Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

Which political party did your parents lean to?
My father was not a member of any political party, but during the First Republic he tended
to lean towards the Social Democrats. For example, he liked Štefánik more than Beneš 6 or Masaryk
7 . He was held captive by the Italians during the World War I and he was telling me about
Masaryk, Beneš, and Štefánik coming to Czechoslovakian soldiers and trying to persuade them
to join the legions 8 , but some of the soldiers were wounded, for example my father was shot in
the leg, so how could he go and fight? But Štefánik came and addressed them, “Brothers, this
is the situation we have and those of you who can, please join the legions, but we don’t want
to put any pressure on you.” However, Masaryk and Beneš did put pressure on them. My father
didn’t join the legions in the end. With him was a man called Brychta, also from Malín and he
used to bring bones for my father to crush and make into soup. However, it spread and Brychta
didn’t get away with it. My dad used to tell him then, “Brychta, if I ever get back home and
slaughter a pig again, I’ll invite you for every single pig slaughter I do.” So he did. Every time
we slaughtered a pig, Brychta came around and helped my father.
How big actually was Malín? How many inhabitants or houses did it have?
There were 25 houses altogether. The wealthiest farmers were Zedník, Pokorný, Vlk, and
another Pokorný. Us, the Zima family, the Fuchsa family, and our neighbor Filip were, I would
say, middle farmers.
Did you feel any changes around 1938? What was your experience with the establishment of
the Protectorate?
We, in Central Bohemia, didn’t really feel any changes. Although, we had relatives in the
mountains and there was a totally different situation. I used to go there as a child, but later,
to go there people had to have a special permit and I, as a child, didn’t have it. I only had
a Kenncard. Every time I came there, Pepík Hnyků, who was a clerk, would take me to do the
cheese delivery with him. He used to say, “Květuška, we will take the car and do the cheese
delivery and we will go to the Sudetenland 9 .” I didn’t have the permit, so I had to crouch and
Pepík could speak fluent German, so he would tell the SS officer, “Das ist meine Schwester” and
handed him a cheese, so it always went smoothly.
What was Malín like during the war?
Aircraft flew over and bombarded Kolín and bombs flew over our heads. Once we were
slaughtering a pig. We did it on the sly and it was illegal. We had an electric steamer and they
cut off electricity, so we couldn’t cook the meat. Mum lit the stove quickly. It was Velebníček
who slaughtered the pig that time and he said to my father, “Calm down, Mister, if someone
comes, we will just say that I came to take care of the piglets’ teeth and it will be fine…” In
the end we managed to finish anyway, the blood sausages and everything... and we had a jolly
good feast.
6 Edward Beneš was the second President after T.G. Masaryk from 1935 to 1938. He was also a President in exile in 1940–
1945 and the President of Czechoslovakia after the War (1945–1948). Together with T.G. Masaryk and M. R. Štefánik, he
took part in the resistance movement during WWI and he is one of the founders of Czechoslovakia.
7 Milan Rastislav Štefánik was a Slovakian politician and a general of the French army. During WW I he organized Czechoslovak
legions and he is seen as one of the founders of Czechoslovakia.
8 Troops of volunteer soldiers that were formed during WWI mainly in Italy, France, and Russia. They supported Czech and
Slovak emigrants in their effort to create an independent Czechoslovakia.
9 The Sudetenland was a region in the area in the Czech territory with a majority of German inhabitants. After the Munich
Agreement in 1938, this region was surrendered to Hitler’s Germany.
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