They were ripping earrings out of women’s ears
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Alžběta Odziomková was born on 15 April 1938 in the small settlement of Chebzí in the Jeseník region, the oldest of three children to parents Emma and František Langer. Both parents were of German nationality. Her father enlisted in the German army and was killed in the Battle of Kharkov in what is now Ukraine in October 1941. As a seven-year-old, she witnessed the looting by Soviet soldiers in May 1945 in Česká Ves, where the family moved after her father’s death. The family was chosen by a Czech farmer to work on the farm and therefore was not included in the German expulsion. However, during the gathering of Germans on the square in Jeseník (then Frývaldov), she saw German women having their earrings ripped right out of their ears. At that time she also lost most of her relatives who ended up in the western zones of Germany. For two years the family worked for a Czech farmer before,due to lack of food, the children fled to their grandparents in Chebzí, and the family stayed there. Due to missing grades, Alžběta left primary school in the sixth grade. In Jeseník, she then trained as a weaver and joined the local textile factory Moravolen, where she worked until her retirement in 1991, which was almost 40 years. It was at work that she met her husband Josef Odziomek. After their wedding, the newlyweds moved to Jeseník, where they had three children - daughter Alžběta and sons Josef and Zdeněk. Alžběta Odziomková was also living in Jeseník at the time of recording in 2023.
