"They started interrogating me and they wanted to know whether I know that Malíšek. I said yes, he is a prist, we [the Sisters] would go there to attend the Holy Mass. I had no idea why I was there and what had I done. Only in the course of the interrogations I understood it. Father Malíšek let two men stay overnight at the vicarage. They were Polish and they wanted to get to West Germany. I didn't know that they were on the run. They only asked me how to get to the vicarage so I told them and I never saw them again. They reprimanded me, I shouldn't have shown them the vicarage, that I should go to the police. I told them that I was no squealer and when someone on the street asks me where someone lives, I'm not going to announce it to the police."
"Our oblation (entering into novitiate) was in 1950, all us seventen girls. And then were the novice Sisters. But times were changing rapidly. The situation in the country was sort of dubious and weird and there were all sorts of gossip circulating, that some convents released their novices, that they sent them home. So that they wouldn't worry. Our superiors wanted to send us home but se started crying that we wanted to stay with them. They decided to take them with us and they gave us black veils instead of white ones so that the Commies wouldn't find out that we are novices. One morning, a bus came. We had to get up and dress quickly, we already had a small suitcase packed and we got on the bus. The priest from Křelov was standing at the curb and blessed us."
[Message to the following generations] "I would advise them to guard their thoughts. To see the differences between good and bad and to lean towards the good. And, importantly, to pray to God or to seek him. To love all people around them, without exceptions. To forgive the others and lead them to love because only when one loves all the people, only then will they be able to withstand everything. Many times, I thought to myself that the prison guards... that I wouldn't be able to hate anyone. They did their duty. It was their job so they did it."
Božena Knotková or Sister Bohdana was born Vlčnov near Uherské Hradiště on the 1st July of 1931. After basic school, she attended the Trade School for Ladies’ Vocations in Bojkovice where the Dominican sisters taught. She felt attracted to consecrated life. She donned the habit in 1950. In the same year, she and other sisters were interned in the so-called centralisation convents during the Operation Ř [Ř stands for řeholnice – professed nun or sister] She spent the following years living in various places; the Sisters had to work in various factories to earn their living. In 1954, she was arrested by the State Security and detained in custody for three months. Sister Bohdana was falsely accused of helping two men in their attempt to emigrate. She was tried and the court did not confirm the accusation but she was to serve seven months. The court’s argument gave the reason that she was politically retarded and a religious fanatic. Later, she lived in Broumov for many years. At the time of recording (2020), Sister Bohdana lived in a Dominican convent in Střelice.
Hrdinové 20. století odcházejí. Nesmíme zapomenout. Dokumentujeme a vyprávíme jejich příběhy. Záleží vám na odkazu minulých generací, na občanských postojích, demokracii a vzdělávání? Pomozte nám!
