Klára Křehlíková

"And we had to get up in the morning in the dark. We could only wash in the barn. There was water from the tap and we had to wash there. And we went to the hop yard in the dark, that was far. We couldn't even go anywhere... We had food stamps and money with us from home, but we couldn't buy anything because when we went it was still dark and everything was closed. We came to the hop farm and they wouldn't let us go anywhere for the whole day. In the evening, we went out of the hop farm and everything was closed again. So, we were really hungry there. They gave us some unsweetened coffee substitute in the morning from skim milk, because there was no sugar, it was on the stamps, they didn't give us that. At noon we were given water and in that they boiled some potatoes, they called it potato soup. It was unsalty so we wouldn't be thirsty. To drink, they gave us a jug of water with vinegar for the whole day, and in the evening, they gave us some of that coffee again, which we poured out at first, but then we were hungry, so we drank it anyway, because we were downright hungry. That's how they kept us there."

"Because dad was very well known, all those cops knew him, they belonged to the city. We used to go to see him at the town office, too. So, dad had a lot of acquaintances. I liked to go for walks with dad, he used to take me to town. We used to go to these - it was Klein and Bergmann, the name of the store. It was a big toy store. Dad knew them well. They used to let me at the cash register there, I always liked to sell. Well, they used to let me sell there. And even when old Mrs. Bergmann died, dad took me to the funeral. That was the first Jewish funeral I ever saw. In Boleslav, there's a famous Jewish cemetery. Dad took me to that funeral of Mrs. Bergmann. I was amazed that the funeral was so simple. No flowers - that they put stones there, not flowers. So, I asked dad about it, and he said, 'Well, wait until we go out, you'll see.' Indeed, when we went out, there was an attendant standing there with a big tray. People were throwing hundreds of crowns, big money. He already had a whole pile. And dad said: 'See, so instead of them doing an expensive funeral like you knew.' We lived near the cemetery. Those funerals were so big and with music. So, there it was this simple, even the coffin was simple. There was just a blanket thrown over it. And they took that off and the coffin of Mrs. Bergmann... it was just a plain [coffin]. It was really a chest. And they contributed like that. That they give to the poor and support the other Jews. That was the last funeral back in the First Republic."