Zdenka Aulická, roz. Klátilová

* 1925  †︎ 2024

  • "Yes, after the war there was the squaring up. And so it happened that in Půstky, where we often stayed and where we experienced the raid, the execution of two servants of the Germans took place. Only one actually. It took place in Orel playground; it was a hanging and it was carried out by the master executioner from Uherské Hradiště from prison. And the second was hanged on the Sokol playground, his name was Raschka. Of course, people were curious, so they took it by storm even through our house, through our yard. They even knocked our fence down, so many people were curious to see how it was going to go. Well, that was the squaring up."

  • "I remember when Tomáš Baťa killed himself, it was in 1932, so Jan Baťa ran up to my brother-in-law wearing only slippers and a shirt and said: 'Neighbour, I need to have my clothes sewn by morning.' So, my brother-in-law sat down and sewed and in the morning the dress was sewn. Jan came and said: 'So what do I owe you?' So, Dad Maniš, we called him Dad Maniš, he said the amount and got twice as much. And Jan said: 'And who else helped you?' So, he listed who helped, about two more people, and they also received a big reward. Jan Baťa was a good neighbor and as children we went there to pick pears in the garden. Mrs. Baťová always just watched and I was there with the basket. I was five or six years old, I picked pears and went home. So, we played there. "

  • "Raids and alarms were frequent, they were happening every day. Fortunately, there were not so many at night, here and there, but during the day they were happening every day. It's just that we got used to it. We just didn't believe that anything would happen, because it took place every day and nothing ever happened. We took it as if nothing would happen again, but it did. It was in November 1944, I was going home for lunch at that time, it was around noon. There was a meadow called Půstka behind our place. We went to Půstka. My father never ran away, the others probably went to a shelter, or wherever they could, and my father didn't, he was at home. And my brother-in-law too. So, I went with them to Pústka to watch the planes fly. And my brother-in-law suddenly says: 'Zdenko, hide, I don't like it.' There was a canal and they shouted at me: 'Hide!', so I hid in that canal. It didn't take long. Mainly Letná district was hit, they caught it there because it was nearby. There were even victims, I don't know how many were dead. And some of the houses were damaged, broken."

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Zlín, 11.08.2023

    (audio)
    duration: 01:46:07
    media recorded in project Stories of the region - Central Moravia
Full recordings are available only for logged users.

After the war we were full of enthusiasm, but dark times awaited us

Zdenka Aulická in 1955
Zdenka Aulická in 1955
photo: archive of the witness

Zdenka Aulická was born on December 6, 1925 in Zlín to parents Ludmila and Hynek Klátil, who met in America. Her mother worked as a maid in American families. Her father gained experience in a shoe factory, which he then put to good use in the companies Baťa and Štěpánek. Zdenka was born to them after returning to their homeland. They lived in Zlín opposite the villa of Jan Antonín Bata. The witness was a friend of his children. During the war, she gained experience with the Gestapo, experienced the bombing of Zlín and its liberation by Soviet soldiers, who briefly settled in their house. After the war, she met her husband František Aulický. He worked as a chief designer of men’s footwear, which was successfully exported to West Germany. Thanks to this, he did not escape the attention of the State Security. The witness worked for the company Kancelářské stroje until she was 69 years old. In 2023, she lived in Zlín in the same house, about whose fate she also talked. She died on March 26, 2024.