Božena Saláková

* 1930

  • "I was in the third grade. On the 15th of March, the weather was terrible. It was snowing. It was snowing terribly. Just terrible weather. We came to school and the teacher said, of course, there was a war. Even though we didn't know what war brings, we knew that in war people get killed and it's not good. So we all cried. We sang Czech and Slovak songs so that at least we wouldn't cry. At least the teacher survived the morning with us. Then she sent us home. I remember it like it was today."

  • "People were just building shelters. There were pine trees around, private woods. And people were building shelters, V-shaped. Like an underground place. I don't know where we would have run to if Hitler... You know, he probably wouldn't have treated us well. After all, the SS were hiding in those shelters. There were big forests far away near Neklasov and they were hidden there. When the first bunch of Americans were leaving, suddenly there was a shooting. We were at the rectory, where everyone had gathered with the cars. All of a sudden, there was a shooting. We were standing there as children too, and the parish priest immediately said to us: 'Go away, go behind the wall.' There were a few shots and the Americans were already bringing them in. They took them to Pačejov. I don't know how many of them there were, but they wanted to get to the Americans and they probably wanted to get away. But they got to the assembly camp in Velky Bor near Horažďovice and then they were taken away. I remember this because this shooting happened after the war."

  • "They arrived on the 7th of May. I used to go to church for the so-called May Devotions. I was trampling the organ pedals. When you tread the church organ, you're always very high up. And now I'm looking out the window. I see something moving. A tank and a white star. I stopped pedaling and I started saying, 'There are tanks coming and they've got white stars'. We knew it was the Americans. That day they came to Kvášňovice. I was friends with the boys, and even though I was already fourteen and a half years old, we immediately looked to see where the artillery would put their cars. They parked in the field and there we were with the boys. You know, it was paradise for us. We got chewing gums and chocolates, and so we were happy. I don't know how long they were there, but they stayed in the rectory for the time. There was a beautiful hall. In a pub and the commanders in a private room with the peasants."

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    Plzeň, 26.08.2022

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It was disgusting. I have learned my lesson

Božena Saláková in her childhood
Božena Saláková in her childhood
zdroj: Božena Saláková’s personal archive

Božena Saláková was born on the 12th of November 1930 in Kvášňovice in the southern Pilsen region into a family of farmers. From a very young age, she had to help out with the work. In 1939 she witnessed the occupation of the remaining territory of Czechoslovakia by the German army. Shortly thereafter, as farmers, they had to hand over a part of their harvest. The forced deliveries ended with the arrival of the American army in May 1945. After the war, she was unable to continue her education because she had to continue to help out with work at home. During this period, like a significant number of her peers, she joined the Union of Czech Youth, which merged organizationally with the Czechoslovak Youth Union after the 1948 communist coup. Although her family was also affected by the collectivization of agriculture, which did not fundamentally harm them, she joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1952. A year later she also joined the Public Security Service (contemporary Police). In 1957, however, due to family problems, she terminated her employment and found a new job at the Home for Pioneers and Youth in Horažďovice, where she remained for the next thirty years until her retirement in 1987. In the meantime, however, she was contacted by military counterintelligence, to whom she lent a room that was used as a conspiracy apartment. However, she never received any benefits from this, nor did she meet any agents or relay any information. After retirement, she remained faithful to her lifelong passion, which is the amateur theatre in Horažďovice, where she still lives in 2022.