Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

men had crossed the border. Then they subjected us to questioning and put us into a dormitory
house. The boys met a Hungarian there who told us that he would take us into the Western
Zone provided we pay for his travel. We went to Linz with him where we came to a refugee
camp. Soon I went to a dance with another emigrant to get to know what life in freedom was
like. Well, I was a young girl then. There I met an American soldier. His name was Frank Ferneti
and later on he proposed to me. I was twenty years old and you became an adult at the age
of 21 then. So the wedding had to wait. At least, the American managed to get me out of the
camp and arranged a private accommodation with an Austrian family for me.
Did you know what was going on at home and with your parents?
My parents were very watchful at home. I sent a letter from Linz that I had emigrated and
told them not to worry about me. They had to report that their daughter left for abroad, but
they knew it in three days anyway because they were told by the Austrian financial patrol.
An arrest warrant was issued on my name. My mother sent me a secret letter via the financial
patrol that said, “Please do not come home, they have issued a warrant for your arrest. If you
happen to be in Czechoslovakia, don’t go anywhere near the lodge because we are being
monitored.” There was a soldier standing by the castle and checking all people going in the
direction of the lodge. However, there was another path to the lodge that they didn’t know
about.
Did you stay in the Austrians’ flat all the time or did you visit the camp occasionally to chat
with the Czechs?
Well, I was alone among foreigners, so I used to go back to the camp. Czechs lived there that
I could have a conversation with. It was when Frank left for a military drill that I learnt, during
one of my visits, about a possibility to join in illegal activities. They were looking for somebody
to secretly go back to Czechoslovakia. I told myself that I would be back from Czechoslovakia
well in time for Frank’s return from Germany and together with two other boys, we set off for
our country. I was returning with a mission to establish an espionage unit in the Republic and
take more people, who were in danger of imprisonment, across the border.
What was your motivation for going back to Czechoslovakia despite knowing that you were
putting yourself in danger and that you were under arrest?
Most importantly, I wanted to help the people. We stayed in Czechoslovakia for 2 weeks and
each of us had a mission. In two weeks time we met up again and I was being followed by
an agent who worked for the secret police in Brno. His name was Josef Eichler. I didn’t have
a clue about this though. We crossed the border via a different route this time so we didn’t
go through Vranov but through České Budějovice. We were supposed to take several people
across, but in the end they decided not to emigrate due to personal circumstances. That’s why
we ended up going back in four. Ruda, who emigrated with me in February without his fiancée,
was taking her with him this time.
The agent I didn’t know about at that time, found out our route. There was a man returning
with us, whose name was Franta and had been doing espionage since 1948. He was an agentwalker.
As we went, he picked up some things at Studánky. I was taking care of his briefcase
where he had maps of all border areas – from Aš to Šumava, as well as lists of telephone numbers
of all Czech and Slovak factories. We crossed the border in Šumava, went by bus to Linz
and there they were already waiting for us, policemen with machine guns surrounded the bus.
Both boys from our group passed through because the police were not looking for them. They
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