Dobromila Šebestová

"My mother said they were all in shock; it was something utterly terrible but they had to watch it. The guards walked around like hungry dogs and hit anyone who wasn't watching with a baton right away. Just imagine that the pregnant women had to go for walks around the execution grounds, the gallows. What walks must those have been! That's the way it was."

"Mommy met the Dean, made like her lifelong confession, and the Dean said. 'You know what, girls? I'm going to take you under my wing. I have elderly parents, and if you're so kind and help my parents, we will bring your child up together.' That's how we got to Libochovice. I had a sense of this lovely Christian family and I was fine. I got a new grandmother and grandfather, and it was so nice."

"When she was about to give birth, my good girl, she came in, one of the women got off the bed and left all the blood and everything behind. The guard said: 'Lie down.' - 'I'm not going to give birth in this! The baby or I will get infected! That's impossible!' - 'All right,' the guard hissed. Female guards were more cruel than male ones. 'If you're so squeamish, clean it up.' The guard threw her a bucket, a rag and a clean sheet in between her final contractions. That was all the luxury she had, and she had to clean it up."

"My mom got thrown in jail, which wasn't fun, she said it was driving her insane. They put her in solitary confinement and she found out she was pregnant. Being in love two months after the wedding, that's the honeymoon and all you can think of is your spouse. They worked hard. Fifteen of them were in the room. They used to 'treat' political prisoners to putting them in cells along with murderesses and prostitutes. The prostitutes were really kind; my mother said, 'If I wasn't afraid of them infecting me, I wouldn't mind them at all.' The murderesses howled, literally. They howled like dogs or wolves: the pangs of conscience. They couldn't sleep at all."