"He was a tradesman. A former Agrarian and current National Socialist - in Klatovy they won the first elections. And I went to the polls, too. The one who lived next to us was an ultra-communist, a coachman by profession. He was such a vengeful dick, he had a Napoleonic complex and he had it in for us. He was a juror at the election, and he was not ashamed to stand up, and he came up indiscriminately beside me, watching what I was doing there and how I was casting the ballot there. It could have been empty, or I didn't have to cast it at all."
In the year 48 they closed it, took his car and gave it to the city council. No refund, of course. And they would come to us. Every time Dad was locked up, a police check came and they searched the apartment. Mom was hiding supplies, and she was alone in the house when Dad was locked up. For example, they had a supply of sugar when they were still in business, so they had, for example, half a large bag of sugar. And because they would declare it a criminal act, she didn't know what to do with it. She was desperate. The Kovaříks lived next door, their boy was an electrician, and my mother and his mother talked about the searches and that they were trying to make it a criminal offense. The boy heard it and took the supplies home with him. We really appreciated that there were people who were not afraid. "
"Then, when the Jews became threatened in the 38th and 39th years, the rich Jews knew it and left. There was a Wiener shirt factory and those Wieners ... well, all the Jews were rich. Few Jews were poor. I only know of one and it was a bit of a nut, he was collecting leather. He was the only poor Jew, named Benda whom I had feared as a child. He was the only poor Jew in Klatovy. Otherwise rich, factories, business. There were the Brumls, they had a blanket factory by the station, then there was Singer, a leather factory ... and the Wieners, they sold their things in advance, like cutlery, glass, dinnerware ... without saying anything, apparently they knew they were running away. And apparently they ran away. I don't know how it turned out for them. Mom bought some glass from them. "
"There was one street in Klatovy and there was a classy confectionery. It smelled so nice... My uncle worked opposite, in a bank, and I wasn't lazy and I went there straight from school every day. He gave me a crown and for that crown I received one whipped cream roll in the confectionery. So I was a fan of cream candies. When the Germans came, Hitler made a 1:10 currency reform. One mark was for ten crowns. So the Germans received ten whipped cream rolls for one mark. They ate until they really vomited. They were constantly bringing their backpacks and probably taking it home. There was massive unemployment in Germany prior, and there must have been poverty. We were really a developed country, we really had everything, in the First Republic, after the First World War, when we recovered from the worst. So they had something to steal. And they soon robbed us so that we had to wear shoes with wooden soles and everything was rationed. "
Jaroslava Dobruská, née Trnovcová, was born on February 1, 1925 in Klatovy. She had three older brothers. Jaroslava tells colorfully about life during the First Republic and the war destinies of the Czech and Jewish inhabitants of Klatovy. Her father Jaroslav Trnovec owned a soda factory, which prospered until 1948, when he lost his business and the family was persecuted. In 1949, Jaroslava graduated from a business academy, but for political reasons she could not continue her studies. Her brother MUDr. Jiří Krbec cooperated with the anti-Nazi and anti-communist resistance. He was sentenced to death in 1949, then the sentence was reduced and finally returned to home after eight years due to amnesty. In the Leopoldov prison he worked as a prisoner-doctor. Jaroslava married MUDr. Karel Dobruský, her father-in-law was the doctor Karel Dobruský, sr. from Klatovy, a prisoner of the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald. Jaroslava worked as an accountant, but she was not afraid of life or work changes. She and her husband moved several times for his work. They raised a son together. Jaroslava Dobruská died on November 16, 2022.
