My father went to Nanaimo, a place near here, where they studied ecology and one of his students was a Dieter Müller. My father took him as his son. “The man here is really important and he is really like my son.’’ He educated him in ecology and forestry. Well, I met him a few times when we were in that chalet in the summer and he studied ecology and worked. Mr Müller and his wife went to have a swim one evening. There was a small lake there. Their children were sitting on my mother´s lap crying a bit. And she was hugging and kissing them. She called me and said: “Vláďa, if anybody in the concentration camp had told me that I would be hugging German children, I´d have told them they had gone mad.’’ I am only talking about this now because it is interesting that my parents went through really hard times in the concentration camp and so on, and yet there was not a terrible anger in them. And they didn´t teach me to hate people although they had such horrible experiences. And I feel grateful.
"I´ve always had a relationship to the Czechs because there had always been some Czechs around my parents. And when I came to the Czech Republic first time, in the 90s with the Velvet Revolution, this opened my eyes. That not every Czech was perhaps my relative, some kind of DNA, but it was interesting to widen my first impressions to see who the Czechs were and so on. Well, my father was a big patriot. He kept talking about how the Czechs are wonderful so I was proud of being Czech. When I came to Czechia, I learned that the Czechs were like any other people. It had been interesting for me to hear that the Czech nation was great, but when I got closer, I could see they were the same nation as other nations. That they have lots of wonderful advantages, lots of characteristic things we are proud of. And on the other hand, lots of other things I´m not so proud of. You find the same in Canada."
"father´s aim had always been to become the President of the National Socialist Party in Exile. He had some articles published in American newspapers, he subscribed to them and read Czech newspapers and in the end he said – there´s going to be a Congress in Paris and I could be of help there, but in the end this was changed. The Congress took place in Prague and I was happy that, for the first time, we went as a family there. My sister, me, mother and father. The circle closed nicely in the way that my parents´ life had such a happy ending. I met all our relatives for the first time, people that I had only known from photographs. We also met President Havel. That was very interesting and very nice. And to see what everything looks like for the first time. And to travel to Třebíč and see all the roads and so on. This was really beautiful. Well, my father received an award in the Republic and also in Canada for his work. Very soon (after the arrival to Canada – MČ) my parents took an interest in Vancouver society life. Other Professors at university, the gourmet circles. Their life had changed into a Canadian life. Although they still loved the Czech nation and the Czech country, my mother, when we finally arrived back in Vancouver, said that she was happy to be home."
Vladimír Krajina was born on 15th December 1947 in Prague. Yet, his entire life until now has been spent in Canada because he was carried away from Czechoslovakia as an eight-month-old baby.However, for years he has kept his Czech language, awareness of being Czech and the appreciation of Czech culture. Vladimír has an exceptional family background: his father, Prof. Vladimír Krajina, led the non-Communist resistance movement during WWII, was an outstanding natural scientist and after the war was elected the General Secretary of the National Socialist Party. His mother was imprisoned in Ravensbrück and later, together with her husband, in Theresienstadt. Vladimír has successfully completed his studies of medicine in Canada and has become a respected doctor. He currently lives in Canada.
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!
