Neither Czech nor German. I am from Borová.
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Helena Mertensová was born on 17 November 1934 as the fourth of five children in a miner’s family in Borová in the Hlučín region. Following the general mobilization in Czechoslovakia she was along with her mother and other children from the area evacuated for three weeks to Germany. In relation to the annexation of the Hlučín area by the Third Reich in October 1938 she gained German citizenship and in 1941 began attending a German school. In April 1945 she witnessed the heavy fighting within the Ostrava-Opava operation which also resulted in half of Borová village being burnt down and destroyed. After the war she witnessed the persecution of the local population. She regained her Czech citizehsip and in September 1945 started attending a Czech school.