"The theologians, who were always hungry, used to meet there and they always ate something nice at Marunka Kovalová's. They were always treated, Marunka made them donuts and coffee, and they also prayed. They prayed. Marunka said all the prayers in the breviary every day before she went to bed. When the priests held sessions and meetings at the consistory, they would all rush to the Kovals' place afterwards. Marunka was such a person who was able to bring everybody together so beautifully that it was very beautiful, just beautiful. It's indescribable..."
"My mother said they were all in shock; it was something utterly terrible but they had to watch it. The guards walked around like hungry dogs and hit anyone who wasn't watching with a baton right away. Just imagine that the pregnant women had to go for walks around the execution grounds, the gallows. What walks must those have been! That's the way it was."
"Mommy met the Dean, made like her lifelong confession, and the Dean said. 'You know what, girls? I'm going to take you under my wing. I have elderly parents, and if you're so kind and help my parents, we will bring your child up together.' That's how we got to Libochovice. I had a sense of this lovely Christian family and I was fine. I got a new grandmother and grandfather, and it was so nice."
"When she was about to give birth, my good girl, she came in, one of the women got off the bed and left all the blood and everything behind. The guard said: 'Lie down.' - 'I'm not going to give birth in this! The baby or I will get infected! That's impossible!' - 'All right,' the guard hissed. Female guards were more cruel than male ones. 'If you're so squeamish, clean it up.' The guard threw her a bucket, a rag and a clean sheet in between her final contractions. That was all the luxury she had, and she had to clean it up."
"My mom got thrown in jail, which wasn't fun, she said it was driving her insane. They put her in solitary confinement and she found out she was pregnant. Being in love two months after the wedding, that's the honeymoon and all you can think of is your spouse. They worked hard. Fifteen of them were in the room. They used to 'treat' political prisoners to putting them in cells along with murderesses and prostitutes. The prostitutes were really kind; my mother said, 'If I wasn't afraid of them infecting me, I wouldn't mind them at all.' The murderesses howled, literally. They howled like dogs or wolves: the pangs of conscience. They couldn't sleep at all."
Dobromila Šebestová was born in Pankrác Prison on 25 August 1950. Her mother Dobromila Konárková had been sentenced by the communists to fifteen years in prison in a show trial. At three months of age, the witness was taken away from her mother and grew up with her grandmother in Choceň. Dobromila Konárková was released from prison in 1956. She found refuge at the rectory in Libochovice where Dean Václav Lochman made a home for her and her daughter. Career-wise, both women focused on music, teaching the piano. Before the music conservatory in Teplice, Dobromila Šebestová also studied at a medical school (1965-1968) and completed internship at the Thomayer Hospital in Prague from 1968 to 1970. She married Václav Šebesta in 1978 and they had five children. She struggled with many illnesses all her life. She was widowed in 2020, and in 2024 she lived with her daughter‘s family and near her other children in Doksy near Mácha Lake.
Dobromila Šebestová (centre) with her mother (right) and grandfather Antonín Hamáček's second wife in Wenceslas Square after mother's release from prison, circa 1956
Dobromila Šebestová (centre) with her mother (right) and grandfather Antonín Hamáček's second wife in Wenceslas Square after mother's release from prison, circa 1956
