Věra Smržová

“My grandfather, Dad’s father, was sent to Vroutek near Podbořany as a vehicle fleet administrator because he used to drive a Sentinel [a British-designed steam lorry manufactured by Škoda - trans.]. He had lived in Vienna for many years, so he spoke fluent German, so he could be stationed in Vroutek, that was in the Sudetes. He was placed there, or for some reason like that. Dad received a letter saying he had been murdered by one German family. In a rather drastic manner. He was going to the pub after work, it was on the main square, in the culture centre. He used to go sit and drink there every evening after work. By the road leading round under the school - I still know where that house stands - one German had a shoemaker’s shop there, he had two daughters. I don’t know why they ambushed him there, but they stabbed him to death with stitching awls and other shoemaking tools. He bled to death. When they found him, it was immediately clear who did it. They shot the whole family at the playfield by the forest, on the spot, they didn’t mess around with it. They buried them there. So Granddad was dead, and Dad was given the option to move to Vroutek as compensation. He was a mechanic and a machinist, the so-called black trades. That he would get confiscated property from some Germans, a house and workshop. That they’re up for grabs. That he could settle down there and start a small business. My parents decided to take up the offer. We moved to Vroutek in 1946.”

“Dad also said: ‘You won’t dress in that red rag! If I see that, you’ll be seeing something!’ So I wasn’t a Pioneer. To get a place in the school, I had to be one. The headmaster came to me and said: ‘Look, never mind your dad, we’ll manage without him. Would you accept being a teacher?’ - ‘Yeah, I might.’ - ‘You’ll join the Pioneers secretly, you’ll leave your scarf at school and we’ll sign you up for a teaching school.’ And so it was. I was a secret Pioneer, the scarf stayed at school, and it was a good thing. I passed the entrance exams and set off to Carlsbad, I lived in a dormitory, and I liked it there. But! I was in my teens, everything was different, and they kept pushing stuff at you from all sides, so I completely... Not that I’d stop believing, no, but I pushed somewhere deep down. Because I joined the folk troop, we had to go to all sorts of political meetings to sing to them and dance and carry flags. At the teaching school we had to sign that we were having ourselves removed from the Church - all of us who were believers. We participated in May Day parades and the such. When I think about it now, it seems like we were crazy. We immediately had to join the Youth Union and become Pioneer leaders because we were preparing to work with children. Everyone led a troop in some school - so yet more scarves. If Dad had known! But he does know... We marched in parades and everyone kept singing: ‘Susie asked Jackie, Jack...’ We did silly things like that, but we were happy.”