Magdaléna Smělá

“Khrushchev once wrote an article about art, and it resonated everywhere, especially in our school. His statements in the article were completely incompetent; he was defending socialist realism and asking why painters wouldn’t paint landscapes with birch trees. The ministry then probably issued an order to organise a seminar about it at UMPRUM. They summoned us all to the large exhibition hall. Who was the speaker? Hoffmeister! And he was so servile, he made us want to spit in front of him. He started defending Khrushchev! I couldn’t understand how clumsy his arguments were, given his intelligence. He prattled, not knowing what to say… We students were totally disgusted.”

“The Sokol rally in June 1948 was a demonstration, especially the men’s exercise. It still gives me chills when I remember it! At one point, the entire stadium whistled – I still remember the melody because my dad used to whistle it often afterwards.”

“My father set up his own business before the war and had a shop in Haštalská, but he kept in touch with Jewish businessman Löwy with whom he worked earlier. One day, Mr Löwy offered my father a new Chinese carpet. Father was surprised, and Mr Löwy explained: ‘My daughter got married and she got a carpet for a wedding present, but we’re being deported now.’ Dad bought the carpet, and we kept it in our cabin in Krhanice for many years. Of course, the Löwys never came back. The entire family perished…”