We had always wished for only one thing – for our father to return. And we achieved that
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Kamila Kárníková, née Maříková, was born July 21, 1932 in Nýřany. Her mother Kamila Maříková was a teacher, father JUDr. František Mařík was employed in the Šimonek’s Support Fund of the Škoda Works. In 1938 the family moved from Sudetenland to Pilsen where Kamila started grammar school. Together with her classmates she used to meet archbishop Josef Beran. She joined the Red Cross Youth after the war and later completed a nursing training there. She got the title of an auxiliary nurse and started working at the University Hospital in Pilsen. In 1950 her father, a national socialist, was arrested and accused of high treason and sabotage. For alleged participation in activities of Milada Horáková, he was sentenced to twenty years in prison and loss of property. The family was forced to move into a basement apartment. The members of the family fell into disgrace also because Kamila’s mother was prior of the third Order of St. Dominic. Because of her convicted father, Kamila was given a new place at the Department of Urology. As the medical personnel was being sent to war-torn Korea at that time, she started studying Korean at a school of oriental languages. She studied Sanskrit and Hindi. Later she started interpreting but was prevented from publishing. She was employed as a laboratory technician at the State Veterinary Institute after her wedding, which is where she had worked until her son Jan was born in 1965. Her father František Mařík lived to see his release from prison in 1965. At the time, Kamila Kárníková was working as a Pioneer leader and was a housewife at the same time.
