“…during the First World War, my father was in danger because of money, because there were many women here whose husbands were on the front, and they were receiving some aid from the state, and since they did not want to waste half a day by going to the office to pick up the money, they asked my father to bring the money to them. Dad was bringing the money to them, but there were also deserters who had escaped from the front and they were assaulting people, and there was even a murder for money, and one time they even murdered a policeman here, because he was after them very much and the deserters were hiding in forests and this one policeman was chasing them intensely and arresting them and they were put in prison, and then they went to the war front and some of them also died there. And so they murdered this policeman.”
“There was an air raid on the railway station and its vicinity and they were announcing every time that enemy airplanes were heading towards Brno and urging people to get ready in case there was a danger that they would need to go hide in shelters, and dad was near the railway station, but he was close to the shelter located under Petrov and he hid there and he returned home safely, but mom then scolded him and he was no longer allowed to go to Brno.”
“We knew that the danger was there but we absolutely believed that the pact with England and France would protect us. Beneš concluded this agreement with the countries in the Balkans, but then there was the mobilization and we believed that Chamberlain would step in on our behalf, and the Munich conference hit us really hard. There was so much enthusiasm and every soldier went even without being mobilized, it was a free country at that time and it was Beneš’s state and Munich broke our backs.”
Drahomíra Vedrová was born February 4, 1920 in Brno. She has spent her entire life in the Bystrc neighbourhood in Brno together with her three brothers. Her father was employed as a worker in a textile factory and her mother was a housewife. Drahomíra’s father had not been able to study and he therefore wished that all his children get admitted to universities and receive quality education. Two of his sons graduated from medicine, the third son started a business, and Drahomíra went to study at the faculty of medicine. All universities were closed down after the outbreak of the Second World War and Drahomíra thus completed a course for nurses during the war. After the war she enrolled in the university again and she became a doctor. However, when she completed her studies she was unable to find a job in Brno and she had to go to Zlín where she eventually became employed in Baťa’s hospital. Later she returned to Brno because her mother became seriously ill. Drahomíra managed to start working for the well-known doctor Otakar Teyschl, but due to her strong Christian faith and the fact that her husband served in the Auxiliary Technical Battalions she was dismissed from the job. Drahomíra was transferred to an entirely different department - to plastic surgery - where she then continued working until her retirement. Her whole family was persecuted and her sons were not allowed to study freely.
