“Then we had to escape. We left everything there, and they left me there, too. Just as dad pulled out of the gate, he slammed the brakes and asked: ‘Mom, where did you leave the boy?’ He backed up and he threw all those packages and clothes out of the car. He came for me, patted me and he told me: ‘And now we go.’ My poor mom was so surprised that she did not say a word, although she could speak, both in German and Czech.”
“I came there and being a polite man, I greeted him: ‘Good morning!’ And the man with tiny glasses who was crouching behind the desk so that he was almost invisible told me: ‘We are communists and we greet each other: Labour be honoured!’ I said: ‘I am not a Party member.’ He told me to leave and so I went to pack my garlic salami and a piece of bread. The secretary came to me and she told me: ‘You are to go back.’ Stubbornly, I said again: ‘Good morning!’ He asked me: ‘What do you want, you bastard?’ ‘Study at the university and I will study even when you are not here.’ He replied: ‘How impudent you are all the time!’ I said: ‘Yes, I am; if I were not, I would not be here.’ He started laughing.”
“I was fed up with that and I went to the elementary school in Jindřišská Street to sign up my son Petr there. All the proceedings were done in the principal’s office. The principal told me: ‘I will be right back. Look at my desk.’ On her desk there was a letter from the Communist Party: ‘We do not recommend Petr Braunschläger for advanced studies.’ That was it. Genocide, genocide, and so I said: ‘I’ve had enough.’”
Zdeněk Otto Braunschläger was born on January 30, 1932 in Boskovice. His parents were entrepreneurs. During the time of the Nazi occupation the family moved to Třebíč and Zdeněk’s father operated a butcher’s shop there. Somebody informed upon him to the Gestapo and he was imprisoned for two years. The life of the family was significantly affected by the communist coup d’état as well. Zdeněk’s father became imprisoned again, this time due to an accusation that he had collaborated with the Gestapo. The family’s house was confiscated and Zdeněk was expelled from school one week before his final examinations. In addition, his parents were evicted to the border region. After initial difficulties, Zdeněk eventually managed to pass entrance examinations to JAMU (Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts) in Brno, where he majored in acting. His first engagement was in Mrštík Brothers’ Theatre in Brno and later he was an actor in the theatre Semafor in Prague and above all in Činoherní klub (The Drama Club). He first appeared on the movie screen in Sequens’ film Větrná hora (A Windy Mountain) in 1955, and he worked for film and television in the following years. Zdeněk is the author of the screenplay for the film Město mé naděje (The City of My Hope) from 1978. In 1980 he emigrated with his young son to West Germany. At the beginning he was earning his living by cleaning toilets. Zdeněk was reading the works of banned Czech authors in the Radio Free Europe. He began visiting his homeland again after 1989. At present he lives in Prague.
