"I came to my native village after 33 years, and I recognised almost all the women. I stopped by at my cousin's, and when I saw the neighbour from across the road, I greeted her by her nickname. My cousin was surprised that I not only recognise everyone, but I even know their nicknames. But I didn't know it wasn't her real name, that it was more of an insult. Not until my cousin explained to me that that wasn't a real name. You see, in Greek villages, every family had a bad name, a nickname. For instance if they had a short neck, or if they talked too much, or had a skin disease or something."
"When I came to the children's home, the girls were already learning Czech. So I took the classes as well. We were all Greek children, so we just spoke in Greek amongst us. I can remember how we read the story Jak šlo šídlo do lesa [How the dragonfly went to the forest - transl.]. I didn't know what a dragonfly was [what the word meant]. In Greek, we don't have 'š' [pronounced 'sh']. But in Greek we have the Pontic dialect, and there we do have š, ž and so on. So we knew how to pronounce that. The teachers were dumbfounded."
"The first time we went to visit Greece was in 1980 with Mum. They stopped us at the borders between Czechoslovakia and Hungary. They opened my suit-case, where I had a new dress, some crochet table-cloths, porcelain and the like. The policeman said everything must come out. I was aghast, I explained to him that I'm visiting Greece for the first time after 33 years, that I have a family there, so I'm bringing them each a little gift. But he asked me if I knew how many people slink through the borders like this to profiteer. I told him I'm not going to profiteer, I'm visiting my family and I'm not going empty-handed. So they let us through in the end, but we had to pay a hundred crowns."
photo: Archiv pamětníka a fotografie pořízená během natáčení
photo: Archiv pamětníka a fotografie pořízená během natáčení
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Vasiliki Michailidu was born on the 20th of September 1934 in the northern Greek village of Rizochori. She left Greece together with her siblings in 1948, and after a short stay at an unknown Yugoslavian monastery and in Bulkes, she was taken in a transport to the children’s home in Sobotín near Šumperk. In 1951 she started studies at a vocational school in Chotěboř. After graduating, she moved to her mother in Karviné. In 1953 she met her future husband in the so-called Greek Block in Karviné (a block of flats in a house with Greek inhabitants only). Most of her family returned to Greece. She and her husband decided to stay in Czechoslovakia because of their sons and also for financial reasons. In 1990 they both accepted Czech citizenship. The Michailidises speak both Czech and Pontic [a Greek dialect] at home. They still uphold Greek traditions, especially keeping to Greek cuisine, although through their sons who have married Czech women, a strong Czech influence is visible.
