“I think that our family was quite average in the times of the ’fi rst republic‘. Our father worked as a construction engineer in the Czechoslovak Railways, mother was a housewife and was raising us, three boys.
Father was also a great violinist, mother sang beautifully, the oldest brother had graduated pedagogics at the artistic school, played the piano and cembalo, another brother played the cello (and was pupil of virtuoso Pravoslav Sádlo), so we enjoyed chamber music. I didn’t play anything, but enjoyed singing. The climax of my artistic career was the role of Tomš as an amateur actor in Smetana’s opera Kiss.
The first manifestation of interest in politics was my sympathy for Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie (1893–1975), who for open criticism of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini earned many years of exile. I guess it was September 23, 1938, just when the radio proclaimed general mobilization, when we were with my dad on Roudnice Square and heard here encouraging speech by Max Lobkowicz. After ,Munich‘ dad said that Lobkowicz probably had some news from Mr. Bechyně (pre-war railway minister). Who knows how would then behave the former President Masaryk? Did we stay true to his legacy? This is a question I could not answer until today. I remember how my dad woke me on March 15, 1939 by words ’so, boy, we are being occupied by Germans‘.
Fatal for the family was my arresting on June 20, 1942, during Operation Anthropoid. On that day classes of the state real grammar school in Roudnice were arrested by Kladno Gestapo – the boys of sexta and septima classes, including girls – and 2nd class of the technical school, too. The reason (or the excuse) were among other careless notes of one of the students. During martial law this fi tted the Gestapo and became a deterrence event for all the region. All of 84 arrested students were taken to the Small Fortress in Terezín. 19 boy students and 1 girl student were then sent to concentration camps, the rest was after several months released, but forbidden to study. The result of this arresting was shocking: 2 students died in Terezín (Lácha and Kubeš), in Buchenwald 2 as well (Fabián and Adamec after releasing, as a result of arrest), and in Auschwitz altogehter 9, from who 5 straight in Auschwitz (Karfík, Kratochvíl, Kukuk, Dvořák and Švojgr), 4 in Auschwitz-Birkenau (Marek, Markvart, Študent and Rajtrová). Only three of us survived in Auschwitz (Svět, Štěpán and me). The transfer to the concentration camp in Dachau might have helped our survival.
After the camp in Dachau was liberated by the US Army on April 29, 1945, we had to stay in the camp for more three weeks because of the typhus quarantine. I and my schoolmate Svět didn’t respect it and set out for our journey home on foot on May 10. Camp liberation and reunion of my family belong to my entire life happiest events.
After return I graduated from secondary school and enrolled to the Technical University in Prague. In 1951 I got married and left for military service. Then I worked as a technician until retirement. I‘ve never been a member of any political party, and welcomed Prague Spring. But already on August 21, 1968 I was waking up my son with the words: So, boy, we are being seized by Russians.
Next important event in my life was my and my wife’s visit to the castle Lány on September 13, 1987, on the anniversary of President Masaryk death. Also Charta 77 signataries were there and since we didn’t miss any march with them. After November 17, 1989 I partly worked in Citizen’s Forum and still today I work in the Association of Deliberated Political Prisons and Survivors. This is one of the oldest organisations associating in the Czech Republic ex-prisoners and deported persons of the concentration camps and ghettos during Nazism.
When I retired, I had the only one wish: to enjoy my grandchildren. We have three children with my wife (Věra, Ivana and Miroslav), four grandchildren, and our health is guarded by our two daughters, doctors.”
For EYE Ing. Miroslav Kubík, 2nd SOPVP CZ vicechairman
Modified: Luděk Sládek
The Memorial of Terezín
www.pamatnik-terezin.cz
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