Pauli Luftová

* 1935

  • “Well and when I came to Strupčice, they did not accept me to school unfortunately, as I could not speak Czech. Here I was in the fourth grade with good evaluation and there I started only in 1947. In 1945 and 1946 it was impossible. When I came to the second term of the year 1946m they just stared at me. Though I knew some words in Czech… But there was a certain teacher called Cílek from Malé Březno, I don’t know if his mother was German or Czech, and another man from Strupčice. I had a tiny little notebook I made and they always wrote down some Czech and German words and each day I had to learn twenty new ones.“

  • „Daddy came back from Bílina on 7 May, he rode a bicycle that he borrowed from uncle. He came back home and said: ‚There are Russians behind me.‘ Well so they came to us and went on via Ervěnice down to Holešice and imagine there were four men. … The Russians were past and they were hiding in a stack of hay and a certain lady from Strupčice revealed them and they shot into the stack and of course of were dead. So Mr. Krausatz came to mummy and said: ‚Come on, take them from Holešice down here.‘ So they were bringing them here, and he had to dig a grave with my mum helping him and normally threw them into the grave. I still take care of the grave.“

  • „Daddy, when he did not come back, the respective man, his friend, said that he had a Czech flag on his coat. He told him to take it off. But he replied: ‚No, I shall not take it off, as I am Czech.‘ ‚You were recruited at the Germans, so you will do as I say.‘ And he added: ‚If you do not take it off, I will shoot you down.‘‘‘

  • Celé nahrávky
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    V Chomutově, 07.02.2017

    (audio)
    délka: 55:45
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu The Stories of Our Neigbours
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

My roots are still German

Pauli Luft
Pauli Luft
zdroj: PNS

Pavla Luftová, née Wildová, was born on 24 August, 1935 in Strupčice (Trupschitz) in the Northern Bohemia in a German speaking Czech-German family. The father Josef worked as a driver and a car mechanic, his mother Margaretha was a cook. Pavla had two brothers, Günther and Manfred. They lived in Chomutov, and later in Strupčice. The father fought for Wehrmacht and after war was accused of collaboration and finally hanged himself. The rest of family wanted to move out with other relatives to Germany, but the transfer finally did not happen. Their property was confiscated and they felt the post-war anti-German regulations; lower food ratios, ban on using public transport etc. Pavla had to learn Czech to finish school education. She did not succeed in applying to pedagogical college, so she studied secondary vocational railway school and worked as an operator-dispatcher. Later she worked as a governess in the elementary school in Strupčice and a secretary in Chomutov Zoo park. She is married to Siegfried Luft. They have two sons. For a long time she worked as the head of the Czech Red Cross in Strupčice. She enjoys travelling and is interested in local history.