Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

Did you have to pay taxes to the Germans?
Yes, we did. We paid in kind for example eggs, but I can’t remember anymore because I was
just a little girl. I remember that we had to hand in eggs because once my aunt, my mother’s
sister, came and my mom had promised to give her some eggs, but my mom used them for paying
the tax, so she had nothing to give her and aunt scolded her. Mom said, ‘I’m not going to
let them give me a fine just because of aunt.’ She came for the eggs a week later.
Were there inspections?
If some inspectors came, my father would start speaking to them in German and it would be
OK. We weren’t friends with the Germans, we were Czechs, but my father was more a Slovak
because he loved Štefánik. For one, Štefánik was a protestant like we were and second, he
didn’t try to persuade them.
Can you remember the liberation?
They shot about 9 to 12 people here who are buried here in Malín. Germans shot them when
they were retreating. I don’t particularly like Russians either. They were too familiar at the
beginning, but also were a bit aggressive.
Do you recollect the post-war period?
After the war I became a teacher in a nursery school and stayed there until the time when
I was arrested. When the Communists got me that was it, my life was spoiled. I divorced my first
husband because he was a Communist with every bone in his body and I was not. Then, when
they arrested me, they brought me to Kutná Hora, the same place where Havlíček Borovský
was imprisoned. I remember wondering to myself in which of those cells could Havlíček have
been locked up?
Why did you get arrested?
Because we kept an informer in our house. I barely knew him because I was working then
and when I came back he was gone. My uncle, Mr. Žďárský, brought him to us. His name was
Němeček and he said he was cooperating with America. He stayed for about two months. You
know, they were so good, my family would die of hunger to feed other people. My parents
had a heart of gold and they always gave to beggars. Němeček was arrested later and so was
everybody who had something to do with him. We were pro-American because we have relatives
there and perhaps that’s why my father believed him. We really didn’t think twice about
it. We didn’t know that they would make such a monster-process out of it and one thing that
never ever crossed our minds at all was that we could end up in prison because of him. Lots of
people from Malín got arrested because of him.
Can you describe your arrest?
We were arrested in one day, my father and me. Father was arrested in the morning and I in
the afternoon and we were both arrested at home. I did some training in Kouřim at that time
and there was a rumor that people were being arrested. We were all shaking with fear. When
they came to arrest my father in the morning I was in Kouřim, but I faked being ill. I got home
in the afternoon and then my mom told me that my father had been arrested. Eventually, in
the afternoon, they came to take me too. They came and said, “You’ll come with us. We want
to ask you some questions!” They had to show me their ID and they took me to the district
council. That was when there were lots of arrests going on in Kutná Hora and they were starting
to arrest people in Malín too. I really didn’t know at all why I was being arrested, but I had
a clue that it could have been because of Němeček. They took me for questioning at the Kutná
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