“It was a matter of district administration, so I thought that someone came to solve this issue. I went there and he introduced himself and stated that he was the doctor's Lhotka brother-in-law, that he had been asked by the family to help him and so on. She started threatening me, it was completely evident, that I surely wanted my children to be allowed to study one day and so on. And I thought: 'Well, is this Lhotka really worth it?' I didn't say a thing, I just explained the whole situation to him. He said: 'Think about it. And tell no one we had this conversation.' Then we parted ways ,and he would call me from time to time after that, asking how I was and if everything was fine and so on.”
“A memory from the times before I started attending school – it happened in 1942, in May. My father had already passed away at that time. My mother and I, we went to Prague to visit her cousin and we stayed in her flat. It was in Libeň, and the day was 27 May, the day Reinhard Heydrich had been assassinated. And of course, no one knew, and back then, when visiting a city, you had to register at the police, if you were staying overnight. My mother didn't find it too important, for just a few days, and she didn't register us. At night we were sleeping. I was quite young back then of course, so only years later I was told what had happened. A doorbell began to ring in the middle of the night, and there was a Gestapo man with a Czech policeman who were making sure everyone was registered. It showed that my mother and I weren't registered. My mother said that the Gestapo man said something she didn't understand, but after that she heard the Czech policeman stating in German: ''Wie werden Sie wünschen aber vielleicht wird das nicht notwendig.' Meaning: 'As you wish, but maybe it's not necessary.' The Gestapo man just waved his hand and they left.”
“The story was that my father attended the funeral of a woman he knew and they came for him when he wasn't at home. And of course, they arrested him after he came back in the evening. I didn't see it as I was in the garden playing with a friend. Right after they came to arrest him, my mother ran to tell me so I could see him for the last time. I just remember, as I saw him carrying a radio, they confiscated his radio, of course, and the arrested person had to take it with him, so I would yell at him: 'Where are you taking the radio to, father?' And that was it.”
Vilém Hofman was born on 5 August 1937 in Jičín as the son of Václav Hofman, a veterinarian, and his wife nee Dostál. His father was the head of the resistance group ‘Mafia’ in the early years of the Second World War. Vilém recalls his father being taken away by the Gestapo in June 1941. In February 1942, the family received a telegram stating his father died in Auschwitz concentration camp. In May 1942, when paratroopers Gabčík and Kubiš mortally wounded Reinhard Heydrich, he was visiting his aunt in Prague and her flat had been searched by the Gestapo at night. On 5 May 1945 he witnessed the surrender of the German garrison in Jičín, and on 11 May he was welcoming the Red Army dressed in a national costume, with both his classmates and teacher. After graduating from secondary school in 1955, he studied dentistry in Hradec Králové. He had been working as the head physician in Hořice. In 1967 he joined the Communist party, three years later he was sacked from the Party due to his refusal to approve the Warsaw pact invasion. He had been contacted by a State Security officer at his job, as he wanted to sack this officer’s relative. He threatened him that his children might not be allowed to study. In 1989 he took part in protests in Jičín. In 2021 he had been living with his second wife in Libáň.
From the right: his grandfather, Vilém Dostál, his great-unlce Adolf B. Dostál, his great-aunt Marie Dostálová, his great grandmother Marie Dostálová, his great-aunt Leopolda Dostálová, his great-aunt Olga Dostálová, his great-uncle Václav Dostál, his great-aunt Hana Dostálová
From the right: his grandfather, Vilém Dostál, his great-unlce Adolf B. Dostál, his great-aunt Marie Dostálová, his great grandmother Marie Dostálová, his great-aunt Leopolda Dostálová, his great-aunt Olga Dostálová, his great-uncle Václav Dostál, his great-aunt Hana Dostálová
