"My dad directed the play called ´Transport number twenty´. It was about some legionnaires who came back home from abroad. I was supposed to play the black baby. I liked that very much, because the waitress spread the chocolate all over my face and all the way to my waist, so when the play was over I was very busy trying to get the chocolate off of me. And I really enjoyed it."
"The welcome in Ruzyne airport wasn’t exactly pleasant, because the weather wasn’t nice. The road was muddy so they would order the group from time to time to lie down and then they would walk over our back. I remember my coat being still wet and dirty even on the train ride."
„I don’t remember seeing any heating there. But I remember sometimes when the water on the windows was sweating and running down on the blankets that we were covered with. When it was freezing we all had to rip the frozen blankets from the frozen floor."
"We were marching on the road to work. It was few kilometers. I know few cases when somebody couldn’t resist and bended down to pick up the cigarette end right by the road and for that he got shot right there on the road. And many people also couldn’t make it to work or back to the camp and so they had to manage to hide between two other people to be carried or at least lifted by them. These were the worse cases, but not rare."
"We had certain information and regarding these we were worried about our future too. It didn’t really feel good not knowing if this all will affect us also once..."
"My first card was completely dictated.‚Liebe Eltern, ich bin gesund, es geht mir gut, ‘(in German, means: Dear parents, I’m healthy and doing just fine. - Translator’s note) . It was about three sentences with the signature at the end. That was the first one. The next letters were not dictated, but we have been warned to write only thing that will be approved."
"Most of the time we worked out of the camp at the port. There was the hard or as I used to say useless work. That means that we were standing on a huge pile of sand and we had to throw the sand from the right side to the left side. And in an hour from the left side to the right side again."
Mr. Vojmir Srdecny was born on October 6th 1919 in Albrechtice nad Orlici in the eastern Bohemia. His father established the Sokol club in Albrechtice town in 1913. He also directed in the amateur theater. Mr. Vojmir Srdecny wasn’t accepted to the Teacher’s faculty in Hradec town. But thank to this fact he meet Mr. Frantisek Skvara-his high school teacher in Kostelec nad Orlici town, who happened to be the founder of the Specific physical education. Thank to this meeting Mr. Srdecny was able to work with the disabled people his whole life. In 1939 he applied for the study at the Institute for Physical education teachers and he was accepted finally. During his studies he lived in Prague campus. Only after 5 weeks of school on November 17th 1939 the Germans broke in the campus and deported Mr. Srdecny and the rest of the students (about hundreds of them) to the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen - Oranienburg. Exactly after one year, one month and one day was Mr. Srdecny and other two hundreds of students released from the camp. After his return to Albrechtice in 1940 he worked as an insurance assistant for two years but after that he was sent to forced labor to Guss- und Metalgesellschaft factory in Holice town. After the war he and his friend Mr. Vojta Janecek- the head of the Historical group of the November 17th began the search of the deported students. Meanwhile he continued his study on the Faculty of physical education in Prague. He graduated in 1947 and started to work at Kladruby Rehab Center, where - besides others - he established the Games for disabled people. Unfortunately he was forced to leave due to the displeasure of his chiefs. He entered the five month military training at the tank troop battalion. After his return he worked in Velke Losiny spa for children suffering from polio. After ten years of work here he was able to come back to Kladruby Rehab Center where he remained until his retirement. At the same time he taught at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport 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!
