Being a western resistance fighter, Dad just couldn’t stomach the Communists winning here
Stáhnout obrázek
Blažena Baborová, née Andělová, was born on 7 February 1935 near Nitra in West Slovakia. In March 1939 her father Jan Anděl left via Poland to France, where he joined the Foreign Legion. After the outbreak of World War II he was transferred to the Czechoslovak military forces. In June 1940 he took part in the Battle of France. After France capitulated he and other members of the Czechoslovak Foreign Army retreated to Britain. In 1944 he fought at Dunkirk. After the war he became the National Administrator of a hotel in the spa town Františkovy Lázně, and after the Communist coup in February 1948 he guided people over the borders into Germany. On 11 April 1948 he was guiding his family and other people. The group was detained by members of the National Defence Corps (the police) and in the ensuing encounter Jan Anděl was shot and killed. The witness‘s pregnant mother Pavla Andělová was held in custody for two months, she gave birth to her second daughter after being released. The family continued to live in Františkovy Lázně. Blažena learnt to be a clockmaker in Nové Město nad Metují, and she applied this craft in Aš. She then worked as a shop assistant at a jeweller‘s in Cheb; after returning from mother‘s leave she was employed at the spa in Františkovy Lázně. She graduated from an evening school of economics and worked as an accountant in a coal depot and at the Balneo spa centre. She retired in 1990.
