“The soldiers who came in 1968 thought we were murdering people here, that we were in war. They didn’t even know where they were. I only told them that this was my home; that the house No. 33 out there across the street was built by my grandfather who was murdered during WW II as a founder of the Sokol movement and a supporter of the Vinohrady quarter. That my parents were persecuted during the war and now are persecuted once again. They did not believe me that my father was imprisoned, that I was born in London. They didn’t even know what London was. They knew nothing – they were essentially just like small children. As if they had taken some village sillies and put them into a tank which one of them was able to drive. The other ones were something which during Austro-Hungaria would be referred to as ‚Cannon fodder‘.
“The police would come to our place at the time of my father’s imprisonment. I remember their horrible, horrible shouting which I cannot stand to this day. They would come with a dog and at that time we had a Boxer dog which we brought in from England. They would always first take him to the garden behind the house. I love dogs, as I do flowers and colors. The only dog race which I respect and would not simply approach is the German shepherd. This remained inside me. I have to admit that since 1989 I have taught myself not to fear uniforms. I have feared them all the time until 1989. Whenever I saw a policeman – even if he was just a traffic policeman stopping me – my heart skipped a beat.”
Vivienne Soyková was born by the end of the WW II in London into the family of František and Collette Soyka. Her parents had fled war, escaping from Czechoslovakia through the Netherlands, Beijing and South Africa to Great Britain. There, they worked in public administration of the Czechoslovak and French exile governments. After the war the family moved back to Czechoslovakia. Following the February 1948 communist putsch, František Soyka was arrested by the secret police because of his contacts with the former foreign minister Jan Masaryk, and spent several years in prison. The Soyka family was persecuted. Vivienne Soyková was denied the opportunity to study medicine and instead worked as a laboratory technician, later also graduating in psychology. At present she teaches ethics and communication at a medical school.
