"And then, when they were coming home, it was terribly sad because there were the bodies of many soldiers lying on the road. German, Russian next to each other. That was the harvest of the war. Destruction, absolute destruction and misery. People saw, my mother used to say, 'We all saw, as we walked along the road home, a soldier. It was a German, clutching photographs of his loved ones in his hand, and he died.' That's so... horrible, horrible, isn't it?"
"When the front approached Hradec, everyone knew it was going to be really bad. So it seemed to them that the safest thing to do was to survive in the woods. It's described in the book. Mr. Kuzník used to carry logs in the woods with Dittrich the gamekeeper, so he knew the woods perfectly. He knew that there was a place in the forest where a quarry had been. When the Lichnovský family was still quarrying rock. That the place would be good. So they asked permission from the gamekeeper Dittrich that they could build a cabin there, in short, something where people could [hide] from the front they wanted to escape from. Well, my father Rostislav Soudek was very skilled at manual work, he did everything himself. He managed the construction of the log cabin. The farmers pulled the wood with horses. There were a lot of people working there from morning till night, guys who had already arrived in March to build it. There was no snow then. So they built it, they put up these bunk beds for two or three people on top of each other. The only thing that sticks in my mind is that I can see what it looked like - a bunker that was covered up and camouflaged with branches, that there was a 'vincek' [stove] in which we made fire to keep us from getting cold."
"When the death march was walking through Hradec, Aunt Milada was so brave that she cut bread and was throwing it to those poor people who were walking in blankets. What a horror. Of course, she was caught, dragged to the Gestapo and there she was interrogated. As a result, she couldn't have children. That´s how it was. In that way, she was punished for her good heart, they didn't have children, so they devoted themselves to us."
Rostislava Raidová was born on 18 November 1942 in Ostrava to Rostislav Soudek and Anna Soudková. During the war, the resistance fighter Oldřich Oborný, who was wanted by the Nazis for sabotage in military production, was hiding in their house. In 1944, the Soudeks and their three-year-old daughter Rostislava returned to Hradec nad Moravicí, where both parents were from. During the march of prisoners of war through the town, her father‘s sister Hedvika Fajková was throwing bread to the impoverished prisoners. She was arrested and beaten by the Nazis for this, as a result of which she was never able to have children of her own. Before the approaching war front, the family hid in the woods above Hradec in the place of a former quarry, where the father and other men built a wooden cabin. For 14 days, 80 people hid there from the great battles that were raging around them. All the people survived. The road back home was littered with soldiers‘ corpses. After the war, her father worked as a member of the National Security Corps until 1948, when he was fired for not being in the Communist Party. Then he got a job at Branec Ironworks, where Rostislava Raidová also started to work six months after graduating from the economics school in 1960. She worked there as an economist and computer methodologist. Together with Josef Barták, they took care of the memorial at the place of the shelter. They put a picture of the Virgin Mary and an information sign there. In 2024 she was living in Hradec nad Moravicí.
A view of maternal grandfather´s, Jakub Fajka's, butcher shop on (today's) Podolská Street. According to the caption on the photo, the persons from the left are: 1. unknown person, 2. Františka Fajková, 3. Paulina - Jakub Fajka's sister, 4. Jakub Fajka's son František, 5. Photos from the 1920s - 1930s
A view of maternal grandfather´s, Jakub Fajka's, butcher shop on (today's) Podolská Street. According to the caption on the photo, the persons from the left are: 1. unknown person, 2. Františka Fajková, 3. Paulina - Jakub Fajka's sister, 4. Jakub Fajka's son František, 5. Photos from the 1920s - 1930s
Members of the Silesian Matice in Hradec nad Moravicí. In the middle between two women Jakub Fajka. In the last row, slim, black-haired, Karel Juchelka with moustache. Photographs probably from the 1930s
Members of the Silesian Matice in Hradec nad Moravicí. In the middle between two women Jakub Fajka. In the last row, slim, black-haired, Karel Juchelka with moustache. Photographs probably from the 1930s
In Hradec (later renamed Hradec nad Moravicí) in front of the brook. From left: mother Anna Soudková, father's mother Marie Soudková, née Hrbáčová, and father Rostislav Soudek. Probably 1940s
In Hradec (later renamed Hradec nad Moravicí) in front of the brook. From left: mother Anna Soudková, father's mother Marie Soudková, née Hrbáčová, and father Rostislav Soudek. Probably 1940s
Father Stanislav Soudek with his daughter Rostislava Raidová in the backyard of his wife Anna's parents - at the butcher Jakub Fajka. The door leading to the sidehouse, in the background the gate to the stream. The photograph probably dates from 1944
Father Stanislav Soudek with his daughter Rostislava Raidová in the backyard of his wife Anna's parents - at the butcher Jakub Fajka. The door leading to the sidehouse, in the background the gate to the stream. The photograph probably dates from 1944
The third wife of the butcher Jakub Fajka - Františka Fajková, née Marethová, from Březová was the step-grandmother of Rostislava Raidová, née Soudková, whom he is holding in his arms in the photograph. The photo probably dates from 1944
The third wife of the butcher Jakub Fajka - Františka Fajková, née Marethová, from Březová was the step-grandmother of Rostislava Raidová, née Soudková, whom he is holding in his arms in the photograph. The photo probably dates from 1944
At the house number 168 'on the playground' in Hradec nad Moravicí. Siblings (from left) Rostislava Raidová and Lubomír Soudek. Probably in the late 1940s
At the house number 168 'on the playground' in Hradec nad Moravicí. Siblings (from left) Rostislava Raidová and Lubomír Soudek. Probably in the late 1940s
View of the house number 168 'on the playground' in Hradec nad Moravicí. In front of the house the Soudek siblings. Photograph was probably taken in the late 1940s
View of the house number 168 'on the playground' in Hradec nad Moravicí. In front of the house the Soudek siblings. Photograph was probably taken in the late 1940s
Space next to the house number 1968 'on the playground' in Hradec. In the background a footbridge over a stream and around pieces of ice after a flood sometime between 1947 - 1949
Space next to the house number 1968 'on the playground' in Hradec. In the background a footbridge over a stream and around pieces of ice after a flood sometime between 1947 - 1949
The original picture of the Virgin Mary together with information on the place of refuge of the citizens during the World War II. Situiation around the year 2000
The original picture of the Virgin Mary together with information on the place of refuge of the citizens during the World War II. Situiation around the year 2000
In the forest near the picture of the Virgin Mary in Bukovina in May 2005. From left: Miroslava Raidová, Rostislava Raidová with her mother Anna Soudková, the pointing woman with her back to the camera is Marie Fajková
In the forest near the picture of the Virgin Mary in Bukovina in May 2005. From left: Miroslava Raidová, Rostislava Raidová with her mother Anna Soudková, the pointing woman with her back to the camera is Marie Fajková
A meeting of witnesses in May 2009 at the site of the stolen picture of the Virgin Mary. The new picture was made by Anna Soudková (in the middle with a stick) and her daughter Rostislava Raidová (next to her in a pink blouse)
A meeting of witnesses in May 2009 at the site of the stolen picture of the Virgin Mary. The new picture was made by Anna Soudková (in the middle with a stick) and her daughter Rostislava Raidová (next to her in a pink blouse)
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