Olga Petříková

* 1937

  • "When we wanted to get closer - I was there too, I was already a little older, about thirteen or fourteen. So my mother took me with her and we wanted to shake his hand or squeeze. So immediately the end of the visit. Even though you were there - it was terribly cruel - when you came there from far away to see him, greet him and talk to each other. "End of visit, it’s not possible, no, no." They were harsh, extremely hard people who were staunch. It was a really cruel time, it's not like that anymore. "

  • “They took this house from us, we paid rent for it. Otherwise we would have to move out. They nationalized it, so we had to pay, otherwise we had to go. Somewhere on the border. And what were the consequences? I couldn't study, I had to find a job at the age of 15 to financially support my family. We paid for an apartment in our villa, otherwise they would have evicted us. Then I studied remotely, I had to learn on my own, and when I changed my name by marriage, I could only then live normally on an equal footing. "

  • "They actually starved them there. My mother was allowed a visit at the time, but my father did not focus. He came, he had two crutches, swollen legs, and it looked like he wouldn't survive. They said, Prepare for the death certificate because your father won't survive.' He couldn't concentrate at all, he just said, 'A piece of bread, a piece of bread.' He said nothing more. And her mother said, 'Crazy.' Then he got to Mírov, maybe the priests arranged it or I don't know. But there was great collegiality between them and they saved a lot of people. He was in about six prisons in those 11 years. He was taken in 1949 and returned in 1960. "

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Ostrava, 01.01.2014

    (audio)
    duration: 44:05
    media recorded in project Soutěž Příběhy 20. století
Full recordings are available only for logged users.

Only when I changed my name could I start living

Olga Petříková, née Brázdilová, was born in 1937 in Ostrava. Father František Brázdil, Ensign of the SNB, was arrested in 1949 and then in 1950, in a fabricated trial, sentenced to life imprisonment for high treason. Before his arrest, he was in contact with Jan Buchal, one of those executed during the trial of Milada Horáková. The family lost their property after his father’s conviction. František Brázdil was released on the basis of Antonín Novotný’s amnesty in 1960, after eleven years in prison. After the Velvet Revolution, the survivors were financially compensated, but František Brázdil died in 1988. Olga Petříková dedicated her professional life to teaching and led music education classes at primary school