When she married her husband, he was expelled from the Czechoslovak Communist Party and the army. Because she was German
Stáhnout obrázek
Marlene Smolková, née Högen, was born on 4 April 1942 in Boží Dar. Her family avoided deportation after the war, only her eldest brother later voluntarily emigrated to Germany. Because of her German origin, the witness experienced bullying in her studies. After her marriage, her husband Jindřich Smolka was dismissed from the army and expelled from the Czechoslovak Communist Party. In the 1960s he returned to the party and became chairman of the national committee in Boží Dar. On this position, he refused to accommodate the occupiers in the village in August 1968, and they kept him arrested in the town hall for three days. During the following cadre checks, her husband was expelled from the party for the second time, and her daughter later had trouble getting into secondary school because of her poor cadre profile. Displaced natives returned to their parents blaming them for staying in Boží Dar. After a similar speech at the funeral of the witness´s father, one of the Germans was detained by the communists. For most of her life, the witness worked in Boží Dar in local shops and recreational facilities. In 2023 she was living there.
