Brigitta Jonášová

* 1942

  • “At that time, we were still living in Rochlice, I was just a little child and a mom came with her daughter. The daughter was about three years older than me. She had a beautiful doll pram and there was a doll and I called it Kačenka and when you turned it, it said: mom, mom. Today, there are similar ones, it had hair and I later brushed it. And a huge teddy bear – and that mom was crying and said that they are going that they have to go away and that they will leave me the toys and when they will come back – it will not take a long time anyway – and when they will come back, we will return the toys to them. But we have not seen them anymore. They stayed there.”

  • “And then my colleague from work, she was a nurse, her name was Livečková and they were shooting after her on the side of the town hall and theatre. She was already lying on the ground, eye witnesses saw it and said they were still shooting into her. They my friend, he was one of my friends from a ski club, his two children were born recently and one of them he had not even seen because he was shot as well near the town hall gate. Then they shot one old man. There was a small house which was showing a weather so people went there to see and looked at the temperatures and weather and so on and they shot him in front of it. They shot more people because they made a row of tank tracks on the town hall and the names of those who died, were printed on it. It was not pretty. One year later, we wanted, we met in front of the town hall on the square as well and one such procession walked and it was us, we medical staff members walked down, alongside the post office and wanted to at least lay down flowers for Livečková. And there was a cordon of soldiers and they did not let anyone further, so we threw the bouquet there and they threw it out again. So, I said to myself that there is no sense in arguing, so we somehow dispersed calmly.”

  • “I had to learn Czech because my aunt took me to Liberec when I had to go to a doctor or something because my grandmother could not. First, she watched over for my ill mother and second, she could not speak a word in Czech. And my aunt told me you can go with us, you have these organs, but you will be quiet in a tram, you will not be allowed to chatter or we will be thrown out of the tram. And I, I was such a chatty girl so I started to speak German to them – what is this and that and aunt and why. Out of the sudden, the guard came with one more man and they threw us out. So, we had to walk. How old was I, about four, so we had to walk with my aunt to Liberec on foot.”

  • “He had worse relations. And I think I had it quite wonderful compared to him. He said he did not want to go to school at all. He said that there was one teacher or it was a director, he said so you see it children, this is the German bastard and he caught his hair and banged his head on a table. And he said he skipped school and he did not go to school at all and then he was scolded that he has to go to school. And he experienced a lot – or when they for example played with children or later as adults, some of them for instance said: I will not say anything, I will not play with anyone until this one gets lost.”

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Liberec, 22.06.2021

    (audio)
    délka: 02:21:43
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

Let her be, she is just a German

Brigitta Jonášová in the first class, 1947/48
Brigitta Jonášová in the first class, 1947/48
zdroj: Archiv pamětnice

Brigitta Jonášová, née Hauserová, was born on 10 January 1942 in Rochlice which is part of Liberec nowadays. Her parents were Sudeten Germans, only her grandfather from her mother side was a Czech. Her father left for front line and after the war he stayed in Stuttgart. Brigitta stayed with her mom, who was paralysed, her grandmother and aunt. Probably thanks to the Czech grandfather, the family was not expelled. But the situation was not easy because of their nationality, Brigitta came across attacks from her classmates and sometimes even teachers. After the elementary school in 1955 she commenced her studies at the secondary medical school in Liberec. During this time, her father Alfred Hauser contacted her and wanted to meet her. Since then, she visited him regularly, he came to Czechoslovakia in 1962. In August 1968 she lived in Liberec and worked in rehabilitation nursery. About 1974 she left for Stráž pod Ralskem where she worked as a nurse for a company doctor where she stayed till retirement. She was married three times, her current husband is Reyner Jonáš. She has two daughters Petra and Marcela. She is a chairwoman of the Kulturverband society in Vratislavice nad Nisou. The story of the witness was recorded thanks to the support of the statutory city of Most.