Jana Volfová

“They were members of the secret police. They entered the grammar school and came into the staff room. They took me by car across to the Smíchov side of the river to a house with no signs whatsoever. They led me up to an office on the first floor. There were four people there. That was after I had visited my husband’s aunt, who had married off to England, when things weren’t so strict. I spent six weeks there over the holidays, before the Russians came. I got to see London and Great Britain with my own eyes. The secret police thought they’d make a snitch out of me. They questioned me about what I had seen - which ships and which ports. They wrote out a long statement. I was interrogated by a man and a woman, then the other two were in a neighbouring room. They put the statement down in front of me and said: ‘Now, Comrade Volfová, read what your responses were, what questions we asked you.’ I said: ‘Why should I read it, I know what I said.’ He said: ‘You have to read it so that after you leave, you don’t start saying we poked you in the eyes.’ I retorted: ‘Goodness, how can you make sure I don’t start saying that as soon as I get out of here?’ I think their jaws probably dropped at that, they must have reckoned what a dumb woman I was. So they let me go. I must admit that it wasn’t until I came out of that house that I realised that it was originally supposed to be an offer of collaboration. But I guess my cheeky remark made them think: ‘This woman is no use.’”