When you make a decision in life, stand by it
Stáhnout obrázek
Marta Ernyeiová, née Tupá, was born on 12 February 1944. Her father František had German citizenship at that time, because he was born in Vienna. He and his parents moved to Czechoslovakia in 1920, but he was not able to change his citizenship until after the war. For the family, this meant being falsely accused of supporting Germany. They did not improve their reputation by publicly showing their opposition to the Communist Party, for example during the 1948 elections or by boycotting the compulsory agricultural brigades. This had consequences for Marta; she did not get into any secondary school in Prague and had to go to medical school in Teplice. After graduating in 1962 she worked as a nurse. In the spring of 1968 she decided to emigrate to England with her future husband. It helped that Ondřej Ernyei was born in London, where his Jewish parents had emigrated before the war; after the war they returned to Czechoslovakia. Marta married Ondřej in England and thus acquired British citizenship. In 1975, when they already had one daughter and were expecting another, they decided to return to Czechoslovakia. As they had been convicted in absentia of leaving the republic, they had to apply for a pardon. Upon their return, they faced a number of problems, including state security surveillance. After the Velvet Revolution, Marta Ernyeiová began working at the Israeli Embassy thanks to her knowledge of English, and after retiring she guided tourists around Jewish sites for ten years and is still active as a volunteer today. At the time of filming (2023) she lived in Prague.
