The day when everyone was celebrating, her father died in a concentration camp

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Blanka Andělová, née Prokešová, was born 19 December 1941 in Vsetín. Her father Ladislav Prokeš, a pathmaster, joined the resistance. He organised fugitives’ escapes over the border and closely cooperated with local resistance groups. Among other things he was responsible for securing a weapons air drop in the vicinity of Vsácký Cáb. On 5 January 1945 her father was arrested by the Gestapo, and in the night from 3 to 4 May 1945 he died in the concentration camp in Plattling. But his family did receive his death certificate until in 1968. This was because her father had worked with resistance groups that the Communist regime decided to blacklist, and for many years it was not possible to inquire about his fate. The family could not visit the place of his death until after the fall of the Communist regime. Blanka Andělová remembers her father only vaguely, nonetheless, his bravery greatly influenced the way she sees the world. As she herself says, she always tried to tell the truth, and she never joined the Communist Party. She says this caused her many a problem in her life.