“In two days, after my dad's arrest, it was the day of Joseph the nineteenth, they came for my mother. My mother was a very wise lady, always thinking ahead. She was preparing a small briefcase and putting things in it. We asked what she was doing, she said they would come for her so she was getting ready. When they came for her, she was really ready. When they were taking her through the door, she turned around and told me that I was older and that if they would not return with my dad, I would have to take care of Hana. I can tell you that I got older at that moment. It was so serious that I would never forget it.”
“I just remember my dad was so sad, lost in thought, mum too, they were probably in tension. When the Gestapo came in the morning at half past six in March 1942. It was at half past six in the morning. Dad was in a nightgown, he had bare feet, just slippers, I see it like now. He had a gun between his shoulder blades, and Wolner led him into the men's room. There they went through the things and looked for something. They were three together. They were screaming, my mother was around there somewhere. They messed up the whole apartment. They also cut up the mattresses and kept looking for weapons. They found nothing and took their father away.”
"We lived with my grandmother; we were at place her in Vinohrady all the time." - "You couldn't go back to your apartment?" - „No way, Germans lived there at that time. And the Gestapo, there were three, and Mr. Švarc from the warehouse told us that three trucks had arrived. They apparently already divided everything in our apartment, everyone already knew what he would take and they stole everything. Mr. Švarc quickly put a box there. Those things were in the booths, they were not closed rooms there. So he put one box and a sewing machine there. And imagine that Miller told him where the sewing machine was. From this we concluded that they knew exactly what anyone was taking, and he missed the sewing machine. And so Mr. Švarc gave him the sewing machine. They were such bastards, thieves. All three. They beggar our parents. There were also duvets, the whole apartment with all the things.”
"What did Dad organize in that Buchenwald?" - "He was in the office in front of the gate. It wasn't right in the camp. He always went through the main gate to the office. He said there was a German person, completely stupid, and my dad arranged everything for him. The underground movement was so thorough that they somehow got him there, so he would be useful for them. So he had to carry the files of a man they had labeled from time to time through that gate. They took the files from him, discussed them, and little bit thinner files had to be brought back by my dad. He said he had to always ask the clerk for German and military access to the archive. Everything had to be in compliance. It had happened to him once that he was carrying some files again, and the clerks already knew him, so they always let him go. But this time they said, 'Halt!' and wanted to check him. Dad said he was petrified because he knew it was over. Suddenly, there was a car approaching them, and the German soldier had to received it and told Dad to continue walking. When Dad told us this, we told him he was a hero. But he said, 'I was not, children, I almost sh… in my pants...'.”
“Because we were led to follow patriotism, the President was respected at our house. When he died, my parents cried and I cried with them. Then there was a funeral and I watched it. I remember they were carrying a coffin and I asked my dad what the car was. And Daddy told me it wasn't a car, but a carriage. That it is a military affair and a great honor and all. I still remember it today.”
“I will never forget March 15, 1939. That was something so sad. Motorbikes were driven by Germans under our windows. And the Germans wore such green, protective clothing. It was raining and snowing together and it was terribly sad. At that time someone rang at the door, both parents went to open the door, because it was a very tense moment. There was a Lucerna house keeper and three German soldiers. They had leather boots and riding breeches. I, as a child, could only see them up to the knees. And I was saying that they were the bad soldiers. My parents pushed me to my room to be quiet. The house keeper asked Dad to let the gentlemen to the window, so they could see that the owner wanted it. So, dad couldn't resist. So the Germans watched their glory from our window and we were sad. And it was an appeal to move and not to live in the Lucerna house. My dad was in an underground resistance movement. My mother knew, I knew all those uncles, too.”
Eva Krupičková, neé Polanská, was born on June 20, 1931 in Prague to a well-situated family of the Procurator of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of Zdeněk Polanský and his wife Marie, the owner of the salon with women‘s hats. Until 1939 they lived at the St. Wenceslas Square in the Lucerna Palace, then they moved to a less conspicuous place in Žitná Street. Zdeněk Polanský worked in the anti-Nazi resistance, which helped Czechoslovak officers to get across the border. He had his weapons hiding in his office. In March 1942 he was arrested by the Gestapo for betraying one of the resistance fighters, but the hiding place was not revealed. Despite that he was sent to the Terezín Small Fortress and then to Buchenwald, from where he was not supposed to return. Marie Polanská was also prosecuted, and after several weeks she was released on reverse for dependent children. Zdeněk Polanský worked in the underground network in Buchenwald, helping to save the lives of prisoners. Then, in 1943, thanks to an underground network, he got free because of the lack of evidence. Half a year after his release, however, a Gestapo, who was in charge of his case, met him on the St. Wenceslas Square, and sent him back to Buchenwald. His wife had to serve the rest of the several-month sentence she had, sharing a cell with Milada Horáková. After the war, the whole family met happily. In the years 1946 - 1949, Eva graduated from the Professional School for Women ‚s Professions - millinery, finished with a workman exam. From 1949 to 1954 she worked in the company Textilní tvorba Praha. There she received further professional training. In 1954 she moved to the company Oděvní Tvorba, where she worked as a production and plant manager. From 1960 to 1966, she worked at the headquarters of Drobné zboží Praha, then at the School Administration in Prague 4 and remained there until retirement in 1994.
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!
