“When they executed him, Gestapo officers went to Prague insurance company in Na Příkopech Street... My dad paid high life insurance because he travelled a lot. My mother was not secured, she was a housewife, we wanted to study so he thought of his family. So, he had a high life insurance so that we would not be without money in case that something happened to him. He of course had to declare it in Petschek Palace after they arrested him. And when they shot him, Gestapo marched in the insurance company. After war, we thought that life insurance was still there and that they would pay it to us to have something to start with because we were exhausted over the three years of occupation. The director showed us the certificate that they had to pay the insurance. Those were such paradoxes... but they did the same with Jewish property as well.”
“In fact, Moravec insisted on commemoration ceremony of Heydrich held by teachers. By all teachers in Prague. Commemoration ceremony of Heydrich held by teachers from Prague and surroundings. Later, those who survived told me that they had asked my dad: ‘So, Skořepa, how are we going to do it? And he supposedly said: ‘Well, it is going to be difficult...‘ He had a nationalistic view on it. People still worked on Saturdays at that time, they had a meeting focusing on it and discussing it in a regional committee. It was supposed to take place on Monday. Father went home thinking about it - what they will come up with or won´t come up with... But Gestapo was already at our home, the car was already behind the corner. A man went around and they checked his ID, let him go and my father went behind him. They checked his ID. The caretaker was looking at everything and said that dad handed them his ID. Then he straightened up, nodded his head and went to the limo with them.”
“I remember that as a child I was interested what food they had had there. And my dad said that they had not had any food. He said that they had got mineral water and hazelnuts. Dad brought them home as a souvenir. They only had modest treat because that was Masaryk´s idea at that time - they did not go there for feasts, they went there to debate intellectually and to work.”
Věra Skořepová was born on 19 May 1926 in Německý (Havlíčkův) Brod as a second child to a family of school inspector Miloslav Skořepa. Her mum was a teacher before the wedding and a housewife after it. Věra had a brother Jiří who was five years older. The family lived in Roudnice nad Labem from 1935 where her father worked as a school inspector, he got a new position in Prague after two years and the family followed him there. When narrating, Věra remembers mainly her father, an educator, and a scientist. He strived for modernisation of the school system and for making education accessible for children from poor background. He was an editor of School Reform and School Administration magazines and also Komenský magazine, he was also a chairman of Komenský Legacy publishing house. He was a patriot and a supporter of Masaryk. He was in resistance movement during Protectorate. Gestapo arrested him after the Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. He was executed in Kobylisy Shooting Range on 15 June 1942. Věra Skořepová passed away on October, the 14th, 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!
