Kitty Pavelková

"My first job was in Terezín, I worked in the so-called office, I was a messenger, and I would transfer or write out messages to certain people always from that one office. I was so scared of it that I forgot either the name of the person to whom I should give it or the number of that room or something. So I was glad when I got rid of that job and I went to work in the gardening business instead, because March had already started. And there was a huge vegetable garden in the post office building where I lived, and there was this one giant steam room that I was in charge of, the plants. That had the advantage that we even got a kilo of spinach once, so we had a little extra to eat and I could invite my dad over for dinner."

"We lived in one barracks, that is, on the square, where there was one barracks, there were boys' barracks and one barracks was girls' barracks. Before the Red Cross was supposed to come, they cleared out a building and moved the boys in there and then they cleaned up and put the boys' building in order for us and we went in there as girls and that was the post office building on that square next to the church, that's where it was. There were 16 of us living in a room there, everybody had their own bed, I didn't get bugs walking around there anymore. And we went just the day before we moved, we went into one room somewhere to take a shower, a bath. When we heard there was a bathroom, we got a little bit scared because we were scared. We always heard them talking about gas and gas chambers, and that's where we found out we were going too, and now we were afraid they were going to let the gas in, but they didn't, they let us shower."

"They took our bundles, so we went to what they called the 'šlojzna.' It was like, I don't know if it was a barracks, but I remember a really big gate, an official building, and lots of people at tables. So, I went from one to another, and they were writing something down, and I found out that I wasn’t even registered, so I wanted to go back because I suddenly didn’t like it anymore. But they said it wasn’t possible since I was already in Terezín. So, I had to stay, and in the end, I was glad to be in Terezín. We moved from table to table like this until we reached another large room where everyone was physically examined, and we had to undress. But I remember that my undershirt was sticking out from under my shorts, so I was trying to tuck it in, and someone said: 'She's hiding something from you!' So I had to strip completely. Completely naked. A thirteen-year-old girl, when she's supposed to be naked, that's pretty stupid, isn't it, and I was just wearing a rosary that my grandmother gave me to protect me. I thought that it was not really protecting me well, so I wanted to tear off the rosary and throw it at their feet. Then I changed my mind because I was afraid. Then I was allowed to get dressed and some lady took us, a group of, I don't know how many girls, and took us to such a, they call it Heim, that's the girl's house where we lived."

"We had to report here at Hagibor, and we had some kerosene with us. I had a small blanket, my father had some kind of blanket and a bundle of clothes. I remember saying goodbye to the neighbors who lived in the same building and were friends with my mother, and I remember how much it hurt her, especially in her condition, you know, with a little child here, and we were going off to God knows where. I said, ‘Stop crying, what are you doing? The war will be over soon, and we'll come back on May 12th, when Marta turns three.’ And we actually returned on May 12th, because my father stood in some long line in Terezín to get the permit for us to leave."