I have no memory of my father being arrested.
Category Archives: Coming of Age Under Communism – 1948 to 1965
The Backyard of Our Apartment House
When I came back to Prague after my father had been arrested, the apartment itself was still there, but the life around it had changed. The family businesses and the car were gone. My mother sold what could still be sold. My uncle Antonín Valach liquidated his art gallery and gave my mother the money to help her get through that period.
Away from Home
My mother’s first cousin, teta Maruška — Maria Chalupníková, born Knihová — lived in Tvrdošín. Her son was Milan. I was there more than once. My mother sometimes needed somebody else to take care of me for a while. She sometimes had very bad eczema on her arms and had to spend a few weeks in the hospital for treatment, and I do not know whether that was the reason for any particular stay in Tvrdošín.
Father Comes Home
I do not remember my father coming home.
Výčapky
My mother’s sister, teta Gabi, was an elementary school teacher in Výčapky, and her husband, strýc Štefan, was the principal of the school. Their children were Peter and Danka. The family lived in the same building as the school.
Radošina
My mother’s sister, teta Manci, was married to strýc Lóňa, who was a doctor. Their children were Vierka and Janko. After the war they lived in Mariánské Lázně, where Lóňa had his office. After what happened with Kudibal, which I have written about in his story, they moved to Radošina, and there Lóňa was the regional doctor.
Mrs. Polášková
Mrs. Polášková was my room teacher in those years, and she also taught botany. She was slim, gray-haired, and dressed always in black, with a serious expression that never seemed to change. I think she must have been in her fifties, though I could not say for certain. I have some memory of being told her husband had died in the war, but I was never sure of that either. Before what I am about to describe, she had never paid any particular attention to me. I was just another boy in her class.
Continue reading Mrs. PoláškováNinth Grade
In ninth grade I did not fit in, since all my classmates were new to me. The school itself treated me politically the same as everyone else, so that was not the problem. My school was the 14. jedenáctiletá střední škola in Prague 12, on Máchova near Náměstí Míru, and in the school year 1957 to 1958 I was in class 9.a. It was an eleven-year school, and the last three years — ninth, tenth and eleventh grade — were the high school part, so all of the high school material was packed into those three years.
Slovakia with Pepa
After the examinations were over, Pepa had a proposal. We would work in June to earn money, and then in August we would go to Slovakia and hike and hitchhike for the month, sleeping outside, eating what we could find in the fields, and buying only what we had to.
Continue reading Slovakia with PepaTenth and Eleventh Grade
My friend Vojta (Vojtěch) Štefek was heavyset and collected books and old things. Among the things in his family there was an old Colt .45 revolver.
Dušana
Dušana was in a parallel class. We really got to know each other on a ski trip in tenth grade, when Vašek and I ended up with two girls — the other one interested in Vašek, and Dušana interested in me. The four of us joked around together the whole trip.
The Ball and the Maturita
Every high school held a formal ball in the winter of the last year, and mine was no different. Ours was at the Municipal House, near the Powder Tower. There were three ballrooms — two of them had proper big-band orchestras, and a smaller room had a student orchestra playing Dixieland-style jazz. Students from other schools came too; we sold tickets to friends of ours who went to other schools around Prague.
After the Maturita
By the time I had my diploma in hand, Mrs. Uhlířová had already told my mother and me that university was effectively closed to me because of my father’s political record. There was no graduation ceremony like an American one. I had the diploma, and the next question was what I was going to do with it.
My Father’s Second Case
They came for my father a little before four in the morning, and the search that followed went on for hours. I do not remember hearing them arrive, only waking up to the fact that they were already there, moving through the rooms and going through everything we owned.
Jana Kolembářová and the Letter
I met Jana Kolembářová while I was still at AŽD. Pepa had arranged a small party with two girls. Jana was supposed to be part of that evening, but instead of becoming interested in Pepa, she became interested in me.