Antonie Militká

Once my brother went to the hallway, it was ten o'clock at night. He turned on the light and there stood Mrs. Jílková. He told me later he was terribly scared. And she said, "Karlíček, don´t be worry, it's me, I'm waiting here. Today came Gestapo and questioned about you. And I said, I do not know where you are and what you're doing, that I don´t see you. They threatened me that if I will not speak the truth, they´ll shot my husband who does forced labour in Germany." She lived in the street Hybešova with three children. And she said: "And then when they started yelling at me that they´ll shot my husband, I said that sometimes I see you. And that I'll give you the summons to the Gestapo." Before, our mother had to sign that Karel is missing, that he was not seen since the first bombing. She signed that and in Pragu they didn´t care more. But the Gestapo did. So Karel took the summons and said, "Thank you, Mrs. Jílková, I'll go there in the morning." He took it and went home. There he took the money, some postcards, and walked into Vranov where we had friends. There he stayed for a week, then thanked and left. They wanted to keep him there, but he didn´t want to. He returned to the workshop. And then he experienced the passage of the front.

In that time the transport already went from there. People went and didn´t know where are they going. First transports appeared already, at night at the train station. First, they led them to the street Merhautova, to the school which stood there. There was the gathering. After day or two when Germans inspected their luggage if they all have a maximum of thirty kilos ... In the meantime those people stayed in the gym. And then they went do Židenice station - at two o'clock at night, so the least people could see them. There were wagons, sometimes passenger, sometimes for cattle. Nobody knew where they went.

My friend, who was my primary schoolmate - her father was still in the Jewish community in Legionary street. The Gestapo men were among them and made transports. They work was simple work: they came to (Jewish) community and wanted registrar. Thus they got all the information. The Gestapo had hired people who have not been in transportation yet, and they had to make records transports, numbering, etc. And in that time my friend came and said: "Tonička, dad works at the Jewish community. There is a list of transport, which is called CY. I'm on the registered in that list and so are you." She told me this in January 1943. I asked: "Is there anyone else from my family?" She replied: "No, nor from my family. From our families only we are there." So I said: "Liduška, what shall I do? "And she said: "We can have thirty kilos of baggage, so you have to prepare." I replied: "Well, if it's possible, I will." We came to our house through the garden, and I told her: "Liduška, there´s only one thing I ask of you – don´t say anything to my parents." This was in January. It was snow and ice. "As it should be in April and who knows what may happen till that day, so do not say anything to them please. And every day, they won´t know I'm in transportation, every that day is better for them."

Transports were running and we were in a "Transportleitung" and we had to help. Because the transports were dispatched to Theresienstadt, back, and of course there have been a lot of Poles, Germans and other nationalities. They all came to Theresienstadt. They gathered them everywhere and brought to Theresienstadt. The wagons were awful - seventy people in one wagon, and only twenty living. Fifty were dead. And the bodies had to be pulled out and taken away. The food and everything, it was miserable. Some of the Poles, poor them, they even weren´t people anymore. Only bones held them together somehow. The Theresienstadt was not ready yet. For example a soup was poured into barrels to give it to them. So they stood there for a while and suddenly began to beat to get to eat. So they upset the soup and did not have anything. And so on - it was life-threatening. And they brought serious illnesses - typhoid and everything.