Tamara Lenzová

* 1919

Volhynian Czechs, Czech minority in the former USSR, Re-emigration of Czechs after 1945
21. 8. 1968 - Invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops, 22. 6. 1941 – Operation Barbarossa - Nazi attack on the USSR, 10. 7. 1946 – Agreement on Volhynian Czechs option with the USSR, 13. 7. 1943 - Destroying of Český Malín, 17.9.1939 - Soviet invasion of Poland
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    Soviet occupation of Volhynia in September 1939

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    “I stayed in Rivno until the last moment. On Thursday they bombed Rivno and on Friday we went with my younger sister who also worked in Rivno. It was 20 kilometers to our house and we set out and walked the 20 kilometers home on foot. So we came home on Thursday or Friday and on Saturday, the Russians came. It was about 30 kilometers to the Russian border and our mother came in the morning and said: ‘Girls get up, there is some noise coming from there.’ And they were coming with those huge tanks.”

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    Departure of the Germans and arrival of the Russians

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    “To avoid the danger, we went to hide at my uncle. I remember, as the Germans were leaving and the Russians advanced, there was gunfire and as I turned around as we were crossing a hill, I saw everything illuminated as it was all on fire. We came to my uncle and there was a pub with a cellar where they stored the beer and they were hiding there. So we hid there as well. The Germans were still there until the morning and then, the Russians already came.”

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    Czech cultural life in Volhynia

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    duration: 00:36
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    “In Rivno, we were three shopkeepers and one of us attended the Czech school, and through her I got to the Czech school, where we also gathered and attended social events. That was school under Czech patronage. And apart from Rivno, there was also one in Zdolbunov and Lutsk.”

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    Vroutek, 17.09.2012

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    duration: 02:26:48
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In Volhynia, we still remained attached to the Republic

Young Tamara
Young Tamara
photo: Archiv Tamary Lenzové
photo: Archiv Tamary Lenzové
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Tamara Lenzová, nee Křivková, was born on 16th June 1919 in Česká Huleč in the Polish part of Volhynia. Her parents had a grocery shop and a dairy. After studies at a Czech school Tamara started working in a butchery shop in Rivne. In her childhood and early youth she was interested in the Czech cultural life - she was a member of the Sokol organization and attended Czech balls and gatherings. After the Soviet occupation of Volhynia in 1939 she returned to Huleč and worked in the local grocery shop. She witnessed the frontline sweeping twice through the land. In 1944 her brother joined the Czechoslovak units. After the war, Tamara and her parents moved to Czechoslovakia and settled down near Rakovník in central Bohemia. Tamara worked in an agricultural concern in Vroutek and Podbořany and she married one of her colleagues. In 1960 started working for the local municipality. She lives in Vroutek.

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Photos (9)
  • Tamara Lenzová with her granddaughter, Sepember 2012
    Tamara Lenzová with her granddaughter, Sepember 2012
    photo: Martin Reichl
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  • Tamara Lenzová, Sepember 2012
    Tamara Lenzová, Sepember 2012
    photo: Martin Reichl
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  • Tamara Lenzová, Sepember 2012
    Tamara Lenzová, Sepember 2012
    photo: Martin Reichl
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  • Young Tamara
    Young Tamara
    photo: Archiv Tamary Lenzové
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  • Young ladies from Česká Huleč, Tamara first right
    Young ladies from Česká Huleč, Tamara first right
    photo: Archiv Tamary Lenzové
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  • Křivka sisters, Tamara is the first one on the right
    Křivka sisters, Tamara is the first one on the right
    photo: Archiv Tamary Lenzové
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  • Tamara with her sister and her brother
    Tamara with her sister and her brother
    photo: Archiv Tamary Lenzové
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  • Wedding photo
    Wedding photo
    photo: Archiv Tamary Lenzové
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  • Boris Zeman, a Vohlynian Czech and a friend of Tamara Křivková, who died in 1944 in England during a training flight
    Boris Zeman, a Vohlynian Czech and a friend of Tamara Křivková, who died in 1944 in England during a training flight
    photo: Archiv Tamary Lenzové
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  • date:
    31.12.1992
  • medium type:
    Publication
  • medium name:
    Huleč Česká na Volyni
  • author:
    Jiří Bonek, Danuše Manová, Václav Stárek