Anna Plačková

„We embarked on the ship in March and got to Palestine only in July. A Jewish organization from London provided us with another ship and a drag boat we were supposed to board in the middle of the sea, before entering the protective 12-mile zone. As a doctor I enlisted for the drag boat. It actually was just a fisherman’s barge with only one engine. But how were we supposed to embark on this ship when we weren’t allowed to set foot on land? We did it as follows: “two people were holding the person by his hands and feet and each time the small ship was elevated by a wave they threw him inside.”

„We were in a terrible condition. No food and drink for two days and most of us had diarrhea. To make things worse, this fishing barge had no toilets. The English police (Palestine at that time was a British mandate – it belonged to no one else but the British) just had to take us in. They quarantined us and those who weren’t able to walk anymore were sent to the hospital. After a few days, when there was no epidemic outbreak, they were released and had to care for themselves.”

„I desperately hoped I’d see my mother again. I only had one letter from her from the time before she went to the concentration camp. Or was it already from the concentration camp? I don’t know. My mother was shot by the Germans in February but I don’t know yet in which year. It was just a formal letter: “I’m fine, don’t worry.” The letter went through the Red Cross.”

„After graduation I wanted to get a job so I found this position as a secondary in a countryside hospital. It was in Nechanice near Hradec Králové. It was a very small hospital – it was just me and the head physician. I started to work there a month after my graduation. When the call for mobilization was issued, my boss fired me. It was actually a kind of persecution. He wanted to stay alone in the hospital because if war broke out and I was there with him, he would be drafted to the army. So in the time of the mobilization I was moving back to Brno.”

„After arrival you had to report at the military headquarters that was located on the Republic square. We called it “Headquarters”. I reported together with the group I arrived in Czechoslovakia. Then we went for coffee. I was looking out of the window and there goes my husband. I thought he was in Norway and because it took forever for letters to arrive, I hadn’t learned he is about to return to Czechoslovakia as well. He was at the headquarters and they told him I had already arrived. So I ran out. He was in Prague, however, only for an official visit. In a few days he had to go back to Germany.”