in 1939 following the breakup of Czehcolsovakia and establishment of the fascist Slovak State. During the war, the family had been living in Kasejovice and later in Prague (Praha); the witness recalls the February 1945 air raids. In 1946, the family moved to Jáchymov, where her father got a job as the deputy director at the local mines. Two years later, they moved to Kutná Hora. Her father, Antonín Žalud, had been arrested by the Secret Police (StB) and sentenced due to his acctivites in Jáchymov. He had been imprisoned in Leopoldov, Klatovy and in Opava where he got seriously ill. Later, he took his own life. After that, his wife wasn´t allow to collect his remains. Due to her father´s imprisonment, Jana wasn´t allowed to study. Since 1949, she was a Scot troop member, but soon after she joined, the Scouting movement had been banned by the Communist government. She has been meeting her firends from the troop ever since.