Jarmila Šulcová

“Then came 8 May ’45 [correction: 9 May 1945 - ed.], when Boleslav was bombed. And at the time it was completely unexpected. We hadn’t experienced the war the way it really is, and suddenly aeroplanes flew up and dropped a load of bombs on to Boleslav. One of the bombs landed right here in what was Hřbitovní Street and made a hug hole right where our block of flats is now. We watched the aeroplanes from the third floor of a house near the medical school, and when the bomb fell, I don’t know how we got down to the cellars to be at least somehow protected. So it was a very strong experience.”

“One problem at the time was children of Romani descent because the Romani mums didn’t want to have their children vaccinated. So it could happen that we went to vaccinate children on a farm in Studénka, and I’d take a driver with me, a strong driver. Because the mother, when she found out, and especially the father, when he found out we were coming to vaccinate them, he’d send the children running into the fields. And then we’d have to go scrounge them up because I needed that mark in my book that showed that the child was vaccinated. And I also wanted to because I wanted to protect the children, of course. But then I can tell you that some of the Romani families were exemplary ones, which took care both to have things neat and tidy so you could really have a cup of coffee or eat or wash yourself in their home. But then there were families where you really couldn’t do anything.”