Mummy was taken away by the Gestapo and I went to cry in the park
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Jitka Růžičková was born on 25 October 1930 in Prague. Following her parent’s divorce, she grew up with her mother and grandparents. Her grandfather Vilém Lustig was a respected citizen of Prague’s Vršovice quarter. He was a deputy in the local government and owned a factory producing waxed paper. Only after the German occupation of Czechoslovakia had Jitka found out the family was of Jewish origin. Her grandfather lost his seat in the local council and died soon thereafter. Her mother, grandma and uncle were all transported to concentration camps. As she was under fifteen years of age and only half Jewish, Jitka evaded the same fate. Her classmate’s parents took care of her up until the end of the war. Her father did not show much interest. After the war, she hoped for her mother’s return, but in vain. She studied at a medical school and worked as a nurse. She was married three times and gave birth to a son and a daughter. Only her granddaughter had found out about the fate of her relatives in the course of WW II. It turned out that Jitka’s mother, grandmother and great-grandmother died in Auschwitz and her uncle in Buchenwald. She died on July 2, 2019.
