Růžena Kamarádová

* 1924

  • “We spent a week at the StB headquarters. We slept on a sort of a plank bed. The same kind of planks that were used at the old open-air swimming pools. I couldn’t change my clothes, I couldn’t wash myself. They put me in a dark room and point their flash lights at me. There were several investigators in the room when they interrogated me. They screamed at me, asked me questions. I responded. When I didn’t respond, they screamed again. This lasted for a week. Over and over again. My dad was there and one of the investigators said that my dad had done a bad job bringing me up. At that moment, all I wanted to do was to break his neck. But I said to myself that I must endure it. Then, when I was put into prison, I was so stressed out that I used to throw chairs at them. So they put me in a straitjacket. Later, I cooled down a little. I realized that it was pointless to react to the stupid things they were saying. I didn’t understand why they were acting like this. They behaved this way the entire time I was there.”

  • “Then came the Russians. Me and my mom stayed for a week with our neighbors - the ones that had warned us. My dad fought with them. He knew how to fight because he was a veteran legionnaire; a first-class soldier. They took all of our books and covered themselves with them. They also vomited on them. They made a terrible mess. My dad told one of the soldiers: ‘Come out or you’ll see’. He didn't obey the commander and was shot on the spot. He said: ‘There’s nothing you can do about it. You’ll either carry out my orders, or you’ll suffer’. And he added: ‘This will happen to all of you’. They obeyed every word he said. I thought to myself that it was a great blessing that he was such a great commander. It was awful. We couldn’t come out for a week. The ditches were full of soldiers. It looked like this for a week. I don’t even want to remember it. It was terrible. They stayed there for a week, looting the houses and harassing and raping the women. It was really horrible.”

  • “I was sentenced to seven years in prison. It was tougher than a normal jail because we were placed in close confinement. Each month, they brought us out to the hallway and I had to sleep on the floor and then go to work. When I was sick, when I had a high fever, Dr. Halík from Olomouc came to see me. Usually we didn’t see doctors. The warden asked me if I wanted to see a doctor. I said: ‘I’ll give it a try, maybe he’ll give me some aspirin’. I didn’t get anything, it wasn’t permitted. Once, I was ill with a ribcage inflammation. Another time I had a high fever with temperatures over 40. I still had to go to work. So I went to see the doctor and he asked me what I was sent to jail for. I told him that it was for spreading some leaflets. He asked: ‘How many years?’ I said 'Seven'. He said: ‘That’s a nice couple of years’. I agreed. He said: ‘Can you pray?’ I said yes. He said: ‘Pray, maybe it’ll help you. Next one!’”

  • “After the Germans left there was still bombing and a huge bomb exploded near our house. Our attic was full of dirt. Our dog was in the kitchen at the moment and when a big bomb fell on the field nearby, our fence was blown away. The roof was blown off and the dog was thrown out through the window into the yard. The heavy door was blown away as well and the same for our cellar window. We all looked like chimney sweepers because the smut from the chimney was all over the place. It was terrible. The folks from Hejčín came very quickly time to see if we were alive. My grandpa luckily survived the blast but the pressure wave might have torn apart his lungs. Our place looked terrible. There was a huge crater in the ground next to our house. You could have placed a whole house in there. If that bomb had fallen directly on our house, I wouldn’t be here today.”

  • “They were executing people almost on a daily basis, Czechs and Germans alike. I witnessed a lot of executions in the three and half years I spent there. The murderess that was with us in our cell was waiting for her execution, too. She had a little girl and a lover who had told her to kill her husband by poisoning him with cyanide, which she had put in his wine. After she poisoned him, she cut his body into pieces, cooked it and fed to the pigs. She told me everything. She was executed for disgracing a dead body. She used to walk the cell at night; she spent the whole night this way. Me and Věra, we couldn’t sleep at all because she scared us. We were terrified she might murder us at night. She kept walking and walking like a sleepwalker. Like a murderess. I kept watching every move she made and where she was. I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t sleep at night and had to go and work in the morning.”

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    olomouc, 29.11.2010

    (audio)
    duration: 02:26:41
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
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“Convicted in one of the first political trials.”

Růžena Kamarádová at the time of her arrest
Růžena Kamarádová at the time of her arrest
photo: archiv pamětníka

Růžena Kamarádová, née Sedláčková, was born in 1924 in Olomouc. Since her childhood she had been an ardent member of the Sokol and a devout supporter of Masaryk’s democratic ideals. She took part in the Sokol rally in June 1948, which became a protest against the new Communist government. In September of the same year, she also went to Prague to be at the funeral of former President Edvard Beneš. When her colleague brought an unpublished transcript of the speech that was delivered by Beneš on the occasion of the demise of the democratic ministers, she decided to reproduce it and disseminate it among her friends. This, however, cost her dearly as she was arrested in September 1948 and sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment. She served three years of her sentence in the women prison in Olomouc. She left prison with broken health from the constant stress she endured. She had to be treated for several months before she recovered. Afterwards, she was assigned to labor in the TOS in Olomouc. She was still on probation and the secret police (the StB) watched every step she made. In 1956, she left on maternal leave and thereafter, made a living for several years as a laundrywoman because she was unable to get another job. In 1968, thanks to the help of her friends, she finally got a decent job working for the ČSD Olomouc monitoring the transport of revenues. Here, she worked until her retirement. She presently lives in Olomouc.