Vilém Lederer

“Apparently, the idea came from someone from the family, they took me to the Pilsen children’s doctor, MUDr. Václav Dort. He had been unknown to the family until then, it was the custom to visit Jewish doctors, but there weren’t any left at the time. The doctor was very forthcoming, he wrote a paper that I had some infectious children’s disease and that I should keep away from other people. Apparently, he even left the date blank, for us to fill in, and the details were for a female. I remember his name, and I knew he existed. I met him [later on], it was quite touching. He didn’t want to show any emotions, but it was clear he very much enjoyed having me sign up to his practice for my paediatrics internship as a twenty-three-year-old student of medicine.”

“When the Soviets occupied us, I can tell you I almost cried. But my dad helped me stomach both Prague Spring and the time that followed. In a very rational, reasonable, and experienced way. I’d come home all enthused from a meeting, Goldstücker was the man for me, I always came home in full steam. But Dad would give me a cold shower, without debasing it. He told me to keep my feet on the ground, to keep a level head, to think and watch. He said: ‘Listen to the radio, you don’t have to start by listening to London Calling, the main thing is to absorb information and not just blabber on.’” [Editor’s note: Prof. Eduard Goldstücker, a Germanist and translator of Jewish origin, was a prominent 1960s critic of the invasion of Soviet forces in 1968.]