Czechoslovak Political Prisoners - über das Projekt Political ...

and the bedbugs came out of the bed. That was horrible. The prison officer opened the door
to the corridor in the morning and we took turns to have our morning hygiene. There was no
toothbrush and I did not comb my hair for about three months. There was one basin with cold
water in the corridor and only one towel hanging next to it. You could see blood stains of all
the prisoners on the towel. I am very sensitive when it comes to hygiene, but I must admit that
at that time I did not mind the dirty towel, because I knew that some of my close friends or
relatives used it as well.
Did you know about any of your close friends or relatives, for example your father or future
husband, being in prison too?
My fiancé was arrested before me and I used to bring him clean clothes before my arrest,
so I knew about him. I found out that some other people were there as well because I heard
some people whistling. We all liked and used to use one tune by Beethoven, and I could hear
that tune in the prison, so I knew there had to be someone from our group. After years I found
out, that my future husband engraved some message for me on an aluminum dish, because
he thought that the dishes went around the prison and I might have been given food in that
one. Yet, I was a naive prisoner and did not search for secret messages. The prison officers realised
that he was doing that and he had to clean all the dishes. After that the regime of tin
spoons and tin dishes started and lasted for many years. It was a big punishment for me, even
bigger than correction, because we were given neither a knife to cut our food nor fork. There
was only that spoon and the dish. For years we washed the dishes in cold water because there
wasn’t any hot water in the prison. For some time we had our own dish, but then it changed
and we had to take them to the kitchen and pick them up from there as well.
Did any prison officer help you?
It was in prison in Litoměřice where they sometimes took me when I didn’t give evidence to
the secret police. One officer there helped me. It was an older man who probably also worked
there before the war. That generation was later swapped for newly educated staff. Although
I did not know that something like a hunger-strike existed in prisons, I stopped eating. In the
course of time I think they might have put something into my food. I was so mentally and
physically exhausted that I started to perceive everything through my nose. I used smell more
then sight. There was a tip-up table in the cell, which I was allowed to use only when they gave
me that bit of food. I could smell some disgusting odor rather than a beautiful smell of wood
from that table. So I stopped eating. That old prison officer noticed that and even though he
was not supposed to, he came to my cell and told me to eat and not to lose energy. I do not
remember if I asked him or if it was him who noticed, but he brought me a comb. It was a dirty
comb from some other prisoner, but it did not matter, I cleaned it.
How did the examiners behave to you?
Their behavior was horrible. Their brutality and arrogance was horrendous. For example the
way they spoke with us. We were not allowed to mention our family members. We could not
say mother or sister. We had to say the whole name, which sounded like we were talking about
a stranger. Their brutality was simply terrible. They used to take me up by the elevator to be
questioned. I could see the Střekov rock with some white slogan on it, probably, “Hello from
the Communist party.” The window was usually opened during the questioning and I could see
that rock. I can tell you that more than once I was thinking about jumping out of that window,
but one has the self-preservation instinct. They put handcuffs on our hands and moved us from
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