Vladimír Ráček

“The three of us agreed that we would set out for Brazil. We were eighteen years old and in July 1945 we set out for some port in France. We chose Cannes and we planned to board a ship there and go to Brazil and work for the Baťa company here. Baťa’s son escaped to Canada, but he died in an airplane accident, and Baťa had left for Canada before the Germans came... His brother was in Brazil and he grazed cattle and built factories there and we thus decided that we would go to Brazil.”

“Uncle contracted pneumonia while he was imprisoned in Valdice. He was not admitted to the prison hospital. He shared a room with certain Ferda, who was nicknamed ‘Pearl of the Prague Sewers.’ This man was an employee of a sewage company… provided a hiding place for weapons for some people in 1949. He did not care about politics. He was imprisoned and sentenced to fifteen years. He was taking care of my uncle for two weeks. He was making tea for him and applying compresses. For two weeks. My uncle was thankful to him.”