Jiřina Somsiová

“I remember that one prisoner escaped, it was freezing bitterly at the time, Dad told us. And that until the prisoner was found, everyone had to stand outside for roll call, in rows, and there were some, well, I don’t want to be rude, vulgar, some who poured cold water on them, those kapos, in the frost. They had to stand there for as long as that one prisoner was caught. Some of them dropped off, died as they were in the rows, standing as they were, they couldn’t take it. So that was really dreadful. And they had music playing for them there in their suffering. There was orchestra there, and it had to play. Really! The orchestra was made up from the prisoners, and they had to play. And they suffered in the freezing cold just in their prison dress – and they were soaked.”

“You know, sometimes I was so disappointed that I reckoned you really give it your all and the kid just doesn’t get accepted to the school or so on. Or say I only had one of them a whole year long, who was accepted. But I always said: ‘I’m grateful even for that one.’ And I was uplifted a bit again, and then the next year, say, seven children got in at once. And that boosts your spirits so much, and even more so when the kid doesn’t give up on the school, doesn’t drop out, and completes it! That’s a huge joy. It really is a huge joy, and that’s what drives you on, that you can see something small, but success nonetheless. Or when I get the family a flat, that’s also a huge... for me, it’s a huge success.”