Alfred Neudörfer

“We weren’t deported because the government knew of course that musical instruments were a good source of income in foreign currencies. They made sure that a part of the population stayed there; those people were not deported and had to stay here until 1962 and 1963. So, I would say, at least 50% of the local citizens in Luby spoke German well into the 1960s. Then, they were faced with a choice – to either accept the Czech citizenship, or else the authorities would scatter them all over Bohemia and disrupt the local community. It was simply blackmailing. Some people accepted Czech citizenship, some did not – and they were indeed scattered. For example, Guild Master Mr Trasný was made an assistant accountant at a farm in Teplá near Mariánské Lázně, and he was deported in 1955.”

“I remember one incident when my mum cried bitterly. She couldn’t speak Czech very well but she understood some. Mum had a distant relative, an aunt, in Oloví between Sokolov and Kraslice, and we would occasionally come for a visit. We took a train from Luby to Tršnice, then changed trains and went up to Oloví. I spoke to mum in German. At the time, trains were really basic, with wooden benches arranged in twos. I was speaking to mum while looking out the window. I was into the high voltage powerline masts, power stations, and surface mines that were visible from the train – I was enraptured. So, I was speaking to mum, and there were an elderly Czech couple sitting close by. They were looking at us, and you could tell something was welling up inside them. Then they got up, said: ‘German bitches!’, and left. It got to mum, and she burst into tears. That was the moment when I realised there were sine things that I couldn’t influence.”