"My mum went to town and Mrs. Gesslerová was sitting on the walkway in front of her house. She used to live next to where they sell shoes now. My mum went to town and she was sitting there with two bags and crying. My mum said: 'Frau Gessler, what's the matter? What happened?' She said: 'I got thrown out, so I'm sitting here with bags.' Her young folks were her son Max who owned the shop and his wife, they had little girl Věra. I used to go to play with her. They went back to Ostrava where parents had a mill, and they all went to a concentration camp. And Max Gessler, Mrs. Gessler's son who came to us after the war, went to fight to Russsia. He was a Russian officer. Mrs. Gesslerová was with us for a year and a half. Mrs. Brachová, who was also Jewish, hid with us with Mrs. Gesslerová. You see, we didn't know. At night, she always slept in bed with her, and early in the morning she hid on the hill. A neighbour saw her, went to the Gestapo and told them that mum was hiding a Jew. That was horrible. Mrs. Gesslerová always said: 'Mrs. Luxová, don't give me so much food, give me less.' But then suddenly she wanted more. Mrs. Brachová ate with her, and we didn't know. It was about nine in the evening, and there was banging on the door. I walked out with mum to open the door. There were three of them, in leather coats and hats. 'Gestapo! Are you Mrs. Luxová?'"
"The women had just had a surgery and the men wanted to... He stood in front of the door and said: 'You cannot go there.' The women had just given birth to children, had had a surgery, but the men walked in. Then he went home and shot himself with his wife. He said he wouldn't live in such a world."
"There were Russians here and I was hiding under the roof where the hill is. Russians didn't do anything to me because I was hidden. Mrs. Jablonská lived in the rooms where Mrs. Gesslerová used to be earlier. I was in hiding under the roof for days, eating nothing. It was horrible, but she said to me: 'You know, I can talk to Russians. Come down to get some sleep.' So I was washing, and suddenly bang bang bang on the door downstairs. She said: 'I'm not opening.' I said: 'For Christ's sake, go and open the door. You don't know - they can break the door.' She said: 'Stay in bed.' My inner voice told me: 'Don't stay in bed.' I got under the bed. Three Russians came. I didn't see anything under the bed, just legs. And she spoke Polish. I didn't understand her. She spoke in a voice full of terrible fear. I thought: 'Christ, it must be something horrible.' I just saw the legs. I was stupid, I had no idea what that was, what they were doing, really. And then I heard her say in German: 'Herr Gott wird Sie strafen.' God will punish you."
"Now, that was something. A policeman came: 'What does your husband do?' I said: 'Butcher. Wait, no, not butcher.' So he crossed that out. 'What does he do, then?' 'Bricklayer.' So he wrote down bricklayer. I said: 'Oh no, you are looking at me so weird - he works in an office.' 'Oh my, an official then.'
Hildegard Sedlářová, née Luxová, was born in the Světlov (German: Lichtenthal) community, a part of the town of Šternberk, in 1926. Both her parents were of German nationality. During the war, her mother Anna saved Jewish woman Mrs. Gesslerová, providing food and shelter for her for more than a year. Hildegard Sedlářová witnessed many atrocities committed on German citizens of Šternberk after the arrival of the Soviet Army in May 1945. Unlike a majority of Germans, her family was not included in the transfer because her brother worked in graphite mines. Her brother Rudolf fled to the West in 1949, and since the witness had already been married to Czech František Sedlář, she stayed in Czechoslovakia. She is now living with her husband in her native house in Šternberk.
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!
