Emilie Závodská

* 1925

  • „As for the “banderovci“ bandits, could you tell us anything about them?“ „Well, these “banderovci“ really opressed us, they killed our reeve and we slept in the loft, two or three families. In the evening… who had a good door-latch …there we slept sometimes three families. We had a good door-latch on our pigsty, we slept above, so when the door-latched was made, we let them, when they came to take what they wanted, but to leave us alone, and they also set stacks on fire and so on, and they also killed our reeve and they robbed dairies.” “How did that killing of your reeve happen and what was his name?” “Brozík, his name was Brozík, so how, well they attacked, I think he sent his children away to hide, but he himself remained in the house, perhaps, so that´s how it happened.”

  • And now for the units, where did you go?“ “Well, I went to the 3. ambulance battalion. Together with one, another one from our village, she was also there with me. So there were two of us so we weren´t lonely.” “What was or what is her name?” “Milča, Emílie, as me, Červinková.”

  • „There was such a rally, all young boys, and they sort of guarded the village, but they, you know, didn´t want get involved in some kind of fighting, only when the dairy was attacked, I think there was some shooting, but nobody wanted to get into such skirmishes.” “Do you know any details about that attack on dairy?” “No, no, I don´t.”

  • „I´d like to go back a little bit and ask Mrs. Závodská if she could tell me something about Blaník and her activities in the organisation Blaník.“ „ Well this Blaník, it was that we had some kind of a look-out point in a loft and we took turns and were watching, there were mostly girls, the boys had some weapons, you know, and when we heard they were coming, they usually came in such convoys to rob or to get someone, we were terribly afraid, well, so we were signalling to the boys.“

  • „I wonder if you could tell me how the course went on, what it was like.“ „ Well, I have to say there were two elderly nurses, and they were really kind. They told us everything, you know, we spoke no Russian at all, so what we could understand from that, it was what they were explaining and we were also training practically. They let us in the hospital but, you know, we were fledglings, we couldn´t do much, what can you learn in four months…” Then we took this interview or an exam, they said: if you don´t know it in Russian, say it in Czech. And we sometimes didn´t know even in Czech, but we all passed with “atlično” – the best marks, so it was O.K., you know.”

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    Teplice, 08.01.2008

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    duration: 58:52
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
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I pray for everyone to be healthy and happy For my grandchildren to do well at school and for me to be here with them for a few more years

Závodská - Kudrnová_1945.jpg (historic)
Emilie Závodská
photo: foto: Lukáš Krákora

Emílie Závodská was born on 2. January in the village of Hulcze, Volhynia, Poland. She grew up in the family of a farmer Josef Kudrna, she had two sisters. She had good childhood, though she had to help with the work on the farm. From September 1939 her home village was occupied first by Russians then by Germans and after them Russians came again. In summer 1941 Germans were going through their village during their invasion into The Soviet Union. Before Emílie Závodská joined the The First Czechoslovakian Army, she worked in an illegal organisation Blaník. She helped to guard and protect the village from „banderovci“ bandit groups who were stealing everything they could find. (We used to sleep in a loft, sometimes several families together. Downstairs we left it for „banderovci“ to take everything they wanted but to spare us.) In the year 1944 together with her father she entered The First Czechoslovakian army and took a medical course in Kiev. She spent there four months in hospital and at the end of the course she passed an exam. After the exam she returned home. In January 1945 she was allocated to 3. ambulance battalion where she worked until the end of the war. In 1945 in the hospital she also met her husband, who was a patient there. She did not return to Volhynia after the war, she settled in Bohemia and her parents and her both married sisters joined her there. For most of her professional life she worked as a caretaker in The House of Pioneers in Teplice. She married Jakub Závodský (died in 1993) and they have two children.