Miroslava Šmuková

"The whole history started to be talked about only in later years. When I was a kid, there wasn't even a word about it at home. Only later did I learn that my aunt, as a young woman, joined the Stalin mine, later Rudý říjen, in Heřmanice, where prisoners also worked. My aunt tried to arrange various documents for them that would not be censored or to hand over a package. And something happened that she helped a prisoner get documents and some map of patrols on the western border. I don't know if it was Austrian or German. And that person was supposed to run away. Based on this, my aunt was arrested. She went on a business trip to Prague, where she was supposedly sent, and was detained there. I don't remember from my own experience because I didn't attend school yet. I only knew that my aunt Jiřa was gone somewhere.'

"For example, I received small gifts from my (aunt). She always sent it to me through my mom, grandma or dad when they went to see her. For example, I had a bookmark from her, which was very nice. It was carved from a plastic toothpaste tube that had been straightened, and a beautiful palm tree with an elephant was carved from it. It was very nice. It was made as a bookmark. Then I had a shoe from her carved out of a peach, a kind of slipper. She also knitted me a sweater. It was red and beautiful. I remember that, but somehow I didn't know where my aunt actually was, because it wasn't discussed at home much.''