"When we had submitted all the appeals - to the town committee, the regional committee - and got rejected everywhere, the women agreed to write a letter to the President's brother Ladislav Zápotocký. He would come to Pastviny on holidays, fishing or whatever. They wrote a letter and gave it to him. Thanks to this letter, it reached the president's office. And eventually, I got a letter in the middle of September - I didn't know what I was going to do until then - that I could attend high school, but only the high school in Králíky, staying in a dormitory away from my family."
"My dad was sentenced to six years, a 50,000-crown penalty and the forfeiture of 4/5 of his property; my grandfather to five years and a 40,000 crown penalty and the forfeiture of 4/5 of his property. Fortunately, my grandfather was not taken to prison, he was already ill and had suffered a stroke. Dad was taken to Jáchymov to the Prokop mine. Visits to him were a monstrosity. Once we [went] to Loket with my mother. Then [we stayed with him for only] ten minutes, behind bars [he was] far away - if they allowed us to see him at all. It was horrible."
"They came for my dad on 18 September 1950. They were worried about arresting him at home, so they waited because he was always with the theatre company and the Sokol and whatever. They came to the theater to get him. They play Vojnar was just on. He was playing Vojnar. They got him after the show - that was on Sunday. The very Monday morning, 19 September 19, they did a house search, ransacking our home, just insane. At the same time, they also took other big merchants: Langer the owner of a grocery store and Mazura who owned a textile shop, both all in the town square. They made a huge sensation out of it. They stuffed the plundered goods into the shop windows and said, 'Look what the bourgeois were hiding.' Well, of course, dad and grandpa had hidden some things from the Germans, such as child prams, because the Germans took everything."
Zdeňka Buchmüllerová was born in Žamberk on 14 November 1938. She comes from a business family who owned a prosperous hardware store and locksmith shop in Žamberk. After the communist coup in 1948, the family suffered due to the nationalisation of their property, eviction and persecution. In 1950, her father Adolf Buchmüller father was sentenced to six years in prison, a penalty and the forfeiture of virtually all his property in a show trial. Grandfather Adolf Buchmüller Sr. was sentenced in the same trial to five years in prison, a heavy fine and the forfeiture of most of his property. The grandfather did not serve his time because of a serious illness. The witness’s father served in the uranium mines. Despite the difficult living conditions and repeated obstacles to her education, Zdeňka completed grammar school in Králíky, a technical for surveyors and then the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague, majoring in geodesy and cartography. She started her career at the District Surveying Centre in Hradec Králové, becoming a renowned expert and training other employees. After 1989 she took an active part in upgrading the land registry system. She was recognised for her professional precision, responsibility and sense of justice. At the time of filming (2024) she lived in Hradec Kralove and was actively interested in social events despite her advanced age. Lifelong health difficulties notwithstanding, she has retained her optimism and perseverance.
Family photo. Top row L to R: brother-in-law Čestmír Vach, niece Zdeňka Vachová, nephew Jiří, brother Jiří, sister-in-law Dana, niece Hana. Bottom row L to R: Zdeňka, mother Ludmila, father Adolf, sister Dana, latter 1980s
Family photo. Top row L to R: brother-in-law Čestmír Vach, niece Zdeňka Vachová, nephew Jiří, brother Jiří, sister-in-law Dana, niece Hana. Bottom row L to R: Zdeňka, mother Ludmila, father Adolf, sister Dana, latter 1980s
