Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

nage against the Russians. So, I was thinking that the amnesty wouldn’t probably apply to us.
Each of us had to have an agreement from their hometown or village saying that they would
be accepted back. My brother-in-law, my younger sister’s husband, was a Communist. I would
say he was an idealist though, and he trusted the Communists. He was chairman of the village
council here in Věstonice and hence he knew when my release would be due. My mother told
me that on the day of my release, he came to our place a couple of times to ask whether I had
already arrived. They took us to the train station in small groups, one group at a time, because
they were probably afraid that we would start a revolution there. Our tickets had been bought
in advance and they walked me to the train and off I went straight away. We traveled in our
prison uniforms. I came to Brno, but went to see a friend from the prison first and went home
after that. I rang the doorbell, my mother came to answer the door and asked me, “Are you
just visiting or is this permanent?” I said, ”It looks like I have been released, but I have probation
for 10 years.” Then my mother went on to tell me that we would go and visit all our relatives
and we would see where we could get a warm welcome. In the end, everybody was glad
that I was back, so there was a happy ending to it.
You were sentenced at the age of twenty and spent eleven years of your youth in prison.
What was the most important thing that kept you so strong?
Faith. I was friends with a girl who was imprisoned because of her catholic activities. We
used to go for walks together and she taught me a whole mass by heart. That way we were
able to hold masses at the prison yard. My friend was even able to sneak in some wafers. We
were constantly being persecuted because of these “masses.” Nuns used to do it in a similar
way. The jailors found out and we were sent to dark cells. However, during my prison years
I kept my faith and I still keep it today. I always say that the mills of God have a nuclear power
engine. I grew up in a religious family and that’s why I saw all that as my punishment. My
mother warned me not to come back to the Republic, but I wouldn’t listen. I also promised the
American I wouldn’t go back to Czechoslovakia again and I betrayed him. My mother sent me
a letter in Linz saying that there had been a warrant of arrest issued in my name and urging
me not to come back and avoid our forest lodge. I didn’t listen. As I am saying, it was God’s
punishment for my imprudence and disobedience. Still, I managed to come to terms with it.
I still keep my faith.
Apart from the problems with your nose cartilage, do you suffer from any other health conditions
as a result of your stay in prison and cruelties during interrogations?
As a result of my miscarriage and long imprisonment, I developed a uterine tumour at the
age of 45. First, it had been only the size of a nut, but in three months it grew into the size of
a baby’s head. I had to undergo a serious operation during which my uterus and one of my ovaries
were removed and the other sterilized. That was the end of my hopes of getting pregnant.
This was the biggest blow I suffered from the Bolshevik regime.
Did you have a chance to meet your American boyfriend later on?
No, I did not. I wrote him a letter from prison, but they didn’t send it to him to America. Later,
when I was released due to the mass amnesty in 1960, I didn’t know how to contact him. I was
being watched and on the top of it, I was on a conditional discharge with ten years probation.
So, I bought a book called “Travels through Czechoslovakia” and sent it to him. There was
a photo of Věstonice inside on which I wrote in English, “This is my home.” In three months
time the book came back though. A few years ago, I eventually managed to trace him down.
56