"However, I learned that the artists have a meeting in front of Mánes that very Monday, and then we went in a parade, where - we walked under the scaffolding, there [were] scaffoldings everywhere - it suddenly blacked out. There were these lamps, and they suddenly went out. And we all thought this was intentional and similar to what happened on Národní třida [17. November] – it was already Monday [20. November] – they will somehow squeeze us there and crush us or something. [I got] the feeling of fear that we were trapped. In the end, it really wasn't [as we feared]. That's how I realized how afraid a person is. And then the next [thing] was that they were signing various petitions, declarations, and so on. So I signed as well. Then I went home from Wenceslas Square from the enthusiastic crowd, and there it had died down. There [were] empty streets with scaffolding, with closed blinds, as one knew it. I came to the house, took a piece of paper, and wrote on the board: 'Let's stop being afraid!' And behind me appeared a guy who - as it turned out - was the secret one who lived in the conspiracy apartment. He was standing behind me, and then he said, 'Yeah, and you think it's going to end well?' I said, 'I just want us to stop worrying.' And he said, 'Well, you'll see.' So I came home and thought: 'Maybe it won't really work out.' I called my friend and excitedly told her that I was going to go to the demonstrations, that things had to change, that I had signed a statement, and she said to me: 'Alena, do you know what you did? Do you know that your children won't be able to study anymore, and it's over?' I put the phone down, and then I thought: 'My God, what have I done? I will make it impossible for my children to study!'"
"Father was at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the 1950s, he so-called volunteered for production because he worked, for example, with [Vavro] Hajdů, who was also on trial with Slánský and got sentenced to life imprisonment. So [father] saw people disappearing in the office and decided to sign up voluntarily. He received three salaries and worked as a turner for two years in Meopta. He actually took it constructively and was a proud worker. My mother was terribly upset that he, an intellectual and a lawyer, pretended to be working class. Since the factory had its own newspaper, interviews with my father have also been preserved - he was a meritorious worker because he fulfilled the plans for I don't know how many percent - where he speaks really from conviction in a very constructive way and says: 'Yes, register to the factory! You see that there is meaning, and you built something,' and so on."
Alena Laufrová was born on 10 August 1952 in Prague to Slovak parents. Mother Berta Laufrová, née Nemlahová, had a talent for languages and artistic talent, but due to political and period reasons, she could only use them to a limited extent. Father JUDr. Josef Laufer was of Jewish origin. After the Second World War, he held high positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before he „volunteered“ for production as part of Action 77 (shortly before the trial of Rudolf Slánský). He worked for three years in Meopta in Prague as a turner. From 1954 he was employed as a lawyer in the secretariat of the Institute of Microbiology of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Dejvice. Alena Laufrová studied in the years 1970–1976 at the Prague Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design (now UMPRUM) in the studio of Prof. Zdenek Sklenář. From 1976 she was a freelancer, making a living by selling free graphics, mainly through the company Dílo, to a lesser extent through Art Centrum, and occasionally book illustrations for poetry. In 1978, she had her first solo exhibition. After 1989, she began doing charitable and volunteer activities (leading art groups) with children, youth, disabled adults, and seniors in social institutions. Since the mid-1990s, she has taught at the Duncan Center dance conservatory (1995–2008), at the J. Werich Elementary School in Řepy (2006–2008), and at the private Secondary School of Applied Arts in Pilsen (2008–2010). She continued to devote herself to her own work. In 2000, she was admitted to the Association of Czech Graphic Artists HOLLAR. At the time of filming in 2022, in addition to visual arts, she was engaged in curatorial activities, documentary theater, writing poetry, and helping those in need.
Grandfather Abraham Laufer, grandmother Alžběta (née Hornová), on the left the father of the witness Josef Laufer, on the right his siblings Magda and Martin
Grandfather Abraham Laufer, grandmother Alžběta (née Hornová), on the left the father of the witness Josef Laufer, on the right his siblings Magda and Martin
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!
