She was worried about her father. During the totalitarian regime, he told about the horrors he experienced in the Soviet Union
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Helena Rýznarová was born on 8 October 1936 in Horní Studénky near Štíty in the Šumperk region. She came from a family of humble origin with nine children. Her father, Josef Rýznar (1883-1962), was a tailor, and her mother, Marie (1901-1948), worked in the fields aside from caring for the family. Her mother-in-law helped Marie with the care of the children. Helena had eight siblings: in 1922, Jiřina was born, 1924 Marie, 1925 Václav, 1927 Cyril, 1929 Vratislav, 1933 Ludmila, 1935 Alois, 1941 Zdislava. The children had to help from a young age with various chores in the fields and at home. The family lived on what they grew. In 1938, the village became part of the Sudetenland, although the Czech population was predominant. The father worked in Germany for four years during the war. Helena went to school in 1942 in Štíty, then called Šilperk, and enjoyed school. She remembered the dedication of the German doctor who treated her. And she also remembered the Soviet soldiers. They came through the village at the end of the war, chasing women who had to hide from them. In 1948, her mother Marie died. Sisters Jiřina and Marie took care of the younger children. Her father took a small pension, and although he was already old, he went to work at the paper mills in Olšany to support the children. In the 1950s, he was in danger of arrest, which he avoided due to his old age. Helena left school in 1951 and wanted to become a nurse. But, because she was religious, she was not allowed to attend medical school. Helena trained as a weaver in Semily and then worked in Orban Červená Voda. In 1954, she married Dušan Šiffel (1934 - 1993), and they had two children in 1954 and 1958. The family lived in Králíky. Neither of the children could go to the school of their choice because of their religion. Helena was repeatedly under pressure from the headmaster of the respective school, who wanted to discourage them from their faith. Nevertheless, her son became a priest after his military service. At his first ceremony in Králíky in 1981, they became the target of indiscriminate practices by State Security. She later retrained as a saleswoman and sold in Prostřední Lipka from 1978 to 1995. After she divorced her husband, she married Oldřich Rýznar (1921 - 2010), by whose side she lived thirty-three happy years. In 1993, she moved from Králíky to Těchonín. After her husband’s death, she went to live with her son at the parish in Hradec Králové, and when he also died in 2021, she moved to the St. Zdislava Retirement Home in Červená Voda.
