Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

Interview with Mrs. Drahomíra Stuchlíková
At the beginning I would like to ask you where were you born and what was your childhood
like?
I was born on December 19, 1919, a year after WWI, in Karlín 1 . There I lived until I was six years
old and then we moved to Žižkov 2 . At Žižkov we unfortunately stuck it out for fifty-four years. My
older sister felt ashamed of Žižkov and insisted on continuing school in Karlín where she started
her vocational secondary school. I copied her and didn’t want to go to school at Žižkov, so finally
I went to school in Vinohrady on the Square of King George. I never finished there because I lost
interest. I was about fourteen years old when my mother enrolled me in a family school. I finished
there in three years with two B’s. Then I stepped into the real world. Later, I was employed by
a private company which was Czech-German. There half the staff was Czech and the other half
was German. Bosses were both, one Czech and one German. I really have to tell you that we had
a very good standard of living at that time. Then I realized maybe my life was too good and I started
working in the Chamber of Commerce. I liked it a lot there and stayed up until my arrest.
What kind of employment did your father and mother have?
After my father came back from the legion in France he was employed at the office for crushing
the usury. At that time there was real democracy. No one could do anything they wanted.
No one could just think out that if an egg costs 30 hellers that he would be selling it for 50
or that someone would be adding water to alcohol or milk. My father was checking all this
so everything was all right. My mother was a housewife. Then I had an older sister, but she
wasn’t at home any more because she had her own family and we were only getting together
at Christmas time. Then I also have a younger sister who was in prison and she put in six years
there. In 1973 she got married to Germany and has been living there ever since.
How did March 15, 1939 look like in Prague 3 ? What was the atmosphere at that time?
I really remember that well because in the morning there was sleet. When the Germans came
over I was on Na Příkopě street. They were announcing it on the radio, but I’m that kind of
person that doesn’t believe anything. It was horrible because in front of the Slavic House there
were hoards of Germans who were enthusiastically greeting soldiers. That made me sick and
I went home.
How did you personally get along with Germans before the Munich Agreement 4 ?
We were getting along with Germans during the First Republic. I was working in a Czech-
German company that was bilingual and we didn’t have any problems among us. In that com-
1 Karlín – Prague district
2 Žižkov – Prague district
3 On March 15, 1939 Germans start to occupy Czech countries.
4 Munich Agreement was signed on September 29, 1938 in Munich. Representatives of four countries – Neville Chamberlain
(Great Britain), Édouard Daladier (France), Adolf Hitler (Germany) and Benito Mussolini (Italy) – agreed on the fact
that Czechoslovakia must give up the Sudetenland to Germany, Poland and Hungary. Representatives of Czechoslovakia
were present, but not invited to the deal itself. Up till today this agreement has been “painful” and controversial topic
in Czech history.
Czechoslovak Political Prisoners 73