Věra Tomanová

“They assigned a German family to live with us in our villa, a mother with two daughters who had lost their home to bombing. Of course, we were really worried because we would listen to foreign radio – and with Germans in the house… frightening. When the mother of two grown-up daughters arrived on the day as announced, my mum answered the door. She could speak German well, so she told her right away: ‘I’m not supposed to speak to you at all, it’s forbidden because I’m Jewish. Our family is Jewish and they went to a concentration camp, so that’s why there is room for you.’ And the German lady cried and said: ‘I am sorry, we were bombed out and lost everything, but we never had anything against Jews. Jews were among our best friends. I apologise for Germany…’ This happened to us. And it has to be said that there were fair people among Germans who were not Nazis.”

"I´d like to add that my brother was employed in that military company, in the so-called Metallbauwerk. He did odd jobs. Apart from anything else, he helped the family with sending off the packets. Here in the Náchod Post Office in the so-called Protectorate, there were limitations on the packets. But when you crossed the border from Náchod to Kudowa, it´s, I don´t know, some three km, you were already in Germany in the so-called Reich and we could send the packets from there. Sometimes, Pavel went there for work, they brought some goods there. Pavel worked as a co-driver in some..they had a smaller car with a driver and Pavel took the packets with him to send them off. But, the driver, out of fear that he could get into trouble, he..luckily he didn´t report this to the Gestapo, only to his superior. It was a Mr Pafrath at that time. And Mr Pafrath when he heard this – that Pavel was taking the packets and sending them, he wanted to speak to him the next day. Well, I remember how much Pavel must have been nervous and terribly scared. I can imagine what it meant when somebody reported on somebody else then. It meant a concentration camp. So, the next day Pavel feeling very very scared went to see Mr Pafrath who said to him: 'You can keep sending the packets but you must always tell me. I´ll send a reliable man with you who will not report anything.' You can imagine how happy Pavel was then. We were all very happy and felt grateful to Mr Pafrath. I also remember that my parents invited him to our place and Mr Pafrath did come. My mother had very good German, Mrs Ducháčová, our housekeeper, naturally too, I had German at school and so had Pavel, as long as we could go to school during the war. Seven lessons a week, so even if you didn´t want to, you had to be able to speak German. So we were able to talk. But it was important that he wasn´t afraid when we told him: 'Mr Pafrath, my mother is Jewish and they can arrest you for coming here.' To make it simple, Mr Pafrath behaved as a decent man. He must have been a decent person."

"My mother stayed in Terezín until the very last days when the transports from the East were coming. They brought typhoid to the camp. In Terezín, lots of people caught typhoid/were ill with typhoid. And they died. My mother had some friends there who also caught typhoid. There was some Mrs Lenardová from Prague, some Mrs Erika from Prostějov, and aunt Jóža from Náchod who was mother´s friend. They all had typhoid and were lying there ill. My father, already in the very first days after the German capitulation, went to Terezín to fetch mother home, but my mother stayed there. She said: 'I can´t do it. At home, you´ll manage somehow but I can´t leave these women here. They would die here. I must take care of them.' So, my mother stayed and looked after her friends. I think until the beginning of June when she saw they were getting better. It can be said that she actually saved them because without any help, they´d probably die."

"By 1943, the Germans had called and taken away all the Jews from Náchod with the exception of those with Christian spouses: just like my father who was a Christian so my mother could stay and my uncle Karel whose wife was a Christian so he could stay, but my uncle Pavel was single. He was taken away earlier because in Náchod in about 1940 a fire broke out. Until today, nobody knows if it was a coincidence or sabotage. And because of that the Germans arrested, I don´t know, about 100 or 150 people. Among them, of course, mainly Jews from Náchod. And, naturally, my two uncles. Well, we were lucky that our father hadn´t been among those arrested. My uncle Pavel didn´t come back. First, they were deported to Terezín to the Fortress and from the Fortress several people, I don´t know but quite a number, were sent to Mauthausen but some returned. My uncle Karel, the one with the Christian wife, did return from the Terezín Fortress. Uncle Pavel was taken away to Mauthausen and there, I don´t know, but after a month he was no longer alive. No idea what he had to go through, we can´t even imagine. It was odd that they sent.., this was in 1940, grandad and granny left us in 1943, no, it was on 13th December 1942. Well, they were asked from Mauthausen if they were interested in getting a death mask of their son. Naturally, my granny wanted to have the death mask of her son. And they did send it to us and it did arrive. We kept it at home. I, after the war, it could be in 1986, took it with me to Israel. It´s there now, in Yad Vashem."