Irena Nováková

* 1959

  • “I found it quite moving, going to this Sudeten German gathering in Munich for the first time, in 2007, after joining the association, so for the first time I had this opportunity. It was quite touching and I cried a lot. As I realized those people just kept on remembering, they would carry that weight all the time, traumatized by losing their home. I realized this one thing, something we would discuss quite often with various people: What was more painful? That those who were expelled lost their homes, or the fact that my parents and other Germans who stayed in Czechoslovakia would lose their identity, piece by piece? Something that is no less important and you can't just ignore it. What is more painful, to lose your home, or to stay home in all this mess? We were not able to find some definite answer to this, and I don't think it's even possible.”

  • “I have to say that I really love taking German tourists to the place of my birth, to the Giant Mountains and the Jizera Mountains. I would always talk about history, about my own experience, and it's always very nice. As in every group, there would be this person on a bus who otherwise wouldn't tell you, but after this he would approach you and tell you that his parents or even himself were born there. It isn't something you can't talk about, but it's kinda strange. Those people don't want to discuss this with other tour participants. But if there are two or three of them, the rest want to know why we are so close with those two or three people. So they would start dealing with this issue, they would take interest in it and discuss it. It is interesting to observe their reactions. Some of them are like – let's not go there, I don't want any of it, it's an old story. But more often – even if those people never wanted to delve into this issue – they will take interest in it, because they can see this real person who has something to do with it.”

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    Praha, 27.01.2021

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What was more painful? To lose your home, or your identity?

Irena Nováková as a child
Irena Nováková as a child
zdroj: archiv pamětnice

Irena Nováková née Schmidt was born on 4 November 1959 in Jablonec nad Nisou. Her parents were Sudeten Germans from the town of Jablonec who avoided expulsion after the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945. Her father, Otto Schmidt, could stay in the country as an expert in his profession, despite his German origin, as he was a glass-blower making light-bulbs in a Tesla factory. As a result of Beneš‘s decrees, her parents lost their house in Jablonecké Paseky in 1947 to a ‚national administrator‘ who settled there. Her parents built a new house in another part of Jablonec, which they could later buy and own legally. Yet they were never compensated for the confiscation of their original house. As her parents didn‘t engage in political life (apart from her mother joining the communist party to better her daughter‘s political profile) Irena had a happy childhood and had been growing up without difficulties. All her parents did in this aspect was to join the newly established Cultural Association of People of German origin in 1969. She graduated from grammar school and did her follow-up-studies in tourism in Tábor. She had been working in Hotel Korzo in Jablonec, later, she moved to Prague with her husband, passed the tourist guide exams and had been working as a guide for German tourists. In 2006, she joined the Cultural Association of People of German, renamed to Association of Germans and friends of German Culture, becoming its chairwoman just a year later. As its member, she participated in various activities to strengthen Czech-German relations. She attended meetings of Sudeten German compatriots, co-founded the Centre of Czech-German understanding in Rýnovice, and co-wrote a book, Stories of the Jizera Mountains Germans after 1945. She was awarded the Prize of Czech-German understanding for her activities in 2015.