To be humble and take life as God gives it
Helena Havlíčková was born October 4, 1923 in Brno to František and Augusta Zakopal. The well-to-do family raised their four daughters in piety, modesty and humbleness and Helena had a happy and harmonious childhood. When she completed her secondary school studies, Helena wanted to study medicine, but her plans were thwarted when the Nazis closed the Czech universities during the occupation and instead of study at the university she was at risk of being sent to Germany to do forced labour. At that time she already had a boyfriend and she hoped that if they married she and her partner would be thus protected from Totaleinsatz. She married him on February 13, 1943, but in spite of that, her husband had to leave to do forced labour in Dortmund where he worked as a fireman. During the bombardment of Dortmund he was on a leave in Brno when he became sick with appendicitis, and until the end of the war he thus stayed in Brno without returning to Germany again. Helena worked in so-called Luftschutz, the German anti-aircraft defence centre, as a telephone operator and she was transmitting messages about airplanes flying over the state borders. At the end of the war she experienced the bombardment of Brno. Due to the bombardment of the city she and her husband temporarily moved to Veverská Býtíška where they experienced the dramatic events of the last days of the war. After the liberation they returned to Brno. In the 1950s her husband was dismissed from a managerial position for his political views and he had to do a job of an unskilled worker. Later he became ill and Helena thus had to provide the major portion of the family‘s income. She raised their only son, who died tragically in 1998. In spite of the hardships, she has kept her deep faith in God and goodwill. Helena Havlíčková lives in Mother Rosa‘s Home in Rajhrad near Brno.