Anita Gaydečková

“Around two a clock in the morning camp floodlights were turned on: ‘Raus!’ We had to get dressed and to line up in rows by two or three on the main platform. It was a very dark night. It was snowing. It happened on January 31st in 1945. I had no idea where we were going. I have never been to Prague. When we came to the railroad station Bubeneč, someone said: Terezín. There were no signs at all. We were jammed into railway carriages. The train started moving; it had been jolting till the morning. The train stopped somewhere at once: ‘Raus!’ When we finally detrained, we were dying of thirst. We were going somewhere downwards trough some sewers. Then we stopped. Snow began to fall. Above my head was a grate. I opened my mouth and snow flowed down to it. It was absolutely amazing. I can see it as if it was yesterday.”

„ In 1942 when Rienhard Heydrich was assassinated someone probably turned me in. Suddenly I was called to the local authority. There was sitting most probably a Jew. He told me I had to register myself. When I asked why, he answered they received a report on me that I got married to some Gaydečka. He informed me that I would be registered and would have to wear yellow star. I was banned to use phone, to go by train, to go to the cinema... I have asked: ‘Do I have any rights?’ – ‘You should be glad you are allowed to stay with your husband.’ – ‘But we are regularly married!’ – ‘Even if you had been baptized it doesn’t make any difference.’”

“On that day, 21st August in 1968, when we were already occupied, all of a sudden a phone rang: ‘Here is Štrougal – yes, yes, that is really me. Are you in touch with your husband? – ‘Not yet.’ Than he said: ‘My daughter is now in Milan and I am not able to contact her. If you get any information please tell her to stay there for now.’ – ‘I will let you know in case I get any information,’ I answered. He really told me, he had no connection wit his daughter, he was not able to contact her.”

“One night in the summer 1942 – I don’t know what had happened – I suddenly woke up and cried out to my husband: ‘Oh my God, I think they are all already gone!’ I asked my husband what to do. There was no way how to get any information. My husband calmed me down, that we would try to ask at Jewish community. At first we were not able to find out anything about deportations, but in the course of time we got an official list of deported people. My parents and my uncle from Olomouc were ‘gone’. My sister stayed at home six more months. She got married to my first love. Her husband was half German. When they realized they were called to a transport, they had quickly arranged a marriage. Their transport was leaving at night in order to conceal it from neighbors. They were allowed to take 50 kilos of luggage. At two o’clock in the morning they departed in the dark. They were heading to Terezín, whereas my parents with my uncle went directly to Auschwitz.”