“Those little German children lived alongside the remaining Jewish children in the manor house, and it didn’t seem a bit strange to the children, they had no idea, they were little children. So they didn’t think it at all odd that those were Jewish children and maybe the children of those whom their own elders had hurt, it simply didn’t occur to them. They lived together there, and made friends, and played together, did everything together, even though the ones were Germans and the others Jews.”
“Olga Fierzová lived with him there, in the Milíč House, and she was Swiss by birth. I have no idea where they met, how they met, what happened. But she was a practical sort of woman who executed the plans made by Přemysl, which he would not have been able to carry out or complete on his own.”
“In March I had witnessed the Kbely air raid and in May we were already at the manor house – my husband in Štiřín and I started in Lojovice with pre-school children. Six- or seven-year-olds were an exception. They were all younger, I remember having to put them up on a potty at nights. They were orphans from various concentration camps, but mainly Theresienstadt. According to my observations they recovered quickly by receiving a sufficient supply of food in an appropriate combination. Some dry porridge and a bit of butter. They lacked food in the long-term and gradually the ratios increased so they were recovering fast. And if any of them were in a poor condition, they were taken to be cared for in the nearby Milíč Medical House.”
“There was a large garden in front of our house and right by the wall there stood a tall pear tree. A mortar shell once landed on it and cut it in half; a part of it fell down. That was a big blast, but it probably didn’t actually explode, no one in the house was in any danger.”
“For him, relationships were essential; not just love but emotional relationships between people. He believed those had to exist and that there could be no good life without them. That this emotional connection must exist not just towards the Divine, but also amongst people. That no one should harm anyone else, and that we have to behave openly towards each other. He had a completely charismatic attitude; and when he looked at us with his blue eyes... you could feel the kindness radiating from him. I could not even imagine that such a man could do anything bad, or even say bad things.”
Karla Moravcová was born on 23 June 1926 in Prague - Břevnov. During the war an unexploded aerial bomb fell in their garden. She apprenticed as a dressmaker and later attended a commerce academy. She was forced to labour at a warehouse near Kbely Airport, where she experienced several air raids and bombings. She met her future husband there, and he brought her to the community of the Christian thinker and activist Přemysl Pitter. Under his supervision she participated as a child-carer in the post-war Castles Project: she took care of small Jewish children who had survived the concentration camps. Her experience influenced her decision to devote herself to professional childcare. She completed a one-year foster course and worked as a teacher all her life. Karla Moravcová died on November 30th, 2022.
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!
