Doris Remešová

“My brother was born in 1945 while they were still in Mistrovice. We then lived there with our dad, who was still emaciated from the war. It took him a long time to recover. On the first photographs from the time when we came here, our grandma looks as if she arrived from a concentration camp. They kept a goat in the house, though, and they were able to make hay. But there was probably a shortage of food stamps for Germans, and our parents were perhaps giving more food to us, the children, so that we would survive, rather than eating themselves. Our family was evicted together with the grandmother. I have photos showing how they were loading our things on a truck. The picture was taken by my aunt’s husband, who still lives in Mistrovice. But he took the picture secretly, because it was not allowed. It was on July 27, 1947. They did not want us in Germany anymore. And my Dad could not get to Germany even after my mom had suffered a stroke and was left with half of her body paralyzed. We were four little children and dad needed help. At the beginning, Czech neighbours from a farm in Podzámčí were helping us. Then the Hartl family began taking care of our youngest sister. They were a German family, too, and dad had probably met them at the railway station in Opočno. Whenever we later visited my aunt in Mistrovice, we would always eat everything she had there; she still remembers it. She would bake four pans of cakes and we would eat them all. We were starving.”

“My father had shrapnel all over his body, even in his head. His genital area was affected the worst. He suffered injuries of his testicles and penis, the doctors had stitch him up and he has lost awfully lot of blood. But it was the Russians from a nearby house who gave him first aid. When Germans then came for him, he asked them to spare these Russians’ lives, because they had done everything in their power in order to save him. He was then taken to a field hospital where they sewed the wounds so well that even the doctors in Germany, where he was then recovering, praised the surgeons’ work.”

“My dad applied for emigration to Germany six times, but they never allowed him to leave. When he received the negative response for the sixth time, he asked the clerk who gave him the letter for the reason, and the lady said: ´We will not let such a good worker like you go to Germany.´”

“When we got off the train at the station in Opočno, local farmers came there to pick families who would work on their farms. But when the farmer who came for us – he was from Slavětín – saw what our family looked like… My mom was pregnant. We were evicted on 27th July, 1947. My sister was born in Opočno on 5th September. You can imagine how my mom looked. The farmer said: ´I will not feed so many hungry people.´ We were left at the railway station alone.”

“My brother was thought to have cancer and when he was in hospital and I went to see him, he had some time to talk to me. It was only then that he told me what he had learnt from our father. As they were at the Opočno railway station, sitting on the boxes with their property after they had been evicted, my dad and mom were contemplating suicide. All the people were gone and they were sitting there alone at the railway station. They didn’t know what to do. Two little children, emaciated grandma and expectant mother. They were looking at my little brother who was running around these wooden boxes and making faces at them. He would run around, come back and make a funny face. My father later told him: ´You have actually saved our lives.´”