Pavel Horešovský

“I believe that my mother knew about the tragedy from those letters which I gave you. I don’t believe that they wouldn’t be told about the fate of Lidice by the people who arrived there, for example, in 1943. The news spread all over the world. Such news just had to spread. The women would share this among themselves. One would say one thing, another person another, and then everybody learned about it in no time. I know that my mother knew that I was alive because she received cubes of sugar, and there was my photograph attached among them. That was written in one of the letters. It said that she was giving thanks to one of them for taking care of us. She had to know about it, this letter proves it. They had to tell this to each other already while they were in Terezín. They had to learn about it there, because they were there in quarantine and my mom was the only one there who could speak German. She had been attending a family school in Prague. She heard them talking in the hallways and that’s probably how she learnt about it. One female warden allegedly walked in the hallway and carried some sweet buns, and Mom remarked that they smelled so nice, so the warden gave them to her. It all depends on the people. It’s just like today, there are bad people and there are good people all over the world. I think that the women knew what had happened, but that each of them kept it to themselves. We didn’t talk about it because I considered this as something I should not ask about. We had our share of problems, just like everybody, to feed the family, to live in happiness above all.”

“I have a vague memory from the end of the war. They came for me at the Krč hospital in Prague and were taking me away in a van. It is only a vague memory, which hasn’t been confirmed for sure. Another memory comes from a time about a week later. My grandpa from Makotřasy had a horse buggy, which we were riding. We were passing through Kladno and there was a toyshop opposite the ´liďák´ building. They had a pedal car displayed in the shop window. I told my grandpa that I liked that car very much, and he stopped the buggy and went to buy it right away. To be frank, they were somewhat coddling me after that. But it is understandable, we hadn't seen each other for three years. Another thing that I remember comes from the commemorative ceremony – I don’t recall if it was during the first or the second one, when I begged young Masaryk to buy me a car, and he told me that he couldn’t give it to me. These are some of my most frequent unconfirmed memories which come to my mind. I also remember the horses, which I was going to see. My grandparents had two horses, I have one photo of this horse here, and I remember my contact with the animal. They also had cows, and I was going with them onto the field. I had a nice childhood.”

“I respect people who come here respectfully to pay homage. But one day an organization came here with flags. They were approaching from that road down there and luckily we managed to stop them in time. Two years ago the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia spread their banners here. We, or the director of the Lidice Memorial, had to write a letter, because they had criticized him. What was interesting is that the first thing the President asked was why the communists were not there. He said that he strongly opposed communists participating in the main commemorative ceremony. For instance, Vojtěch Filip (current Communist Party leader – transl.’s note) attended on behalf of the Chamber of Deputies, but we don’t want the communists to lay wreaths here independently. Actually, now it works quite well. But still, they hold a separate ceremony just for themselves in the afternoon after 1. p.m. But we have set rules for them in order to prevent them from turning it into a demonstration and to keep the emotions away.”

“To be honest, I don’t remember too many details. There are people like Maruška Šupíková, or Vašek Zelenka, who can tell you how it was. I remember, for instance, that in our kitchen in Makotřasy we had a St. Bernard dog, and he would come to me every morning and I would pet him. I also remember the horses, which I was going to see. My grandparents had two horses, I have one photo of this horse here, and I remember my contacts with the animal. They also had cows, and I was going with them onto the field, and they would borrow me the reins. I had nice childhood.”