“I was born on March 20, 1926, in Prague, My mom was a housewife and my father worked as an office worker. He died in the concentration camp in Mauthausen. My mom was not a Jew and that is why I was the only one in Theresienstadt. My friend’s mom took care of me so we were like sisters. My friend’s father died in Theresienstadt. We have known each other since kindergarten, for 77 years. (In which part of Prague did you grow up?) I lived in Vinohrady then we moved to Brevnov and finally here. (…) We did not celebrate Jewish holidays. We celebrated Christmas and Easter, as most of the people. There was always a Christmas tree in our house. I got to Theresienstadt as a half-breed, and as a half-breed, I stayed there because they did not send half-breeds on to other places. We also peeled mica for the Wehrmacht. In this way we were protected, also Vera managed to stay there thanks to this. We did not follow any religion at home. We inclined more to Christianity than to Judaism.”
“I never finished school because I had only my mom who earned only a scant pension from my father. When I came from Theresienstadt and I had virtually nothing. I did not dare to let my mom support me. I was nineteen so I found a job. I did not finish school. I went only to English classes as before when I was going to an English grammar school, and, I passed a university exam in English. I was employed until retiring. My last job was in Tuzex, I had worked there for 25 years. (…) I did not have any other education so I used my English and German. My mom was originally from the border area so I have spoken German since my childhood. I spoke both languages, Czech and German, fluently. (…) Before I went to Theresienstadt, I had been spending my holidays at my Grandma’s in the Sudeten.”
Eva Kopecká: “I don’t know how often this happened but once or twice a year we got a kind of stamp and we sent this stamp to someone who was willing to send something to us. This person prepared a parcel of about two kilos and went to the post office.” Věra Čeňková: “Thanks to Eva having those aunts in Sudetes, we could get something. And after the war, we were able to give them a kind of certificate that they had been loyal. As a result, they did not need to move away after the war, nevertheless they wanted to leave. Thanks to them and Eva’s mom we would get a few things.” Eva Kopecká: “My mum had a ration book only for one person. She then had to hunt for various goods. In this way my mom met my future husband who was getting honey for her.”
Eva Kopecká was born in Prague in 1926 into a mixed Czech-German-Jewish family. Her father was an assimilated Czech Jew who had left the religious community, her mother a registered Catholic, originally from Sudetes. As the only daughter of the close family, Eva Kopecká was deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto at the time of the war. Her father died in Mauthausen. Eva was saved from the transportation to the East thanks to her job, which was peeling mica. After the liberation, majority of her mother‘s relatives had to leave the Republic, they were resettled. Although the closest relatives of her mother were allowed to stay they did not do so. After the war, Eva worked as an office organiser in various organizations in the field of foreign trade. At the moment she lives in Hauspalka in Prague.
Hrdinové 20. století odcházejí. Nesmíme zapomenout. Dokumentujeme a vyprávíme jejich příběhy. Záleží vám na odkazu minulých generací, na občanských postojích, demokracii a vzdělávání? Pomozte nám!
