Erwin Zwerschina

* 1932

  • "One day, a former student of my father came to his school, who became a lieutenant in the meantime. He was twenty-two years old, showed up dressed in a uniform, stood before my father and waited for him to salute him. My father was the school director, he fought in WW I, and when the lieutenant asked him why he hadn't saluted him, he slapped his head. That took place in the morning. In the afternoon, dad was brought away by the Gestapo. Out from the school by the Gestapo, and straight into Wehrmacht."

  • "One hot August day, our street was taken over by guards carrying assault rifles. What a horror. It was clear to us immediately that now, it was our turn to be expelled. My uncle told me: 'Run quickly to Imperial to cpt. Pankrato.' I ran through the rear side. Drahovice are placed on a hill, so I had to start off rapidly. I was proud of myself for becoming a saviour. I started off quickly up the hill. I wasn't a good runner but I made it to the Imperial Hotel. Cpt. Pankrato jumped up in his uniform, got to his heavy black limousine, placed me on the back seat and we drove down towards our street. When we got there, cpt. Pankrato got out but there was no Czech revolutionary there anymore. This was the beginning of our expulsion, which took place on 2 October 1945. That day, me and my mother walked on foot via Sokolov and Cheb towards Bavaria. Wearing backpacks and briefcases."

  • "For a long time, there were no food stamps. When the Russians came, there was a long cue along the hospital fence. We used to pick nettles and make a salad out of them - previously, dogs peed on them. We stole potatoes from the farmers. When there was bread, one had to stand in the line at 3 a.m. already. Otherwise, when the baker opened up at 7, one couldn't get any more bread. It was completely normal to eat mouldy bread back then."

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    Rehau, Německo, 09.07.2018

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It’s a shame we hadn’t learned Czech

Erwin Zwerschina, 2018
Erwin Zwerschina, 2018
photo: PB

Erwin Zwerschina was born on 17 June 1932 in Drahovice, a district of Karlovy Vary. His father worked as a school director in Rybáře, his mother warked in his grandma’s corset shop on the Karlovy Vary promenade. As a smalll boy, he was up to many mischiefs and adventures. In 1944, his father was drafted and sent to the battlefront. After the end of the war, the German population of Czechoslovakia was in permanent insecurity about what would happen the next day. The Zwerschina family were no different. On 2 October 1945, Erwin and his mother escaped to Germany. At the end of the year, they settled in Sulzbach-Rosenberg where they found a new home. Erwin Zwerschina studied civil engineering and worked in the field his whole life. In 1983, he became the ‘Ortsbetreuer’ of Drahovice, and later of the whole Karlovy Vary district. He still has a strong bond with his former homeland.