The hung the women by their feet and took the men to the barracks and beat them
Walburga Ruprichová, née Harichová, was born on 30 March 1931 in Supíkovice (German: Saubsdorf) in the Jeseníky region to German parents. During the Great Depression the whole family moved to Moravský Karlov (German: Mährisch Karlsdorf), eighty kilometres away on the border of the Jeseníky and Orlické Mountains. During World War II her two brothers were drafted into the Wehrmacht. Erich died in Russia and Anton remained in captivity in the Netherlands until 1946. Only a few days after the end of World War II, Walburga witnessed the arrival of member of the partisan platoon Jiří in Moravský Karlov. They organised a people’s tribunal in the village, after which they executed two local Germans, confiscated German property, bound three local women and hung them head down for several hours, and sentenced dozens of German inhabitants to brutal physical punishment. In late September 1946 the family was taken to the concentration camp in Mohelnice, where they spent six weeks. However, they were not deported with the Germans, and the following two years they worked on a farm in Palonín and then on the state farm in Březná. When they were finally given back their Czechoslovak citizenship in 1954, they were allowed to return to Moravský Karlov. A year later the witness married the Czech František Ruprich, whose family owned a large farm in the neighbouring village of Písařov. During the collectivisation her father-in-law was held in prison for two months and the family was pressured into relinquishing their lands in lieu of the state farm. Her two sons had many problems with their studies due to their class background. As of 2016 Walburga Ruprichová still lives in Písařov.
