At home, we knew that one sentence was enough to get arrested
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Radka Samuel, née Radomila Pytlíková, was born on 30 April 1955 in Mariánské Lázně, where her family lived until 1965. Her family’s memory was marked by the events of the first half of the 1950s - especially the currency reform of 1953 and the subsequent protests. Witness´s mother made a critical remark about the People’s Militia during a demonstration and was arrested on the spot. Despite passing the entrance exams, the witness was not accepted to the grammar school because her family was not one of the socially or politically preferred ones. She was admitted to the grammar school only on appeal. After graduation, she wanted to study veterinary medicine, but for political reasons this was not possible, so she enrolled at the Faculty of Education in Pilsen (Russian-German). After her studies, she taught at several schools in Pilsen, but her professional career was repeatedly restricted by cadre assessments. In 1987, she decided to take a crucial step: she emigrated with her husband and children during a trip to Yugoslavia. In Belgrade, the family applied for asylum at the United Nations and, after several months in a refugee camp, was admitted to the United States. There she changed her name to Radka Samuel and gradually built a new professional and personal life. In the US, she worked in a variety of professions - from manual to skilled - and eventually started her own logistics company. In 2025, she was living in Lawndale, California.
