Walter Jank

* 1944

  • "There are two things to consider. First, the reception of the Germans. We were not very popular. We were not welcomed, that's part of the truth. We were insulted; they said we were theatrical frauds, gypsies, or Slovaks, just to quote three such words. It took us a long time to settle in and be accepted. This was only possible thanks to the diligence of our fellow Sudeten Germans from Cheb. Yes, they helped and worked hard from the get go, which was respected. That was one thing; and the other thing was that I had a classmate, a local, and the first time I was allowed into the apartment with him was after six years of schooling together. That's how things went with the acceptance."

  • "My mother told me that on 24 May 1945, a request came from the mayor's office to assemble the next day, 25 May at four o'clock by the tower next to the music school - with fifty kilograms of luggage per person and no valuables. Then, to be loaded onto military trucks and transported to the station in Teplá and from there via Wiesau, Fulda and finally to Hessisch Lichtenau in northern Hesse."

  • "Before that, I have a terrible story to tell you. When the concentration camps were abandoned and Russian prisoners of war and Jewish prisoners were transported to the West... it's these terrible marches... My father - although he could not use any weapon at all - as a member of the Home Guard had to accompany these transports from one place to the next where another militia unit took over the death march escort. That was a really bad time for us. My mother told me she used to put peeled potatoes in the window because the house was almost at road level. One night, she saw black hands... dirty hands reaching through the window and taking the potatoes she was cooling on the window. From that day on, as soon as the transport arrived, she would put potatoes out. That was not allowed. It was strictly forbidden. She did it anyway. I'm grateful to her for that to this day."

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Karlovy Vary , 21.08.2023

    (audio)
    délka: 01:34:46
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu The Removed Memory
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

No one pitied or spared the newcomers from the Sudetenland

The witness as a young man
The witness as a young man
zdroj: Walter Jank

Walter Jank was born during World War II into a German family in Bečov nad Teplou on 5 January 1944. His father Josef Jank was a trained comb-maker, as was his son. His mother Marie worked in Mariánské Lázně as a pharmacy assistant. Walter Jank grew up with his younger sister Rosemarie. His three uncles were killed during the war; his father did not have to enlist due to a severe hand injury. The family‘s worst memories are connected with the three death marches that passed through Bečov, and his father, as a member of the Home Guard, had to accompany them. After the war they went through the process of denazification of the Sudeten Germans. Walter was less than two years old at the time the German population was deported from Czechoslovakia, and most of the family memories come from his conversations with his mother. Walter Jank‘s family‘s deportation began on 25 May 1946. With only the bare necessities of life, they made their way via Wiesau and Fulda to the northern Hessian town of Hessisch Lichtenau where the father was able to continue his profession at least partially. They did not visit Czechoslovakia together until 1979. Walter Jank graduated from high school with a high school diploma, then enlisted in the Bundeswehr where he was nominated for an officer‘s career. During his lifetime he changed several professions and military ranks. He served as the Mayor of Eschenburg for a total of twelve years. He and his wife Regina raised two sons, Michael and Thomas. Together with František Neuwirth, former mayor of Bečov nad Teplou, they organised the exchange program of the music schools of Bečov and Eschenburg. He was living in Eschenburg at the time of filming in 2023.