Dagmar Renertová

* 1930

  • "Proposal for awarding the Medal of Freedom to the lieutenant colonel of Czechoslovakian Army, Arnošt Kopřiva, for extraordinary services, which supported the United States in the war against the enemy in Central Europe as one of the Czechoslovak guerrilla commanders. When a unit of the Third Army of the United States liberated several hundred Czechoslovak patriots, Lt. Col. Kopřiva, along with several other commanders, organized a guerrilla unit to assist United States troops in conquering German Creussen and crushing a furious German tank-led counterattack. As the U.S. military continued its advance, capable leaders and disciplined guerrillas administered the city until the arrival of members of the military administration. Exceptional command skills, initiative and a sense of duty deserve high recognition of Allied armies for Lt. Col. Kopřiva."

  • "The year 1953 was coming, that was after the February 'victory'. Dad was fired from the army, ordered to evacuate the military apartment and move to the border within a fortnight, where I have the impression that they have offered him a job in a collective farm. So the colonel could work in the collective farm... But here again Mrs. Alba Bedřichová was there, who said: "Well, you won't go anywhere to the border, as I live here alone; we are a family." So we stayed in Řevnice."

  • "In the meantime, my mother left Ravensbrück as part of a transport of death, and that was to take place all the way to the Baltic Sea, for the prisoners to embark and get blown up. That was the plan. However, on the way to certain death, they were liberated by the Red Army. But meanwhile, my mother got typhus, so somewhere in Germany she went to the hospital. There, Alba Bedřichová was selflessly caring for her. When she got a bit better, they got to Řevnice through the repatriation office, where in the meantime, before we got the apartment, my mother lived with Miss Bedřichová. We came here to welcome her from Wallachia. That's how we met for the first time."

  • "The end of the unfortunate era of the protectorate is approaching. It was the year 1945 and Dad ended up in the prison in Creussen. It was a prison, where prisoners worked in a factory for the production of ammunition and weapons. And at that time, everyone believed that they would be liberated and that the weapons could make things easier for them as well. So - I'll use the word theft - they stole material, like parts of weapons and ammunition, and made a kind of a safe under the floor; ripped out planks and hid stuff under that floor. Their wish came true. They were waiting for the arrival of the US military. The US military was approaching led by the General Patton - and I must say he is my darling. All the prisoners who were physically capable made a sort of an uprising, disarmed their guards, and went to meet the American military. And my dad immediately joined the army. He was personally honoured by General Patton during the liberation of the town of Aš."

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    Řevnice, 10.07.2019

    (audio)
    duration: 38:37
    media recorded in project The Stories of Our Neigbours
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Work, work, work and do what one likes to do

Dagmar Renertová with her husband
Dagmar Renertová with her husband
photo: sbírka Post Bellum

Dagmar Renertová, née Kopřivová was born on December 24, 1930 in Prague. In 1935, the family moved to Olomouc, where her father Arnošt Kopřiva led the local garrison of the Czechoslovak army. Both her parents were imprisoned during the Protectorate, and Dagmar and her younger brother Milan were hiding with relatives in Wallachia. Father Arnošt Kopřiva took part in the liberation of the Creussen camp and subsequently, together with the American army, in the western part of Czechoslovakia. He received the Medal of Freedom from the General Patton. Mother Eliška Kopřivova, née Spáčilová helped families persecuted by the Nazis and transferred refugees across the border to Poland, for which she was imprisoned in Terezín and subsequently in Ravensbrück. She survived the death march and typhus infection. After the war, Dagmar studied at the School of Applied Arts in Prague and worked in the textile studio of Professor Antonín Kybal. She has worked all her life in the field of art and advertising; for 25 years she was the leading artist of the Fashion House in Prague. She spent most of her adult life in Řevnice, and for several years also in Hranice na Moravě.