„It was a funny encounter. I was standing at a village train station and he was as well. During the war, trains were often delayed, sometimes up to three hours. So we stood there and looked at each other. He looked amazing, me too of course, because I had a date with another officer. We were looking at each other and then started talking. That is how it begun and here it ends... Haha... I have lived here longer than in England now. Some sixty-five years (laughs).“
„I am Yvonne Šebesťáková, an Englishwoman, coming directly from London. I arrived on the 17th of November, 1945, straight after the liberation. The Czech forces had already returned before us, in May.“ Interviewer: „It is improper to ask a lady, but when exactly were you born?“ – „I was born on 12 July 1920. That means I will be ninety this year. Hooray! (Laughs) What can you do? Nothing.“
„Before I continue on, I’d like to say: Dear audience, forgive me, it will be inconvenient to listen to this as my Czech is not good. I was lazy and – I need to admit – not clever enough to learn Czech. Unfortunately. So that’s how it is.“
„The Soviets were sending thousands of people from one side of Russia to the other. I was scared. As we talked it through during the night, he realized I was worried. He told me to obtain papers and move out but that I couldn’t count on him going as well. He told me: ‚I am staying here. I admired England and English people during the war but I don’t belong there.‘ One day, my daughter Nataša returned from school and saw my exit visa on the table. She started crying and said that she wasn’t going anywhere, that she wouldn’t leave home even if the Eskymos came in. Well, how can you decide to leave three children and a man who is a good father? In the end I told to myself that it cannot get worse, and so I stayed.“
„I will tell you no beautiful philosophical phrases. I just got on with it. Whatever the situation was, I just accepted it and tried to make the best of it. It was the only way I could get through anything. Luckily I was born with sense of humor and optimism. That’s a great thing to have. When you see everything in a negative way, you cannot be happy... During the Communist times, we were happy to find a pair of shoes in our size and color. That pleased me. I am lucky to have three fantastic children. We are like friends, it’s not such a mother-children relationship.“
Yvonne Šebesťáková, one of the last living „war brides” was born in 1920 in London as Yvonne Cockell. She studied to be an actress, worked in health service during the war and took care of small children sent from shelled-London to the countryside. There she met and later married a tankist of an armoured brigade Karel Šebesťák. After the war, she and her husband moved to Czechoslovakia and both joined the Communist Party. Yvonne began to teach English and in the 60’s she provided English language courses for Czechoslovak TV and taught translation and interpreting at a language school and at the Faculty of Philosophy. After 1968 she left the Party because of her disagreement with the occupation of the country by Warsaw pact forces. Still, she was able to translate and work as a self-employed English teacher. She currently lived in Prague. Yvonne Šebesťáková died in November 2017.
