Hedvika Kupcová

“Well and finally in 1942 an order came for us to get on a transport. My father was in the hospital back then with a broken leg and they used to treat it so that they dug a hole through the knee and the leg was hanged up on a little scaffolding. And so he could not go. And of course my mum did not go, being a Christian. But she was kicked out of her job, so had to search a new one. And in 1942 there was an order we ought to get on a transport. Mum said: ‚No way, I will not let you go anywhere.‘ Yeah but an officer came for us. And he took two small children, as the older ones were already sent to work in Germany. And I was twelve, my brother thirteen years old. And an officer was taking us to the gathering place near Veletržní palace, and I kept crying all the way. That was the last time I saw my mum. And my father was in the hospital. They simply took two small children. We had absolutely nothing with us; we were sitting down on the ground. People, who came there, had whatever they could bring with them. Rucksacks, much stuff, clothing and all they thought they might need. Only a few took a book with them; it weighted a bit. We came there and sat on the ground. We had no mattresses, no sleeping bags, nothing at all. And the other day we went on foot, the whole transport, to the railway station – Bubeneč [editor´s note: todays Bubny] that´s what it was called. And from there they took us to Bohušovice and we had to get off there. And back then there was no turn by train to Terezin, only two years later. So the whole transport with people and their baggage they carried on their backs, and we had nothing on us, we walked for over an hour, before we reached it. Then they sent me to all the children, to girls and my brother went to boys.”

„The end was coming close, and people were running away. And now the brothers, the older ones, ran away home to Prague. The brother, who was a year older than me, he stayed there and said: ‚Hey, there will be trains to Prague to carry people from here, just wait and see.‘ And he ran away too. So I went along with some friends, it was not guarded anymore as before, when the officers were guarding us. But someone had to be there as the officers stayed in, as there was the typhus epidemic and it was not supposed to get out so no one was allowed to go. So we secretly left, when they were arriving with loading trucks bringing some necessities lacking in the camp. There were always many people asking to hide in the trucks so that the officers would not stop them. And that was our plan with my friend. ‚Lets do it, lets go too.‘ So we asked a single truck driver to take us. ‚Yeah, sure.‘ So we were hiding in a loading truck to drive us back to Prague. And back there I already knew how to get home. So I came back home, my mum was surprised, everyone was happy. Boys were already there, they ran sooner. Only my father could not go. He was old and could not just get on a loading truck. And they said that the transports will gradually bring the elderly, so he waited for his turn. Then he came to Prague too. So we all gathered in the end, there was much joy.”