Alice Grusová

“I knew it. Even after the war, it turned out that people are incorrigible. Since I had curly hair, was darker, a bit of an exotic type, the kids would shout at me – knowing it from their homes, probably – ‘Jewish girl!’ I used to be terribly ashamed at that time. I have had a lot of support at school but even some of the classmates used to address me: ‘You, Jewish girl, you are a Jewish girl.’ I would reply: ‘What about it?’ I used to face anti-semitism.”

“There was a bust there. They stopped the train and everyone had to get out. The Germans saw several Jews running away so they caught them all. Everyone was transported via Prague, my aunt told me that they were murdered in Petschek Palace and from there they were sent to the Small Fortress of Terezín. I remained on the bench. It was my mother’s idea and in fact she saved my life. Later, I lived in Karlov in a foundling house, spending six months there.”

“When [my parents] were fleeing, they already reached Pardubice, I think that they planned to continue via Poland, but I don’t know where, I have never learnt it. The train was stopped in Pardubice, and the Germans conducted a massive raid. They had apparently been informed, my parents were probably not the only ones. The fact is that my mother managed to place me on a bench in a park and leave me there. They had to undergo interrogations in the Petschek Palace, torture, and they eventually got to the Small Fortress. And I – somebody found me, I don’t know the details, and I was taken to the foundling hospital in Karlov.”

“I was actually the youngest child and I only vaguely remember that I was sitting in a high chair in some large room, there was a huge table in front of me and children of various ages around it. It was real. I thought that perhaps I was dreaming, but it was reality. I had problems eating, I remember that I was crying and I didn’t want them to feed me. I remember that the nurse took me out of that high chair and carried me to an adjacent room where the children played and slept. I had this impression. I thought that I was only dreaming, but it was reality, I will explain later how I knew it. Then another flashback – it was terribly uncomfortable – I was in some vault, in an underground room where they were hiding me when I was sick with typhoid. They were giving me injections in my arm, I was about three and a half years old. I know that there was some doctor. Everything was secret, because Germans were exterminating things like that, sick children or typhoid patients. They would have certainly killed me immediately.”

“When the Russians arrived in 1968, the [women who came from Russia] did everything for us, for Czechoslovakia. They were discussing with the soldiers, but it was of no use. They even pointed a gun at me when I was impolite to the Russian soldiers. I began arguing with them, too. They were stopping cars and searching them. I was so angry that I was telling them: ´Oruzhija zdes! The weapons are here!´ I was pointing under the car seats. They were angry at me, but I was saying to them: ´So you parents liberated Terezín, and my parents died during the war. You have liberated me and now you are pointing your guns at me?!´ I could speak Russian pretty well at that time. That’s how it was.”

“They lived in fear. Men would come to our place – this I remember because my foster parents, I do not need to underline it anymore, attended President Beneš’s funeral. I remember those men in black leather coats coming to our place. I say this because the couple took care of me and later, in 1951, adopted me. They somewhat got out of it, my mother was not working and they were able to cover up the BBC issue.”