Marie Švecová

* 1932

Relative of a political prisoner, Sokol
1941 - 1945 - Transports to the concentration camps, 1944 - 1945 - The liberation of Czechoslovakia, Death marches 1944-1945, 18. 4. - 10. 5. 1945 - osvobození západní části ČSR americkou armádou, 19. 6. – 23. 6. 1948 – The Sokol Gathering
  • 1
    Přehrát
    Pozastavit

    My father's homecoming

    (audio)
    duration: 02:12
    Download file
    Info

    "Americans caught up with them at Staňkov in South Bohemia. They went on a death march from Flossenbürg. They lay in a meadow covered with their coats. The Americans freed them in that meadow. They brought him in an American uniform because his clothes was shredded. The correspondence was in German, which my mother spoke perfectly. As a young girl, she grew up with an uncle in the border area. Of course they spoke German there and my mother learned German perfectly. I also had to write the letters in German – my mother helped me with the translation as I didn't speak that well. Sometimes we didn't sent anything, sometimes we sent two-kilo packages and sometimes even bigger. My mother liked to bake buns or sweet bread. She cut them in little pieces – these saved my father's and his friend's life during the death march. They carried a sack on their backs and they put the bread in the water they ate as a soup. This saved them – it gave them strength to carry on and reach the meadow where the Americans freed them. But he wasn't allowed to tell anyone that it was Americans who saved him. They brought him on a jeep. I will never forget it. I was playing with other kids when someone called: 'Danuška, your dad came home! Go home!'"

  • 2
    Přehrát
    Pozastavit

    My father's legionary funeral

    (audio)
    duration: 01:15
    Download file
    Info

    "Interestingly, he died during the communism. The legionaries came to the funeral, there was an honour guard. I have photos there, let's have a look at them. And they dismissed the father of this young man from the military service. He came on a military service permit. He studied at the Faculty of Military at that time. He didn't wear his uniform, he came in a suit. They let him attend his grandfather's funeral. The legionaries gave speech and they fired shots of honour. This happened during the communist regime. My mother arranged this, without my help. I don't know who helped with the funeral negotiations but he had a military funeral. A legionary! In communist times!"

  • 3
    Přehrát
    Pozastavit

    My father's arrest

    (audio)
    duration: 01:27
    Download file
    Info

    "My father was arrested in February 1942 and sent to a concentration camp. He was tried and convicted in Bayreuth. He ended up in the concentration camp Flossenbürg, but he survived it and came back. He was arrested in the office with other colleagues. They shared foreign news, and one of them turned them in. This happened at the cadastral survey office in Myslíkova Street, where he worked. In February 1942, I remember well – it was on 2 February, when my mother received a phone call from a colleague that my father was arrested by Gestapo. I lived with my mother, it was harder because we didn't get any financial support. Fortunately, my mother could sew, so she sewed a lot during the war, and she exchanged it mainly for food."

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Praha, 06.12.2018

    (audio)
    duration: 01:01:27
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
    Download file
    Info
Full recordings are available only for logged users.

I will never forget how the Americans brought my father on a jeep

Marie Švecová, 2018
Marie Švecová, 2018
photo: Post Bellum
photo: Post Bellum
Download image

Marie Švecová was born on 7 September 1932. She never knew her biological parents. She was adopted by Mr. and Ms. Marek when only few months old. She grew up in Roudnice nad Labem and later in Prague - Nusle. Her adoptive father, the Russian legionary Josef Marek, was arrested in 1942 by Gestapo and he spent the rest of the war in the concentration camp Flossenbürg. Until May 1945, Marie Švecová lived only with her adoptive mother Anna Marková. In 1946, she welcomed Josip Tito in Prague. In 1948 she took part in the XI. All-Sokol Festival. In 1954, she completed post-secondary studies in construction projects, and soon entered the State Project Institute, where she worked until her retirement. In 2020, Marie Švecová lived in Strašnice, Prague.

Show witness full story (Česky)
Photos (2)
Links (0)