Anna Kuglerová

* 1939

Full recordings are available only for logged users.

I did not know what love was

Anna Kuglerová in 2023
Anna Kuglerová in 2023
photo: Post Bellum

Anna Kuglerová was born on 30 November 1939 in Česká Ves, Jesenice region, as the middle of three children to her parents František and Emma Langer. Both parents were of German nationality. Her father enlisted in the German army and was killed in the Battle of Kharkiv in Soviet Ukraine in October 1941. During the gathering of Germans on the square in Jeseník (then Frývaldov), she witnessed German women having their earrings ripped right out of their ears. At that time she also lost most of her relatives who ended up in Germany. She and her mother and sister were chosen by a Czech farmer from Česká Ves and therefore were not included in the expulsion of Germans. Officially, he needed them for work, but rather preferred the appearance and feminine shapes of the mother. Anna Kuglerová recalls the two years she spent on his farm as the worst years of her life. The sisters eventually managed to escape to their grandparents in Chebzí, where they stayed with their mother. Anna discontinued her primary schooling in the sixth grade. The reason for this was her high age and also her frequent absences due to her poor health. Physical ailments plagued her throughout her life, which was a consequence of the hardships of life on the farm in Česká Ves. In Jeseník, Anna trained as a seamstress, then worked in the local textile factory Moravolen and later as a parts inspector in the Písečná machine works. In 1958 she married Radomír Kugler, a Czech, with whom she had a daughter Anna and sons Radomír and Martin between 1958 and 1966. At the time of recording in 2023, Anna Kuglerová was living in Písečná.