Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

Interview with Mrs. Hana Truncová
Can you tell us about your parents, childhood and youth?
Of course, with pleasure. I was born in Teplice 1 in a trade family. My father’s ancestors came
from the area of the Křivoklát forests and they moved to the border area sometime in the 19th
century. I have a sister and I must say that we had a very nice childhood. We had a big garden
and many friends. All of my friends came from a Czech, German, or Jewish environment. The
town of Teplice had the same structure – one third was Czech, one German, and one Jewish.
You can see the evidence of this in Teplice cemeteries. During the First Republic I lived in a border
area. We also stayed there during the war. We were lucky to have a little short wave radio
at home. At 10 p.m. I used to listen to the Calling from London 2 with my father. It was very
risky because we lived in a terraced house and the radio stood by the wall, therefore my father
had to make proper insulation, so none of our neighbours knew that we were listening to that
radio program. It could have cost us our lives.
Did you witness the post-war transfer 3 ?
Yes, in those days they drove families out of their houses. The fathers were not usually at
home, so mothers and children were just rooted out basically from their kitchens. That was
the beginning of the transfer in June 1945. Those people were not even allowed to take 30
kilograms of their personal belongings (which was allowed later on), they just had to go. They
were kicked out from their homes. Partly I am not so surprised, it was a kind of revenge. People
were excited and did not think reasonably or humanely. Human relationships were gradually
disappearing. I lost many friends from school due to the transfer. Also, my family lost many
good friends who had nothing to do with Hitler. I used to know some Czech families who returned
to the border area after 1945, but they could not live there so they went back inland.
The Czech-German border areas got resettled during the post-war period. Most of the houses,
farms, flats, land, factories, valuables, and accounts suddenly did not belong to anybody
and were being given away. People who went there and were able to tolerate owning someone
else’s property got it.
How did you spend February 1948 4 ?
I had a part-time job in one building company in Teplice from June 1945 to February. It was
a part-time job because I also helped my father with administration in his business. We had
1 Teplice – a town in the north of Bohemia.
2 Calling from London – During WW II, the radio station BBC broadcasted short news in the Czech language. Each day
three times for 15 minutes. In the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia listening to the foreign radio was punishable
under the sentence of the death penalty.
3 Post-war transfer – After WW II a transfer of the German people out of the Czechoslovak border area to Germany and
Austria. About 3 million people were deported between 1945 and 1946.
4 In February 1948 the government crisis started in Czechoslovakia. The primary reason was the resolution pertaining to
the State secret police from February 13, 1948. There were a series of events during this month and as a result the Communist
party became the leading political power in Czechoslovakia. This series of events was crowned on February 25th, when
the President accepted the resignation of non-communist ministers and replaced them with representatives suggested by
Communists. During this February revolution the Communist party cleared its way to full control of the country.
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