Eva Paddock

“Well, he [my father] knew that the Germans would come, and that he was on the first list of people to be thrown to jail or worse. If the question is why were they looking for him so quickly, that’s because some years earlier, he was a politician. He had been on the Town Council of the village I was born [Proseč]. I told you I was born and then we moved to Prague. He was a great reader, and there was a writer called Thomas Mann, who was German. And the Germans were already burning books of people they didn’t like they were writing. And Thomas Mann had escaped from Germany to Switzerland, because his books were being burnt and he was in danger. And so, my father had helped Thomas Mann get Czech citizenship. He decided to ask his Town Council to offer Thomas Mann honorary citizenstip for the village. And with the honorary citizenship for the village, he would be able to get honorary citizenship for Czechoslovakia. And he put that proposal to the president of Czechoslovakia. Everybody knew about Thomas Mann, he was a very famous man. And president said: ‘That sounds like a really good idea, we would be helping Thomas Mann, and our country would be honored.’ And so, my father had gone to Switzerland, met with Thomas Mann, offered him Czech citizenship for him and his brother. They were very grateful. That way that did get Czech citizenship. And that is how Thomas Mann came to be able to leave Switzerland and come to the United States.”

“My father had already left, he escaped to Berlin on the 15th of March [1939], when he knew that Germans were coming to Prague. He had been very politically active, and so he was told, not on the internet, not by a tweet or Twitter. People told him that the Germans would look for him, so he decided he needed to leave, thinking that he would then be able to help to get us out. He had already gone, so that was just my mother who had found out about the Winton train. My sister was nine, and she doesn’t remember details either. Sometimes when very difficult things are happening in your life, your brain erases them. What we know, I’m sure, our parents told us we were going to England for a little while and they would see us. And in fact, she was nine, close to ten, had a very good time. It’s like you guys [the interview was recorded within the educational Our Neighbors‘ Stories project], on a very big train trip, and there were friends and they had fun and games and stuff. She just had to look after me, but I don’t think I was too much trouble.”