"When we lived on the housing estate in Nýřany, we had everything there, on the other hand there were no basic amenities in Chotěšov. There was no water piping. There was no sewerage system. There was no gas, of course. The basic amenities of those households were simply not there at all. You took water from the well, you went to the outhouse. That's what it looked like, and I didn't like it. The roads in the streets were just muddy. To tell you the truth, when it rained, we were wading in mud."
"Back then, they had to give certain testimonials to citizens. And I felt that especially at the time when both of my sons were entering the compulsory military service. I found out later, when I was worked in the office, that in those assessments it was written that the father was of German nationality, he has relatives in Germany, and thus it affected them as well, because simply and obviously it was dragging with them in that service."
"They had dual citizenship, well German citizenship. After 1950... I don't know by what law or by what means these people were granted Czech, then Czechoslovak, citizenship. It was when I came to the village that I found out that all the Germans who stayed here had red cards at the committee. That way they were listed on the red cards as if they were different from the Czechs."
Jaroslava Mathesová, née Šlesingerová, was born on 6 June 1948 in Černotín. She comes from a large farming family, so she had to help in the household and in the fields from a young age. That is why she could not continue her studies and went to work. She subsequently married Josef Mathes, who came from a German family. However, most of her husband’s relatives were expelled shortly after the war, so they settled in West Germany. The local national committee therefore monitored the family’s activities. In the early seventies they moved to Chotěšov, which was very neglected compared to their former home. Jaroslava Mathesová did not like this state of affairs and gradually became involved in local politics. The political transition after 1989 brought her to the municipal council, where she still serves in 2022. Thanks to her activity, Chotěšov has been reconstructed, and partly also the local landmark right in the centre of the village, the former monastery, which is now a sought-after historical monument. In 2022, she is still actively interested in the affairs of the village of Chotěšov, where she also lives.
